Download Creating an animated tutorial for the online classroom

Helmut Kae
Instructor, Microbiology
Leeward Community College
Pearl City, HI
[email protected]
By the end of this workshop you will be able to:
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Download an open source “screen-capture”
software - CamStudio
Use CamStudio to make animated, narrated
“mini-tutorials”
Use YouTube to publish and present the
tutorials to your students
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Microbiology 130: General Microbiology
◦ This course covers the fundamentals of
microbiology, metabolism, genetics, and disease
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Required for entry into Nursing program at
University of Hawai’i
Prerequisite requirements:
◦ ENG 21 or ENG 22 with a “C”
◦ Introduction to College Reading, Composition
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In general, students have little science
background
◦ For many, this is their first science course since
high school
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Students have trouble understanding basic
concepts of molecules and microbes
In the face-to-face class, simple diagrams
and explanations can help clear up issues
◦ In the online classroom, sometimes words can
create more confusion
A Partial sequence of a messenger RNA triplets is as follows:
5’-AUU ACC AUA UCC GCA UCG UGG AGG AUG UUC UAA-3’
1. Write the sequence of both strands of DNA that
correspond to the above mRNA. Identify the DNA strand
that serves as template to produce this mRNA.
2. Write down amino acid sequence of the protein
produced by this mRNA, and then write down first letter
of each amino acid in order to reveal the hidden
meaning (Hint: insert a space after 2nd, 4th and 5th amino
acid positions).
“Hi class. So, I'm working on Ch 8 assignment and I
want to be sure I am understanding Question 1
correctly. I hope I'm on the right track with this..
One of the DNA strands will show exactly the same
way as the mRNA is shown and is the template.( I
think!) The other strand is: TAA TGG TAT AGG
CGT AGC ACC TCC TAC AAG ATT> is this what
you all are getting?” - JG
“No doubt this is confusing. I will need help from
Dr. Kae for this stuff.” - KL
“What you are looking at is the mRNA
strand. The question is asking for the double
stranded DNA strand that this mRNA came
from. For help, draw a quick figure of
transcription. The "template strand" is the
DNA strand that is used for transcription, the
non-template strand is the DNA strand that is
unused. What will they look like? That's the
starting point for this question ...” - HK
“I don’t think the mRNA strand is exactly like the
DNA strand. I believe the template DNA strand
will have the complementary base sequence of
the mRNA strand using U instead of T for a pair
with A. Then after you get the template strand,
the other DNA strand will be the complementary
base pair sequence of that. I think?” - MT
“I think that’s what I did. Is what I came up with
wrong? Hope not cause I thought I was starting
to understand it all...” - JG
“I'm still confused though....” - BS
“Let's talk transcription. It helps to draw a
diagram while we are doing
this. Transcription is the synthesis of mRNA
from double stranded DNA. Recall, how is
mRNA formed from DNA? How does RNA
polymerase (the enzyme that "polymerizes
RNA") know what base to include? How many
DNA strands are used during
transcription? What is this strand called? Try
this for now. I'll check back later.” - HK
“Does anyone how to do question 1?” – KC
“TAA TGG TAT AGG CGT AGC ACC TCC TAC AAG
ATT <-- template strand
ATT ACC ATA TCC GCA TCG TGG AGG ATG TTC
TAA
Is this correct? ... If this isn't right, I guess I am
completely lost!” – BS
“how did you get the second line?? i got the 1st
line correct but how did you come up with ATT
ACC ATA TCC GCA TCG TGG AGG ATG TTC TAA?
im confused.” - RC
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Created an animated “mini-tutorial” that
explains transcription and translation the way
I do in a face-to-face class
Software is open source  FREE
Published on YouTube  FREE
Total prep time:
◦ 15 minutes
“Thank you so much, That was so easy geeze I feel dumb
LOL, thanks again” – AA
“I like the animated presentation... I think it helps a lot. You
were able to simplify what was in the book to a few
minutes and filter out the details to make your assignment
question clear. Thanks!” – VQ
“It seemed to help more than I thought it would but I guess
that goes back to my learning style. You have my vote to
do that more often..even for module 6 ” – JG
“The videos on youtube are helpful especially for
understanding the DNA and RNA portions of this course” MC
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CamStudio is a “screen-capture” software
◦ It records whatever is on your computer screen
◦ It is absolutely FREE
◦ The “fancy” version, Camtasia Studio, costs $300
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It can record audio from a microphone or
from your speakers
Applications:
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Give a lecture from your desk
Demonstrate how to use applications, websites
Record videos you see on internet
Whatever else you can think of …
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Navigate to http://camstudio.org
◦ Or, Google “camstudio”
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Click on “CamStudio20.exe”
◦ “Save” or “Run” the .exe file
◦ Install on computer
 Installs in less than 2 minutes
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Click on
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Create a tutorial of your choice
Examples include:
◦ How to log in to your course website
◦ How to use one of the tools of the course website
◦ Show off your favourite website, explain what you
like about it
◦ Anything else you can think of
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If desired, upload it to YouTube
◦ Keep the video short (less than 1 minute)
◦ Once uploaded, try annotating, editing, etc …
Helmut Kae
Instructor, Microbiology
Leeward Community College
Pearl City, HI
[email protected]