Editing with MPEG Streamclip

We’ve recently had an increase of faculty members who would like to do basic video editing on their computers.  Typically, they’ve already ripped the DVD and used MPEG Streamclip to convert it to a standard video file.  You can use the same software to trim and combine video clips into one file.  Take a look at the following video for instructions:

i>clicker!

ISS is pleased to announce the adoption of a new student response system, i>clicker, which will replace the Qwizdom system as of Fall 2010. i>clicker is a flexible, user-friendly and reliable system that works on both Macs and PCs and will allow instructors to incorporate websites, media and virtually any other type of application. Check out the story in the University Record.

ISS will be conducting workshops on how to use this new system throughout the summer. Faculty can sign up for one of these workshops at http://www.umich.edu/~teachtec.

To register as an i>clicker user for Fall, please sign up on the Instructional Consulting page.

Photoshop CS5 Preview: Content-Aware Fill

From the official Adobe Photoshop YouTube Channel:

One of the biggest requests we get of Photoshop is to make adding, removing, moving or repairing items faster and more seamless. From retouching to completely reimagining an image, heres an early glimpse of what could happen in the future when you press the delete key. How might you use this new capability in your workflow?

Useful PowerPoint Add-ins

While PowerPoint is a relatively powerful piece of presentation software, it has it’s limits.  Many times, presenters want to visit a web site in the middle of their presentation.  In order to do so, they must exit presentation mode and open up a web browser.  The same thing must be done to play YouTube videos (unless the user downloads them using 3rd party websites/software).  I recently came across two free PowerPoint Add-ins (PC only) that will allow the presenter to do both of these things from within their presentation.

The first one is called LiveWeb.  Upon installation, it allows the user to add live web pages to their slides.  Simply go to the “LiveWeb” tool, click “Web Page”, and a wizard guides them through the process.  Once the page has been added, it can be resized and moved to fit within the slide.

Tinychat

Due to changes in the website and lack of support, we no longer recommend Tinychat.  Please go to this website to view alternatives that may better suit your needs.

“Video conferencing today is broken: typically requiring cumbersome downloads, logins, and endless contact lists, it too often becomes a service that is slow and unreliable. Enter Tinychat. Tinychat delivers dead simple video conferences without the extraneous ad-ons and inconvenience, making video conferencing an accessible, uncomplicated experience. It works on Windows, Mac and Linux; with Firefox, IE, Safari, and Chrome; and there is a version available for iPhones. You can have up to twelve people in a room with HQ video, protected by passwords and moderators, share your desktop with them, and your conferences can be recorded and embedded on your website. Tinychat is the ultimate meeting solution for those who want to meet without stress and hassle.”

Each Tinychat room currently supports:

• Up to 200 concurrent chat participants
• Up to 12 simultaneous audio, video broadcasts

Review: Evernote

I am an Evernote devotee.

In fact, I am going to go all out and declare that I consider it one of the most useful computer applications.  Ever.  And I try out a lot of applications.