About Hybrid Videos

Written by Scott McLeod

Introduction

This hybrid course uses streaming video to demonstrate skills that are part of the instruction of the course. Viewing these videos is required, just like attending the class meetings are. The videos are usually tied directly to your class assignments. You should not only watch and listen to the videos, but you should also carry out the exact same steps yourself as you watch. In doing so, you should produce the same results as are produced in the video and, hopefully, you will develop the skills needed to build similar kinds of documents yourself in the future. Your assignments will indicate what you will need to turn in for each video.

This document attempts to explain how to access and properly view and hear these videos under various situations that you may experience depending on the type of computer and Internet connection you are using. Sound is an important part of the videos, so be sure that you are in an environment where you can listen as well as watch. The videos use either Microsoft Windows Media format (.wmv) or Macromedia Flash format (.swf) and can be either streamed to you directly from the Web or can be downloaded and played from your own local disk. You may also have a CD containing these videos -- if this is the case then you can ignore any sections of this handout that discuss web access to these videos.

Suggested Approach To The Videos

Although you can do whatever works for you, I am suggesting an approach here that I think will maximize your learning experience. You might at least try it on the first video and then adjust it to meet your own needs. Just keep in mind that you are trying to do exactly what the video does, except where instructed otherwise by the assignment.

1. First just sit back and watch the entire video from start to finish without trying to do any of the steps yourself. This will allow you to relax and absorb the material without having to focus on all of the little details. You will likely gain a good perspective on what you are attempting to accomplish.
2. Now that you know what you are going to be doing, open your HTML editor (and, if this video uses them, have any downloaded starter files ready for use). Then play the video again and do whatever the video does, using the "pause", "rewind", "play", etc. buttons (or their keyboard shortcut equivalents) as needed so that you can bounce back and forth between the video and your own work. By following along with the video, you should end up creating the exact documents that are created in the video (except where specifically indicated within the video or the assignment handout, such as inserting your own name in place of "Joe Student".)
3. When the video ends, make sure all of your work is saved and then follow the assignment's instructions to make any additional modifications and/or additions that are required. Turn in whatever printouts are specified within the assignment handout. Be careful to turn in exactly what is asked for -- it might be an HTML code printout, a printscreen of your page in the browser, or a printout using the "Print" command from your browser's File menu.

Software Needed For Viewing Videos

Please note that you may need to download some software before you will be able to watch these videos. If you are using the streaming Windows Media (.wmv) videos, you have Windows Media Player version 9 or higher. If necessary, free versions of the player are available for download for Windows machines, Linux machines, and even Mac machines (just search google or your favorite software download site). If your video files are in Flash format then you will need a recent Flash player version to view them. Another approach is to use a video converter tool that will convert the video files to whatever video format you prefer. Lastly, some assignments may make starter files available to you in a ".zip" format and you will need to have "WinZip" or an equivalent utility to extract the necessary files from the .zip archive (go to "winzip.com" for a free trial as needed.)

How To Access The Videos

1. If you are a broadband user (have at least a 100Kbps Internet connection, such as cable modem or DSL), then you can view the video by simply clicking on the video link in the online assignment handout and it will begin playing (streaming) for you within Windows Media Player. If this doesn't work, try opening Windows Media Player and use the File menu's "Open url" option to type the http address into the player to start the video. Alternatively, you can download the video file itself (.wmv file) and then play the local copy instead. This might give you better results, especially if you need to jump around to view different parts of the video instead of just watching it from beginning to end. (If you'd like to download the video file, refer to the step below.)
2. If you have a 56K dial-up modem (or slower), you will not be able to play the videos directly from the Internet -- your connection is too slow to support it. You'll have to get a copy of the video file and play it from your own computer. To do so, first get yourself to a computer with a broadband connection (such as the ones in class or in lab), then right-click the video link in the online assignment handout and choose "save target as..." (or whatever your browser's similar option is) to download the entire video. Then when you get home to your slow connection it won't matter -- you can just play the video from your disk. Note that the video (.wmv) files themselves are typically anywhere from 5 to 15 MB each.

Viewing Videos In Your (Windows) Media Player

The videos are created using an 800x600 screen resolution and the size of your own video playback area should be the same size so that you don't distort the video and have trouble seeing the details and reading text. So if you are using an 800x600 resolution yourself, you should set your video player to show the video in full screen mode. This is fine except that you will probably lose the ability to see the typical "pause" and "rewind" buttons that might prove helpful if you need to interrupt the video at some point. One solution would be to memorize the keyboard shortcuts (they are usually displayed on the menus) for these operations in your player and use them when needed. Another solution is to set your own screen resolution to 1024x768 and then adjust your player's screen area within that as needed to allow for an 800x600 playback. You'll know when you've got it right because all of the text will be perfectly readable.

Getting The Data Files For The Video

1. If the assignment requires starter files, you will find a link to a zip file within the online assignment handout. Click the link to download this zip file to a local disk.
2. After downloading the resulting zip file, double-click this file to activate WinZip. Note that if you do not have WinZip on your machine there is a free trial available to download from "winzip.com". Within winzip, extract the files into a convenient location on your disk. All files will be extracted and placed within a single folder with an appropriate name for that assignment. Make a note of where you extracted this folder so that you can use these files when the video uses them.