As you are brainstorming topic ideas, below are some questions that might help guide that process:

1. What concepts do I find myself frequently explaining?
2. Is there a concept that is often explained in a confusing manner? Or that a particular professor explains in a confusing manner?
3. Is there a concept that has a nuance that is often misunderstood?
4. Are there tricks I could share with students on how to solve or apply a concept?
5. Is there a concept that is taught in a particular way for the class, or a particular section of it that students should know about it?
6. Is there a common misused or incorrect application of a certain concept? For example, you might put together a lesson explaining how not to use a certain concept.

Easily...

1. Navigate to My Firehoze.
2. Click the "Become an Instructor" button to walk through the Instructor Signup Wizard.
3. Complete all steps in the wizard.
4. Start teaching!

Step 1: Pick a topic

Choose a concept within your preferred subject that your students or classmates have frequently found difficult.

Not sure where to start? Check out How do I select a topic? Tips for selecting a good topic.

Step 2: Outline your topic

Outline the topic, starting with the objective of the lesson.

Think about:

• What key things should a student know by the end of the lesson?
• Is there any key terminology that should be defined upfront?
• Think of 1-2 examples that would be useful.
• Are there any nuances that are often overlooked? Are there any tricks that help with solving/applying this concept?

TIP: If applicable, add practice problems or questions to the end of your lesson that students should be able to answer once they've watched your video. Suggest they pause the lesson to complete the problems before the answers are revealed.

Step 3: Choose your medium

Once you've outlined your topic, decide how you will present it, such as powerpoint slides (a community favorite), a graphics tablet, etc. Prepare slides ahead of time and use pause/record shortcuts while preparing your thoughts or screen transitions during a recording session. Incorporate text and other images to reduce the amount of handwriting when using a drawing tablet (click here for an example).

Think about:

• How legible is your handwriting?
• Keep your slides simple. This helps your students focus on those areas that are most important.

TIP: Since your lesson will have audio, delete any text that doesn't add to the lesson.

Step 4: Practice

Practice giving the lesson, timing yourself and identifying any additional examples or graphics that may be be useful to include.

Think about:

• Are you speaking slowly enough? Remember, while you know this information, this may be the first time your student has heard it.
• Are there any key points you want to make? Have you made them?
• What would make it easier to give this lesson? (additional notes, different examples, etc)

TIP: If you find yourself “reading” your slides rather than explaining the concept seen on the slides, delete extra text that does not add to the explanation.

Step 5: Select your recording option

You can use a camcorder or if you are using slides or a graphics tablet, you will need screen capture software.

TIP: If you are on a PC and using slides, we recommend CamStudio for screen capture. It's free and easy to use. Click here for other recording options.

Step 6: Practice recording

Practice giving your lesson with the screen recording software, or however you will be recording your lesson. For tips on configuring CamStudiol to record slides, refer to the PDF CamStudio Setting for PowerPoint.

Step 7: Record

Record your tutorial. Click here for help ||add link|| troubleshooting recording issues. Or visit the Help Center.

Step 8: Upload to Firehoze!

Think about:

• Add enough tags to ensure your students can find your lesson. Tags can be broad, such as subject or concept key words, or specific, such as school name, course number and/or section.
• Add a clear synopsis.
• Highlight any nuances or tricks that you include in your lesson to help students identify differences between your lesson and others they may be looking at.

Step 9: Repeat!

View the following for an example of what an outline would look like for a typical lesson:

The Intro

You have 30-sec. to let them know exactly why your lesson is best.

Title slide – have a slide with the title of the concept you're covering.

Introduce what they are going to learn.

• The topic and what the student is going to learn
• What class or subject it is best for (e.g. “this lesson is for calculus II...” or “this lesson aligns to BU's M302c...”)
• What the student should be able to answer or solve by the end of lesson
• Are there any pre-requisites/concepts the student should understand
• Is it one of a series of videos you have created

Vocabulary/Formulas

• Call out key word definitions
• Define formula values

The Explanation

Outline the lesson

• Outline key points or important things to remember (bullets)
• If possible, break into steps (1, 2, 3...)

Start explanation

Per slide:

• Call out any important areas/points the student should note/remember
• If using examples, choose one common variation and one tricky variation

TIP: When explaining, help your student recognize the difference with both visual and verbal ques, such as

• "Common questions/problems you might see are..."
• "When you see X, think Y..."
• "When you see this, it means A..."
• Throughout your explanation, share tricks or secrets to help your student more easily remember, or solve, the concept you are covering

Test Comprehension

Add practice problems or common questions the student may encounter on this topic.

• Provide examples of both common and tricky/more complicated variations of problems or questions students may encounter.
• Before revealing answers, tell the student to Pause video so they can solve the problems before you reveal the answers.
• Give your student the time to pause the video and wait approximately 15-seconds before revealing the answers.

Conclusion

Thank your student for watching.

Encourage them to contact you with any questions.

Encourage them to follow you and request topics.

What makes for a great tutorial? Here are a few things to keep in mind when putting together your lessons.

Provide a clear objective.

Provide a clear objective of the lesson so a student can quickly determine whether it will answer the question they are struggling with. (Remember, a student will have 30 seconds during the preview to quickly determine if this lesson will help them.)

Use a logical progression.

A well laid out, logical progression through a topic helps to avoid confusion. Think about when you were first taught this concept – what helped you to understand it?

Use examples.

Use 1-2 examples during your lesson that would be commonly seen, or alternatively, that you have found cause the most difficulty, to demonstrate the main variances that might be commonly seen in the application of the concept or changes in values.

Provide practice problems.

At the end of the lesson, provide example problems or questions that students should be able to answer. Suggest that the student pauses the lesson to complete the problems before the answer are revealed.

Practice.

Practice enough to try to limit these distracting pauses such as “umm...” or “ahhh...”.

Tell them a secret.

Call out any tricks or commonly overlooked nuances during your lesson. We all love to know the “secret” to solving a problem or answering a question. Sprinkling these types of “jems” throughout your lesson will not only help your students, but also help you grow a loyal following.

Tips for different methods...

If using a graphics tablet, incorporate text and other images to reduce the amount of handwriting used.

If using slides, incorporate a title slide and an intro slide clearly stating the objective of the lesson.

You can use a variety of methods for creating a lesson, such as:

• Slides + screen capture software –> Easiest and cheapest option
• Tablet computer + screen capture software
• Video camera

If using a whiteboard or chalkboard, keep in mind, it's the lesson that is of interest so try to focus the capture frame on the board, not the surrounding area. For whiteboards, test marker colors you plan to use to make sure viewers will be able to see them clearly.

• Your choice of multimedia tools, such as Flash

While there are several screen capture options available, CamStudio’s capabilities and cost (Free, yes Free!) make it one of our favorites.

CamStudio (http://camstudio.org/)

Best for:

• Those looking for features to support a higher level of video production
• Desire to do further editing of captured video

Pros:

• Free and open source
• More expansive feature set – codec choice, intelligent capture moving the frame to follow the cursor during capture

Cons:

• User interface isn't terribly pretty
• Additional features can make for a slower learning curve

Download CamStudio

• Navigate to http://camstudio.org and scroll down to “So where can I get it and how much does it cost?”
• Click on the link CamStudio: CamStudio20.exe and install the application
• Click on the link Lossless Codec: CamStudioCodec14.exe and install the lossless codec

Configure CamStudio

• Launch CamStudio and select “Record audio from microphone”

• Setup the region of screen to be captured Launch CamStudio and select “Region” or “Fixed Region” (Note: Full Screen is not recommended)

• Select Options-> “Video Options”

• Set Compressor to “CamStudio Lossless Codec v1.4”

For best results, use a “Fixed Region” when creating lessons using CamStudio and PowerPoint.

Follow these steps:

1. Start CamStudio
2. Start PowerPoint in Slide Show mode as in the figure below (use CamStudio “Fixed Region” option to avoid capturing the black vertical bars)

3. Windows users: Use ALT-TAB to bring CamStudio to the forground while PowerPoint is in Slide Show mode – “Select Fixed Region”

4. Click on the “Select” button in the “Fixed Region” dialog box
5. Click and drag do define the capture region

6. Launch CamStudio and select “Record audio from microphone”

7. Verify that Keyboard Shortcuts are setup: Select Options->Keyboard Shortcuts


Note: Record/Pause Key set to F8

Note: Stop Key set to F9


8. Now you are ready to record using CamStudio and powerpoint slides
9. Launch CamStudio
10. Launch Powerpoint in slide show mode
11. Use the keyboard shortcut F8 to start recording and again F8 to pause recording while gathering your thoughts and preparing for the next slide
12. Using F8 to Record/Pause will enable you to pause and if needed, switch to another application and continue recording from another application

The following video walks you through the process.

Click on 'Share', 'Export' and save the video with your desired title.

Follow the following steps:

1. Double click left mouse button on “speaker” icon to open the Volume Control

   

2. Select Options-> Properties from the Volume Control dialog

   

3. Select “Recording” on the Properties: check Line In, External Mic and Internal Mic then select “OK”

   

4. If you choose to use your built-in microphone then select “Internal Mic” and increase the volume as necessary.

   Select “External Mic” if you have an external microphone.

   

5. Select Options->Advanced Controls from the Recording Control menu then select “Advanced” on the Internal Mic or External Mic based on your setup.

   

6. Select “Microphone Boost” on the Advanced Controls for Internal Mic

   

Files must be less than 500 MB. We support the following file formats:

• MPEG-1, MPEG-2, H.263, H.264
• All MPEG-4 implementations (Xvid, 3vix, etc.)
• AVI
• .MOV
• MP4
• .MPG, .VOB (unencrypted VOBs only)
• Windows Media/VC-1
• 3GP/3G2
• Ogg Theora
• MJPEG

1. Log in to firehoze and select “create lesson”
2. Fill out the required fields including “Title” use a descriptive title
3. Provide a brief synopsis of your lesson in the “Synopsis” field
4. Enter notes that will help your students in the “Notes” field

5. Provide tags that will help students find your lessons
6. Chose at least 5 free downloads so that your lesson will get rated
7. Chose a category that is appropriate to you lesson, select “Everything Else” if you cannot find a good match and use the GetSatisfaction feedback option to request additional categories.
8. Select the “Video” to be uploaded.
9. Finally select “Create Lesson”. Ensure you have a high speed connection and your laptop is plugged into a power outlet (not running on batteries)

Note: The file size of typical lessons are very large and take time to upload. While an email is typically less than 1Mb, a lesson can easily be larger than 100Mb. It is best to upload when having a reliable high speed internet connection. “Uploading, pleasing standby ... Don't leave the page...the upload will take a while — but it's still working (leaving this page before the upload has completed will result in making your lesson unavailable to others)”

10. “Success!

Your lesson created and your video has been submitted for processing. You should receive notification when your lesson video is ready for viewing.”

Note: Once uploaded, processing time ranges from 15 minutes to 2 hours depending on the number lessons that need to be processed. Please allow up to 24 hours before reporting an issue.

Some video formats, for example avi files, can be quite large. There are a number of programs available, many of them free, available to convert your video files into formats which require less space. For example, a 400MB avi file can convert to a 40MB MPEG4 file. Take a look at Top 10 Free Video Rippers, Encoders, and Converters for a list of some programs you might try.

If you use or have access to a computer that runs Windows, we suggest Any Video Converter, a free video conversion tool with which we at Firehoze have had good results. If you do choose to use Any Video Converter, we suggest selecting to convert to an MP4 file format and choose a frame size of "640x480" (as shown in the screen shot below).

If you have good experiences with other programs — and particularly a program that we could recommend to our MacOS users — please provide us feedback at GetSatisfaction.

Free downloads give you the chance to build up some ratings and reviews before users have to purchase your lesson. It can be a good way to build your reputation, activity and traction on the site.

Flag the lesson you'd like pulled by clicking on the "Flag" button. When prompted, enter your request to pull the lesson in the comments field.

We will mark the lesson as rejected. As the author, you will still be able to see the lesson. To other Firehoze users, the lesson and all associated notes, comments and reviews will be invisible.

You might see an error such as:

      Validation failed: Video is not one of the allowed file types. (content type:application/octet-stream)

if you try to upload a MOV file and Quicktime is not installed on your computer.

To eliminate this you may want to either download the appropriate video player, or save your video in a format that you are able to play locally. If you are an IE user and receiving this error when trying to upload an MP4, downloading 3ivx should help eliminate the issue. Click here to download.

Depending on the size of your lesson and connection speed, you may find that the site timeouts before your file has been able to complete the upload process. The site will currently timeout after 60 minutes. To calculate how long it may take for you to upload your lesson, per your file size and connection speed, go to http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/calculate/downloadcalculator.php.

For example, a 62 meg file on dial-up may take almost 2.5 hours to upload but only 6 minutes on a DSL connection.

If your download is going to take a long time, you can open a separate tab in the same browser and periodically navigate to other pages while your video is uploading. Doing so will ensure that your session remains alive.

For additional help with this or to request more time, contact us at Support.