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Many faculty and students now have iPads and Apple Pencils for use in their classes. At Merrimack, we have a 1:1 iPad program (called Mobile Merrimack) in which all students and faculty are provided an iPad and students are also given an Apple Pencil and a keyboard. (Departments must purchase Apple Pencils for faculty members.) My department has leveraged this initiative in many ways and the iPad has been incorporated into the general chemistry and organic chemistry sequences, and into many of our upper-level courses.
The iPad is a really great tool for creating educational videos for classes, especially when paired with an Apple Pencil to facilitate writing on the screen in a very natural manner. It is very easy to create videos on your iPad using the Screen Recording Feature that is part of recent version of the iOS. When the Screen Recording is activated, anything shown on the iPad screen is captured to video and audio can be recorded using the built-in microphone or any connected microphone. My go-to iPad app for handwriting is Notability and I use the screen recording function to capture my writing and audio. Any app that you prefer can be used. (I have attached two videos as examples - one with audio and one without audio.)
My colleagues and I use the iPad to create videos that we distribute to our classes via our LMS (Blackboard or Google Classroom). I have also given my students the opportunity to demonstrate mastery of topics and concepts by creating narrated videos on their iPad and submitting them to me for credit (or for extra credit when revising exams). The linked instructions are those that I provide to my students and colleagues so that they can create videos on their own.
I have tried to keep these up to date with the changes in the operating system and I would appreciate any feedback that you have on these instructions. There are two versions of the instructions linked to this LO: one for current version (13) of the iOS and one for older versions of the iOS. I would also be happy to add any other information that you feel is necessary as you work through the recording process.
Please feel free to reach out to me if you need any help.
After reading these instructions, a student or faculty member should be able to:
- start the screen recording function on an iPad,
- record a video that captures the iPad screen along with audio from a microphone,
- save the video in their photo stream,
- edit out the portions at the beginning and end of the video, and
- export the video to a cloud service for sharing with others.
There are many ways to create videos on the iPad and some of those involve apps that cost money to purchase. This method for recording videos takes advantage of functionality built into iOS and will record anything shown on the iPad screen.
As mentioned in the description, I use this method to create videos for my students. I also provide these instructions to my students so that they can create videos that they can submit to me.
Evaluation
I do not assess their performance on creating the videos. The fact that they are able to submit the videos to me successfully is evidence that they have followed the instructions.
I have students peer-review videos created by other students. They are asked to provide feedback on the content and correctness of the video, as well as the quality of the presentation.
Students and faculty usually have little trouble following these instructions. The most common errors are listed below.
- The video creator forgets to turn on the audio recording before beginning the screen recording process.
- If this happens, the video must be re-recorded with the microphone on or the audio must be added using another program, such as iMovie.
- The video cannot be edited to remove the "dead time" at the beginning and end of the video.
- The iPad screen is very touchy and it can be hard to get the video selected and highlighted. It takes a bit of practice.
- The video creator exports a video without sound.
- This means that the iPad is running an older version of the iOS and the other set of instructions must be followed.
When recoording audio as part of this process, it really helps to use a microphone. I have found that the mic built into most headphones works reasonably well. (I have used both the Apple ear buds that connect via the mini audio input jack and a Skull Candy set of headphones with a built-in mic.)
I have just tested my Logitech USB headset with the iPad and it also worked well. I have a lightning-to-USB adapter (that was sold as the camera connection kit) and used it to plug in my headset. I could hear audio and record my voice using the headset microphone.