(this
article appears courtesy of the Microscopy Society of America. It was published in the MSA magazine Microscopy
Today)
Creating
Multimedia Teaching and Training Tools
Steven B. Barlow
Electron
Microscope Facility, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San
Diego CA 92182-4614
Teaching and
training users how to operate laboratory equipment is a time-intensive
practice. Many new users are students, who have generally high turnover rates;
after they complete a class project or degree program, they leave the facility.
In addition, users often divide their time among a variety of techniques and
equipment. With episodic usage, researchers tend to forget details of
instrument operation and need to be retrained. Academic core facilities must
balance their productivity against the time it takes to train and retrain an
ever-changing parade of users. Site-specific multimedia teaching and training
resources, such as films, CDs, videos, or DVDs, if easily available in the
laboratory, would enable users to refresh and retrain themselves on equipment
operation.
Videos, CDs, and
websites that highlight the use and theory of operation of equipment, already
exist [e.g., 1-4]. However, these resources provide only general information;
they are not applicable to training users in the operational procedures and
maintenance guidelines for particular instruments in your laboratory. Popular software such as
PowerPoint can incorporate instructional video clips into slide shows, but
PowerPoint¹s inability to edit video clips and modify soundtracks
limits its overall utility in this regard.
In the past,
producing training videos or equivalent teaching aides about equipment
operation required expensive resources: camera, crew, editing equipment, and
the like. However, recent advances in consumer digital image electronics have
powered the development of inexpensive cameras and software for dealing with
video images. There are now several low-cost, easy-to-use programs for
digitizing and editing video images, inserting them into a sequence along with
title boards and still images, then exporting this edited session to a CD, DVD,
or video tape.
The Electron
Microscope Facility at San Diego State University is already using video
editing software to create training CDs for in-house equipment. These CDs
introduce new users to microscopy equipment in a format that enables users to
see and hear a demonstration of the step-by-step operation protocol. After
studying the CDs, new users are tested for their understanding of the
instrument and its operation. They must demonstrate the operation of the
instrument to a satisfactory level to receive Facility clearance to operate the
equipment independently. Using these CDs has reduced the required training time
by half. More importantly, the training CDs ensure a standardized presentation
so that each user receives uniform instruction. The CDs are inexpensive to
duplicate, and, given the ubiquity of CD drives in computers (DVDs in the
future), are readily viewable on or off site at the researcher¹s convenience.
Users who desire a refresher session need only review the CD.
The production
methodology for creating equipment training CDs in the SDSU EM Facility is
highlighted below. The approach is similar to that of presenting a laboratory
demonstration. Note that the following example describes the production
equipment and programs we use but that other software and hardware options
exist.
1) Develop a
storyline and production scenario.
As
with so many other aspects of life, planning reduces the need for subsequent
manipulation. You must consider the instructions you wish to impart, the
scientist who will present the tutorial, and the roles of any other
participants in the demonstration. From these ingredients, you create a
detailed script. If you have been training users for any length of time, you
have already created your Œscript¹:
it is your well-honed presentation of the standardized protocol for a
given piece of equipment. Keep in mind that the Œscript¹ serves as a resource
not only for the people who will perform on camera but also for the camera
operator. For the camera operator, your Œscript¹ must indicate the sequence of
activity, the approximate timing of each shot, whether the camera is zoomed in
or out and at what rate. Before recording the tutorial, be sure the camera
operator understands how to record the parts of the demonstration. Also, have the camera operator practice
zooming‹too fast a zoom, or changing shots too rapidly can be disorienting to
the viewer. Make sure that there is sufficient lighting and that you will not
be blocking the lighting, the camera, or the equipment during the recording. Be
sure to have all accessory equipment or supplies in place. Lastly, remember
that these recordings will take on a life of their own‹whatever you wear, and
whatever your hairstyle, will be seen for years to come; so dress appropriately
and comb your hair! Try a short practice tutorial and critically review it
before embarking on the final shoot. You may notice mannerisms you would prefer
not to record on the final tutorial, and you may find better ways to describe
your protocol after watching and hearing yourself. Although this may sound
daunting, in practice, after producing your first tutorial, the rest come
easily.
2) Record the
tutorial.
We
use a tripod mounted digital video camera, available on loan from SDSU
Instructional Technology Services, to record our sessions. This makes our
subsequent editing much easier. Any video camera is appropriate, however, even
one of the laboratory cameras that has no sound input. You can always add a
soundtrack later, during editing. Before starting to record, post signs at all
entrances to your laboratory that recording is in progress. Turn off pagers and
telephones to avoid the recording of rogue sounds during the recording session.
If something goes wrong or if the presenter misspeaks during the shoot, redo that
part of the scene immediately. It is easier to redo a part of a scene while
equipment and supplies are in place than it is to edit a mistake later, or to
plan to reshoot on a different day. Set up the camera and record all sequences
for a given camera orientation before moving to a different location, even if
it means that your protocol is filmed out of sequence. You will rearrange the
sequences in correct order during the editing. Include short pauses in the
narration‹these pauses make it easier to insert, remove, or replace video clips
or text during the editing.
3) Digitize
the recording.
The
tutorial, once recorded, needs to be transferred to the computer. For this
step, you need a video out connection
from the camera, and a video in connection
to the computer. Digital video (DV) cameras and newer Macintosh computers
running OS 9.1 and higher are configured to exchange video data via Firewire
and the software program iMovie. Plug the DV camera into the Mac using Firewire, open iMovie, and the video clip
playing on the camera is automatically transferred to the computer. A Wintel
machine running Windows XP requires an optional Firewire card to exchange
digital video clips. To exchange video from an analog video camera or VCR, you
need a video capture board and driver, such as the ATI All-In-Wonder card. You
can transfer between analog and digital sources with a card like this.
4) Edit the
recording.
The
latest computer operating systems contain simple video editing software: iMovie
for the Mac running OS9.1 or higher and Windows Movie Maker for Wintel
machines running Windows XP. These bundled programs, and other commercially
available programs, generally open a video viewing window with side and bottom
editing control areas. Figure 1 shows this editing window in the Mac iMovie
program. Import video clips or still images from your camera or VCR and store them to the right of the viewer
as ³slides²[Figure 1A]. You can then edit each clip for content in the viewing
window [1B] and drag it to its proper position in the video timeline below
[Figure 1C]. You can modify soundtracks, if necessary, as part of the video
clip editing. You can create or select new text slides and various effects [1D]
and insert them for effective transitions between segments, much as one would
do in PowerPoint. The final tutorial is thereby assembled step by step in the
bottom video timeline. You can save the tutorial as you create it, but note
that it will occupy a significant chunk of storage space. One hour of
uncompressed video fills about 13 GBs of memory. To free this space, save the
final product in compressed format as a movie.
5) Store the
tutorial.
To save
the recording as a movie at a particular resolution, select Export in the File
window. Depending on your hardware, you may choose DVD, videotape, CD, or
Web-compatible format. DVD or videotape provides the best image quality; the
others suffer various degrees of degradation of resolution. DVD movies display
at 720x480 pixels and run at 30 frames per second. Web movies display at
240x180 pixels and run at 12 frames per second. The CD-ROM format, which can
store about 75 minutes of video, gives an acceptable intermediate resolution
and has the advantage of being a standard accessory on most computers. In
addition, tutorials on CD are easy to copy and distribute. As DVD players
become standard accessories, this high quality format will be the best choice
for recording and distributing tutorials. If you choose to record your tutorial
to videotape, you will have a high quality image but will need a VCR and
monitor to view the tape.
In
conclusion, easy to use digital video editors make it possible to create
inexpensive, site-specific training tools, as well as class-specific teaching
aids for the classroom. Programs such as PowerPoint made production
of a slide show very easy and elegant: the Macintosh iMovie and Windows
MovieMaker bring this same ease of use to video recording. Try it‹I became an
instant fan .The considerable savings of training time on the part of the
facility staff is well worth the initial investment of production time.
[1] EM-Specimen Preparation I & II (1991),
Leica Instruments AG, videotape
[2] The
Principles and Practice of X-ray Microanalysis (1997) Oxford Instruments plc, CD
[3] http://microscopy.fsu.edu/optics/webresources/index.html with virtual light and electron microscopes
[4] The Microscopy Society of America
lists resources for teaching microscopy at
http://www.msa.microscopy.com/ProjectMicro/PMHomePage.html
Fig. 1 Desktop view of iMovie image
editing mode
A- video clip storage area; B- videoclip viewer/editor; C- video timeline; D- text and animations