ICS 311
Screencasts and other Online Lectures

Lectures and Screencasts

Screencasts (video and audio podcasts) replace class lectures. The lectures were recorded by Prof. Dan Suthers based on his lecture note web pages that are now listed as the "Topic Notes" (Notes/Topic-01.html, etc.), which we also call the "web notes".

• The screencasts are available on YouTube.
• The screencasts focus on the most important points from the web notes and textbook, but do not go into all of the details: you will still need to read the notes and/or the textbook for some details. Rather, the screencasts present the most important aspects.
• The screencasts generally follow the same content and organization of the web notes, but Prof. Suthers did not use the web notes directly in the screencast except where they save a lot of time in generating the screencast. They were generated using a screen drawing program (UltimatePen), a Wacom tablet display, and a mixture of images from the lecture notes and my own handwriting. (Prof. Suthers also put in some of my photographs from around Hawai`i to make it more interesting.)
• What would have been a one hour-long lecture on each topic is split into 3-4 screencasts averaging about 15 minutes each, so you can pick and review the parts you need the most.
• If you are using these screencasts in a class taught by another instructor, be sure to pay attention to what that instructor emphasizes, as it may differ from the content of the screencasts.

Since the screencasts follow the web note content and organization, the web notes essentially are a more nicely formatted version of what you see me write out by hand in the screencasts. One strategy is to first view the screencasts to get an introduction, and then look over the web notes and the textbook for more detail. Another strategy that students tell me that they have used is to view them side-by-side, following through the web notes while watching the screencast.

All of the screencasts are available for download in Laulima (be aware they may be taking up disk space in your download folder if you use this format), and all screencasts except Topic 1 can streamed in YouTube without download. (We also used ITunesU, but it has been discontinued.).

They are of resolution 800x600 because this is the resolution of the Wacom tablet and it is sufficient for the kinds of drawings and math we are using.Prof. Suthers recommends watching them at this resolution rather than full screen.

When Prof. Suthers began this series he was still figuring out the technology. Audio has many problems in the first few weeks, but it improves over time.

MIT Online Lectures

Online lectures are also available from the textbook authors. These lectures were recorded in an MIT classroom in 2005, and also broadcast to Singapore. They are chalk-on-whiteboard lectures, but some of you may prefer this style of lecture. Just be aware that they are based on the second edition of the book, and the authors emphasize different aspects of their book.

Prof. Suthers found the same lectures on three sites (and there are surely more). My preference would be for the VideoLectures.net version, but your choice depends on your situation and preferences.

VideoLectures.net

• - Audio is a little muffled
• - Not Subtitled
• + Powerpoint slides in parallel summarizing what is hand written on the board
• + Topical index to jump to segments of video

MIT Open Courseware Site

• + Better audio
• + CC Subtitled (can turn on and off)
• + Has full text transcript
• - NO slides (you must read handwritten chalk in fuzzy video)
• - NO topical index

iTunes

• - No metadata, no slides, just video.
• + Main advantage is you can download to play on your iPad or iPhone.