Video Analysis Test 1
Recording of Immersion class on 1/28/04, written 2/2/04
Using Hi8 Analog Camcorder
Drawbacks to this technology is that it is not in digital, but can be by using a Digital8 camcorder. Although I tried playing this tape in my Digital8 and it did not play. Perhaps that was a function of my previous camcorder not this current version. Why is digital necessary? It decreases download time, I think. The quality is better. I noticed in playing back this tape, the video was quite pixelated. It was not a sharp crisp picture. Any transfer is probably going to increase loss of fidelity. Digital camcorders are the only way to go.
Lighting is important. Having only a background light, hid the face of the instructor. While we can't bring in extra lights like a movie set, we can make sure that the lighting is appropriate for video recording. This means having light shine on the face of the teacher. And having as little background lighting as possible, this includes light emitted from computer screens.
The audio quality in the straight ahead angle was quite good. However, all of the students were very quiet. There was no background noise. It's hard to extrapolate the sound recording of the camcorder in more difficult conditions. I could see how the camcorder's audio could be deemed useless in a hands-on activity. The classroom is also quite a bit larger than an elementary classroom. There is less echo and reverb than we might encounter in the classrooms. Possible alternative is to use an external unidirectional microphone that picks up better quality sound. It would need to be turned in the direction of conversation.
Coverage is also a problem. I set up the camera on a tripod. I did not man the camera through the class. I was lucky to have a teacher who did not move off screen even though I did not have the whole classroom in the viewscreen. A mobile teacher would demand a high corner angle to get full coverage with an unmanned camera, or someone who turned the camera to follow the teacher. I found that the disturbance of the camera minimal on the tripod, whereas once I started moving the camera around, people did notice that they were now in view. Manning of the camera is good because there can be good usage of the zoom. This allows the video and visuals to speak for themselves much better. However, this will not be feasible for us, especially if we want to take a separate set of field notes. A second person to man the camera still affects the children and maybe the teacher. This causes descriptive validity problems. It's probably a bit unethical to be so obtrusive. Perhaps this is a mode we could turn to in the case of some kind of microanalysis of student-teacher interactions later in the research design. By getting total coverage, we can use the recording of teacher reflection as a separate audio track. This would involve the teacher watching, commenting, reflecting on what happened in the video. This could be done the same day after school or maybe a few days later allowing the teacher some intermediate personal reflection time. Professional development literature suggests that teacher reflection is a powerful way of changing teacher beliefs and improving teaching. This whole process is then an ethical mode of inquiry.
Using Hi8 Analog Camcorder
Drawbacks to this technology is that it is not in digital, but can be by using a Digital8 camcorder. Although I tried playing this tape in my Digital8 and it did not play. Perhaps that was a function of my previous camcorder not this current version. Why is digital necessary? It decreases download time, I think. The quality is better. I noticed in playing back this tape, the video was quite pixelated. It was not a sharp crisp picture. Any transfer is probably going to increase loss of fidelity. Digital camcorders are the only way to go.
Lighting is important. Having only a background light, hid the face of the instructor. While we can't bring in extra lights like a movie set, we can make sure that the lighting is appropriate for video recording. This means having light shine on the face of the teacher. And having as little background lighting as possible, this includes light emitted from computer screens.
The audio quality in the straight ahead angle was quite good. However, all of the students were very quiet. There was no background noise. It's hard to extrapolate the sound recording of the camcorder in more difficult conditions. I could see how the camcorder's audio could be deemed useless in a hands-on activity. The classroom is also quite a bit larger than an elementary classroom. There is less echo and reverb than we might encounter in the classrooms. Possible alternative is to use an external unidirectional microphone that picks up better quality sound. It would need to be turned in the direction of conversation.
Coverage is also a problem. I set up the camera on a tripod. I did not man the camera through the class. I was lucky to have a teacher who did not move off screen even though I did not have the whole classroom in the viewscreen. A mobile teacher would demand a high corner angle to get full coverage with an unmanned camera, or someone who turned the camera to follow the teacher. I found that the disturbance of the camera minimal on the tripod, whereas once I started moving the camera around, people did notice that they were now in view. Manning of the camera is good because there can be good usage of the zoom. This allows the video and visuals to speak for themselves much better. However, this will not be feasible for us, especially if we want to take a separate set of field notes. A second person to man the camera still affects the children and maybe the teacher. This causes descriptive validity problems. It's probably a bit unethical to be so obtrusive. Perhaps this is a mode we could turn to in the case of some kind of microanalysis of student-teacher interactions later in the research design. By getting total coverage, we can use the recording of teacher reflection as a separate audio track. This would involve the teacher watching, commenting, reflecting on what happened in the video. This could be done the same day after school or maybe a few days later allowing the teacher some intermediate personal reflection time. Professional development literature suggests that teacher reflection is a powerful way of changing teacher beliefs and improving teaching. This whole process is then an ethical mode of inquiry.
posted by John Baek @ 10:38 AM
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