Today in class our guest speaker Rich McCue came to teach us  how to use iMovie, Audacity, and Screentastify.

We covered the following multimedia learning theory educational competency by covering the following technological competencies: audio editing, video editing, and screen capture.

We learnt how to use iMovie to edit videos and I was introduced to green screen, inserting transitions, importing media, using titles, separating and editing audio, splitting clips, audio fade, slowing down clips, etc. Having used iMovie many times in the past in educational, professional, and personal capacities, I am fairly familiar with operating iMovie. However, certain things, such as the green screen, were new to me and I am sure that the skills I learnt today will come in handy for my Free Inquiry project as Madi and I do quite a bit of filming and editing. Here is a short clip showing some of the things we learnt below!

Next, we learnt how to use Audacity to edit audio. I have used Audacity on a few occasions before to try to alter the BPM of songs to slow or speed them up to use for freestyle routines I created when I competed with a precision jump rope team. I found this particular task a bit challenging, but today we mostly went over some basic skills and tools, which overall made the application and its functions a bit less intimidating to me. We learnt how to generate silence, import audio files, split the audio, delete sections, etc.

Lastly, we learnt how to use Screentastify, which is a plug-in you can download on Chrome that allows you to easily and freely screen record. It has some great tools, such as optional use of your computer webcam and/or microphone, and the ability to circle specific things on your screen. This is a great tool for creating personal teaching resources and for corresponding with teachers and students at a distance in the future.

I used Screentastify to record me using Audacity for only about a minute or so. In the video below, I show how to “Generate Silence”, import a music file, select and delete a specific clip of audio, select, copy, and paste a specific clip of audio, and how to play, pause, and stop audio from playing.

 

-Jess