Deirdre Bonnycastle

I share your concern about platforms. Large educational institutes become entrapped by single tools because that is the reality of administrating IT. Costs of development, training and administration have to be spread out over the expected years of use.

Because I am a faculty developer and don't have to be concerned with fees or marks, I get to be the innovator on my campus much to the consternation and occasional delight of our IT managers. If I don't like a campus tool, I find an alternative. I can experiment and change my mind but the responsibility that goes with that freedom is the hours of personal time I spend learning new tools. Most faculty and students aren't willing or able to put in those hours.

So it's a Catch-22, by the time IT, faculty and students have learned to use Blackboard for example, it is out of date and better tools are on the market. As long as we have traditional universities this will be an issue.

Something else to consider when using video, it took almost 30 minutes for this video to load.

I used VideoWave to create my piece because it will capture DVD movies (my camera only records to DVD). I like its ability to add simple transitions like the Maple Leaf in my video.

What the embed code took out was my thoughts about "talking head" video as opposed to video lessons. I dislike them and therefore don't have a webcam. As some of you know, I get angry when online presenters use Elluminate and don't use PowerPoint because they dislike it when it is necessary for my learning process.

So I'll accept that my dislike of video introductions is equally arrogant and ignores the need of some students for presence.

Thanks Sylvia!