04 June 2013, 12:29

We see real potential in utilising Video and Audio in Mahara both for relfection and evidence.  Is anyone using it a lot in this way. If so, how is that going?

I'd really like to see an integration with Kaltura or some type open source Media Streaming Server.  Other than utilising YouTube or Vimeo the experience of uploading Media isn't great without a media streaming server. Sometimes it's not possible to use YouTube etc as the relfection and evidence gathering can be sensitive and private.  It would really transform how students go about doing this.

Ideally they would:

• Record their evidence with a smartphone or tablet
• Send it to their Mahara files or to display on a particular page (without needing to know its cleverly being converted for streaming in the background)

If that could happen I can see the use of Mahara surging massively!  It's the way assessments will be going as the ease of recording and the good pedagogical principles behind it will drive it in many subject areas.

04 June 2013, 15:41

Hi Sam:

That would be interesting, though I've heard mixed reviews of Kaltura as an open source solution.

Just a note: both YouTube and Vimeo have private options, while still allowing for embedding on Mahara pages that can be public or private.

04 June 2013, 20:02

I'm with Don on this one - as well as unlisted videos on YouTube & Vimeo, you could use something like SoundCloud (which also has an app for recording from mobile devices) to host private audio.

Due to file sizes and quotas at our institution we strongly encourage people to embed content from an external source, rather than upload it directly.

Phil

05 June 2013, 11:09

One complication which came up recently on another forum thread is that if your students use externally hosted video, it can cause problems if you need them to archive their portfolios.

(Of course, that's only an issue if you have strict archival requirements.)

04 June 2013, 18:19

You can upload video,pics,etc to Mahara from a smartphone or tablet using MaharaDroid ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nz.net.catalyst.MaharaDroid&hl=en ) or PortfolioUp ( https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/portfolioup!/id398444044?mt=8 ). These just pop the media into the user's "Files" area, and then they still have to choose a Page to show them on through the website, so it's not super well integrated yet.

And of course there's the "internalmedia" video player to support playing the videos in Mahara. Although, video files do tend to be rather large, so if students will be uploading those you'll want to make sure you've got plenty of storage space, and increase the default file quota for each student.

Cheers,
Aaron

05 June 2013, 9:16

Thanks for your responses. Yes, we do encourage unlisted videos on YouTube and Vimeo however that isn't enough to satisfy certain subjects where information can be very sensitive (think Nursing for example).

Given media is going to be an integral part of e-portfolios, hopefully a solution for the management and streaming of it is something being thought of.

05 June 2013, 21:30

We do have our own internal streaming media server as well: http://hml.yorksj.ac.uk/ - it's a product called Helix Media Library.

This allows our students to upload content to a system that we host and support, rather than external sites like YouTube etc. We can set various levels of privacy, from public, to just staff and/or students, or just students on a particular course etc.

We also have Camtasia Relay, which has an app called Fuse, so students can record video from their mobile and upload it directly to the Media Library. They can then grab the embed code and embed the videos into their Mahara portfolio.

Phil

16 March 2016, 10:51

Hello,

You can find the results from our initial investigation into recording audio and video in Mahara directly on the wiki. Please let us know what you think, if you've heard of other possibilities or prefer a certain approach to continue the discussion.

Cheers

Kristina

16 March 2016, 23:39

Having video and audio recording capabilities would be a fantastic addition. A few things come to mind:

POODLL has done this in Moodle for a long time and  I have seen it be a game changer in how teachers and students use Moodle in various scenarios. With POODLL going premium  I think that there is a good chance of long term support for this. For example, could there ever be the ability to have some editing capability (trimming for example) of a recorded audio/video? 
Regarding implementation I think I would prefer a Media block type as opposed to TinyMCE. The construction of a page is primarily achieved by using blocks. Adding more buttons to the TinyMCE would make it less intuitive. In my mind, the less WYSIWYG, the better. Having a designated Video/Audio recording blocktype would integrate better into the overall approach. For example potentially better stats, better search, more intuitive re-using of recordings in pages, adding default video recording block to page templates etc.

A block type approach would of course complicate how audio/video would be used in Journals as I can not drag blocks into Journals and can only add via the WYSIWYG unless there could be an entirely different type of journal called 'Video Journal' If I really want to engage learners and ask them to develop reflective practice, I think there is no way around not to use video/audio but it needs to be made easy.

Going the app route makes sense for many reasons, especially for providing some video/audio editing capability I think. I think it would be great if I could drag recorded videos into my pages via a designated block.  

13 April 2016, 14:04

Hello Dirk,

Thank you for your thoughts on the audio/video recording capabilities and suggestions. We are going to take it up again more after the 16.04 release.

I do see the advantages for a media blocktype, but as you write, integration with journals would be tricky and being able to record media for journals would be good. We might start out with one implementation that could then be expanded further once it works successfully.

Cheers

Kristina