Overview
I use videos extensively in this course, so I thought that I would provide you some additional information about my videos. Since your ability to view these videos is very important in this course, you will notice that I make these videos available in several different (and redundant) ways, as described below. Make sure to watch my video "Videos, Podcasts, & iTunes" about getting and playing videos.
I have two types of videos for this course: Lecture Videos and Administrative Videos. Lecture videos are the main course videos, typically two per chapter (one for the lecture and one for Excel.) Administrative Videos are "extra" videos that I make throughout the semester, typically video answers to students' questions. Each individual video is often called an "episode."
My lecture videos are "public," but I still retain the copyright to these videos. My administrative videos are not copyrighted.
There are four general ways to get these videos. They are:
1) Click on the video link in the chapter topic on Moodle.
2) Click on the video link in the lower right side of Moodle.
3) Use iTunes to download the videos to your computer, and to play them.
4) Use iTunes to move the video "podcast" to your mobile device, or Podcast Republic to get the podcast to your Android device.
Regardless of the method you use, the videos are always the exact same videos.
Video Links (RSS Feeds)
The course videos are managed with "RSS feeds" which are single "XML" files. The feeds for these files are as follows:
http://www.rjerz.com/c/bs/Podcasts/bsu.xml (Subscribe in the iTunes store.) This is the URL to the main lecture videos.
http://www.rjerz.com/c/bs/Podcasts/bsu_A.xml. This is the URL to the "administrative" videos.
These are essentially URLs to the videos. If you click on any of these links, some browsers (such as Firefox and IE) will show you "human readable" contents, and some browsers will show you the XML code. If you do happen to see the contents, you can click on an episode to download or play them.
Method #1 - Play Within the Topic on Moodle
I will always provide a link to the videos for each chapter within the appropriate topic. When you click on a video link in Moodle, my "Flash" player will open and show you a list of videos (left side of this player) that are for this topic. You can click on the "All" button in this player (lower-left corner) to see a list of all the videos available to this point in time. By clicking on the video title on the left side, the video will load and then "stream" to your computer.
For streaming video, your Internet bandwidth should be at least DSL. Also, your browser must have the Flash player installed (http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/).
This method is a very convenient way to view videos when you are behind your computer. If your device cannot play Flash (e.g., Apple iPad, iPhone, iPod), then this method of viewing these videos will not work, and you will have to use one of the other methods.
Method #2 - Use links from Moodle's Lower-Right Side
All videos are shown in the lower-right corner of Moodle. For most folks, clicking on this link will cause your browser to download the video. Once downloaded, you can play the video from your computer with your favorite video player. I suggest using the QuickTime player, but many other players such as Windows Media Player will play these. These videos are MP4 files, encoded with H.264, so most video players can play these. I have noticed that some tablets, such as the iPad, will "stream" these videos instead of downloading them. Give it a try.
Method #3 - Download Using iTunes
You can use the free iTunes software to get the videos. You can copy the URL from above, and then in iTunes, select Files | Subscribe to Podcast, and paste the URL into this dialog box. Then, the list of all available videos will show up your iTunes "Library" in the "Podcasts" link. The beauty of this method is that the video list will automatically refresh whenever I add new videos (episodes) and you can configure iTunes to always get all of the episodes. That's it! Easy! Once the videos are on your computer you will not need to worry about having an Internet connection in order to play these videos.
For any video URL that shows the "Subscribe in the iTunes store" icon to its right, you can get these by searching for the video on the iTunes store, and then "subscribing" to the podcast. Since only Lecture Videos are in the iTunes store, the copy/paste method in the previous paragraph is the more generic approach.
Method #4 - Use iTunes to move the video "podcast" to your mobile device, or Podcast Republic to get the podcast to your Android device.
This method is an extension of Method #3. Simply plug your mobile iDevice into your computer and the videos will download to it. Or use your iDevice to get and manage the videos. Wow, videos on your iPhone, iPod, or iPad! This really cool method allows you to "study" anytime. You can "study" (listen to videos) while you walk across campus, wait for your plane, drive on the highway, wait for your doctor, relax in bed, etc.
If you have an Android device, the product "Podcast Republic" seems to work well. You can copy the URL from above and then paste it into "subscriptions" in Podcast Republic.
I really like this method because it allows you to maximize your productivity. Whenever you have an idle moment, do some "studying" for this course.