Using Open-Source Blogs (and other Low-Cost Tools) to Create Video-Based eLearning Modules.

Stephen MauWebsite & eNewsletter CommunicationsThe Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario

Download this presentation at: http://devcon.etfo.net

Workshop Description

Have you got some video from a conference or workshop that you'd like to turn into online learning modules? Have you got little or no budget to accomplish this? In this workshop you will see how easy it is to install Wordpress and/or Simple PHP Blog with a low-cost hosting provider, and then use these to create interactive online learning modules. This session also demonstrates the use of low-cost tools for creating and displaying web-standard FLV videos on your blog site.

Workshop Agenda

1. About ETFO & Me2. ETFO Microsites –

examples3. Tools Used4. Installing

Wordpress5. Favourite WP plug-

ins & software

6. Simple PHP Blog7. Converting &

posting FLV videos8. Questions

About ETFO

The professional and protective organization representing 73,000 public elementary teachers and education workers (K -8) in the province of Ontario

Provides the following services: Collective Bargaining Professional Counselling Equity & Women’s Services Professional Development

About Me Professional teacher Began teaching online 10 years ago Learned some web design Love wizards & WYSIWYG interfaces

Why code if you don’t have to? Eclectic use of simple tools to create nice

products Became an e-Learning consultant, then web

content person Not a developer, a content person with

power-user skills.

Past Limiters Moving beyond HTML-based sites

Complicated install process for CMS No knowledge of setting up a MySQL

database with tables, etc. Wordpress

Limited knowledge of CSS and PHP Made it difficult to find the right theme

for a site. The planets have aligned!

ETFO Microsites

Main website: www.etfo.ca Have begun releasing microsites on

Wordpress platform: http://workingconditions.net http://1000moments.net http://innoteach.net

Plan to release more.

CMS Tools

Wordpress: http://wordpress.org Highly extensible blog and publishing platform Many plugins Requires MySQL database

Artisteer for Wordpress http://www.artisteer.com Approx. $150 Create custom themes without knowing PHP or

CSS!!!

CMS Tools (2)

Simple PHP Blog http://www.simplephpblog.com Fewer plugins MySQL not required – flat file database

WS-FTP LE download FTP software to move files to server http://freeware.intrastar.net/ftp.htm

Inexpensive Hosting http://1and1.com 1&1 Business Package

$9.99 per month 250 GB space Monthly transfer volume: 2500 GB Unlimited domains (3 included) 50 MySQL databases with admin panel

Deploy multiple sites with unique domain names on 1 hosting package!

Video Applications

Adobe Premiere Elements About $100

JW Player http://www.longtailvideo.com Free for non-profits Includes a setup wizard for flashvars –

outputs to swfobject 1.5 or embed code Need to use another app to create FLVs

Video Applications (2) CoffeeCup Web Video Player

http://coffeecup.com $39, updates for life Converts videos to FLVs Player displays directory of different FLVs Different skins included

Easy FFmpeg: http://ffmpeg.org ‘Swiss army knife of video converters’ Open-source Not GUI-based

Wordpress Install Steps:

Create MySQL database in 1&1 admin panel

Purchase domain name, attach to folder on site, or create sub-domain

Download WP, modify one file with db info

FTP WP files to website folder Configure admin settings Add plug-ins, create custom template

Slide 23

WordPress Famous 5 Minute Install1. Unzip the package in an empty directory. 2. Open up wp-config-sample.php with a text editor like

WordPad or similar and fill in your database connection details.

3. Save the file as wp-config.php 4. Upload everything. 5. Open /wp-admin/install.php in your browser. This should

setup the tables needed for your blog. If there is an error, double check your wp-config.php file, and try again. If it fails again, please go to the support forums with as much data as you can gather.

6. Note the password given to you. 7. The install script should then send you to the login page.

Sign in with the username admin and the password generated during the installation. You can then click on 'Profile' to change the password.

1&1 MySQL Set Up Information

Database name: db288604240 Hostname: db1907.perfora.net Port: 3306 Username: dbo288604240 Password: ******* Description: Devcon Version: MySQL 5.0 Status: setup started

wp-config-sample.php File// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //

/** The name of the database for WordPress */define('DB_NAME', 'putyourdbnamehere');

/** MySQL database username */define('DB_USER', 'usernamehere');

/** MySQL database password */define('DB_PASSWORD', 'yourpasswordhere');

/** MySQL hostname */define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

/** Database Charset to use in creating database tables. */define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');

/** The Database Collate type. Don't change this if in doubt. */define('DB_COLLATE', '');

SAVE AS: wp-config.php

Favourite Plug-ins

Plug-in Description

Events Calendar Dynamic calendar

Cforms II Form to mail builder

NextGen Gallery Flash photo albums

Si Captcha Captcha codes to avoid spam

WP-dTree Multi-level collapsible menuing

StatPress Website statistics

Plug-in Installation

1. Download plug-in from WP site2. Unzip file to create plug-in folder3. Upload folder to

/wp-content/plugins/4. Login to admin panel, turn on under

Plugins5. Configure

Slide 28

Changing Themes

Download themes, modify Contract out Artisteer software ***

Artisteer Themes - Steps

1. Generate theme in Artisteer2. Export theme in WordPress format3. Upload to /wp-content/themes/4. Select theme in admin panel

Slide 33

Simple PHP Blog - Install

1. Download and unzip the .zip file2. FTP files to your web server3. Visit the index.php page4. Follow on screen instructions

Example: http://leadershipdevelopment.ca

Slide 37

FLV Video - Method 1

Export MPEG, AVI, WMV, MOV to FLV using: Adobe Premiere Elements (if editing required) Easy FFmpeg CoffeeCup Web Video Player

Use JW Player to display FLV in page or blog post Uses a SWF file to display player for FLV file Online wizard to generate flashvars & embed

HTML code

FLV Video - Demo

Convert an AVI using CoffeeCup Upload FLV to

http://etfo.net/devconmovie/ JW Player Wizard:

http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/jw-player-setup-wizard

Embed code in blog page/post

FLV Video – Method 2 Use CoffeeCup Web Video Player

Converts video formats to FLV Creates a SWF package to display in

page Includes SWF, FLV, images, HTML file in

output Use inline tag to display html file in a blog

page or post Or use FLV file with JW Player to display

Can create an index with many videos

Questions/Comments?

Thanks for attending! Contact me if you have questions:

http://devcon.etfo.net > Contact