Developing Multimedia Presentations

For instructors who want to go beyond the classroom and enhance their curricula, Instructional Technology Services (ITS) provides workspace and expert assistance for those who want to create or convert instructional materials into technology-enhanced courseware. ITS offers software applications, training workshops, consultations, and support, as well as audio- and video-editing facilities for enhancing classroom instruction. All ITS services are provided at no cost to Texas A&M instructors and staff.

Camtasia records onscreen actions with the ability to add audio annotations and various types of visual callouts. You can save the resulting video in various formats and resolutions for delivery to students either online or on CD-ROM. Texas A&M has a site license available through the Software Evaluation and Licensing Library (SELL) for you to purchase both Camtasia and SnagIt (a screenshot utility) for $10 at software.tamu.edu.

Impatica converts PowerPoint files into a compressed format that is optimized for viewing over the Internet. You can retain original PowerPoint text, graphics, transitions, and narrations in your exported slideshows. Impatica files are typically 95% smaller than native PowerPoint files and can be easily uploaded to a web site or in Blackboard Vista. ITS provides a university-wide site license for Impatica, which is available at no cost for Texas A&M instructors. Please contact Instructional Technology Services at 979.862.3977 or its@tamu.edu for more information.

Audacity is a free, cross-platform audio recorder and sound editor. Use Audacity to record lessons, lectures, or guest speakers and distribute them as MP3 podcasts. Go to audacity-sourceforge.net for more information.

Inspiration is visually oriented software that lets you creatively think, organize, and build intuitive diagrams and outlines - it's an innovative way to brainstorm and develop ideas by association. Go to inspiration.com for more information about this software.

ITS also provides information about MediaMatrix and iTunes U, which are online campus resources for distributing educational audio/visual content.