A new twist on training [2015-01-02]

The countdown to the 2015 projects continues, and we are excited that we will soon be back in the schools to set up more Reneal IEO low-cost computer systems!  During the holiday break, we’ve been addressing one of our key mission elements, teacher training.  The Reneal IEO computer system is packed full of resources for students and teachers: educational programs, on-line research material, videos, and administrative tools.  However finding the time for more than just some basic orientation training for the teachers is always a challenge; plus, there is only so much content that a person can absorb at a time!  Thus we have been searching for a way to provide on-going training support to schools after we leave the system in their hands.

A year ago I started experimenting with an Open Source program called “recordMyDesktop”.  This easy-to-use utility allows one to make a video of what’s happening on a computer screen along with accompanying audio.  I made a few basic training videos for Reneal IEO then (as well as some videos to leave behind at my company as I headed toward retirement).  However as we talked with the teachers in Tanzania this year, we heard a common theme of wanting more help using the various resources included in the system: the School Blog, the applications, and so on.

I finally got the headset back out in late December and got started on expanding the Reneal IEO video collection.  We’ve had to do some experimenting to get better sound quality, and Neal has done a lot of work on converting the .ogv files from recordMyDesktop to MP4 format.  We’ll be putting these training videos on the new servers we install in 2015 as well as loading them on servers installed in prior years.  As in many endeavors, the first attempts could be better.  However we have made significant progress in improving the video and audio quality.

So far, we’ve created and archived video tutorials for the following applications and features included in the Reneal IEO system:  the Kalzium periodic table of the elements program, the Kalzium molecular editor, the KTouch typing program, creation of KTouch lecture files, the KHangman and Kanagram word game programs, the Lybniz math function graphing program, the Marble geography program, creating and approving posts to the intranet School Blog, and using the Philippines grade templates.  I have a list of other videos to create, and we’ll continue to solicit input and feedback from our valued customers, the teachers at the schools served by Reneal IEO. 

We hope that these training videos will help both new and experienced teachers learn about capabilities available on the system, so they can in turn bring this new knowledge to their students.  The exciting thing to me is that the server resources aren’t just about learning IT, but learning in other subject areas as well: math, science, English, and so forth.  Perhaps it’s something that only an engineer can love, but I’m enjoying my time as a video star making these tutorials!  Check out the Reneal IEO YouTube channel here or click the YouTube button at the top of this webpage.