Biographical Information

Articles for Paul Riismandel

What Higher Education Can Learn From Podcasts: How to Go Long

Why do long-form video lectures get dull in a hurry, while long-form podcasts remain engaging? Because podcasts are built on conversations.

Educators, Embrace the Power of Video Editing and Trim the Fat

Think there's no way to trim that glorious hour-long lecture down to a tight six minutes? Think again. Edit it into a concise video that students can easily absorb.

Streaming Video in Higher Education Has Had a Slow Evolution

Colleges and universities were among the earliest adopters of online video, but getting it right took some time. Here's a look back at a 21-year history.

The State of Education Video 2016

Both inside and outside the classroom, video is as essential to students as email and Wi-Fi. Look for live streaming to increase in higher-ed, especially for popular events.

Buyer's Guide to Education Video Platforms 2016

If you don't currently use a video platform to manage your college or university's video content, it's time to start. Here are the critical factor to think about when making a choice.

Online Students Do Not Learn By Video Alone, Finds Study

Streamed lectures, it turns out, are a poor replacement for classroom learning. To help students absorb what they hear, add interactive activities to the curriculum.

When Putting Lecture Videos Online, Keep ’Em Short and Sweet

Why replicate the worst aspects of college lectures when posting lecture videos online? Instead, edit those massive videos into more usable short takes.

The Problems With dSLR Video: Shaky Focus, Jello Artifacts

Call it the price of progress: Low-priced dSLRs have made cinematic video mainstream, but they're no substitute for camcorders.

Educational Videographers Need to Make Time for Creativity

While the school year is a hectic one for video teams, it's important to carve out a few hours to meet together and think creatively about upcoming projects.

Cash in on Video Learning Boom by Offering Advanced Instructions

There are thousands of online video lessons available, but many gaps to fill. Companies and colleges should look to the niche topics they can deliver.

Video Platforms Bring Guest Lecturers to the Classroom

Thanks to platforms like Skype, Google Hangouts, and Apple FaceTime, instructors can break up the routine by bringing in a guest or two.

When the Producer Becomes the Student: Creating Classroom Video

Recording video lectures is a challenge for even the best professors, since they don't get live feedback. The producer needs to step in and fill that role.

The State of Education Video 2015

From flipped classrooms to MOOCs, video is at the very center of education in 2015. But are colleges and students getting their money's worth?

Buyer's Guide to Education Video Platforms 2015

Your school's video has value, not just for learning and assessment, but for training, promotion, publicity, recruitment, and more. Make sure you choose an education video platform that helps you maximize that value while keeping your video secure and well-managed.

Educational Institutions Need to Preserve Video Assets Better

While some colleges and universities have redundant systems in place to safeguard video files, others are haphazard about video organization.

Found in Translation: How to Stream Video in Multiple Languages

Reach out to an international audience. Here are video translation steps to follow for strong results, as well as expert tips for high quality.

It's Elementary: Schools Should Teach Basic Video Literacy

Just as today's workers need to know how to write a clear and effective report, tomorrow's workers will need to know how to present their message on video.

With Online Video, the Classroom Becomes a Laboratory

Using data from Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), researchers are discovering how to make online learning—and online video—better.

Educators, Adopt 4K Video Now and Get Ahead of the Curve

While ultra-high definition video is years away from becoming the viewing standard, there's no reason to wait that long for video production.

Kaltura Enters Lecture Capture with CaptureSpace

Software-based system designed to let schools that haven't started using lecture capture to start doing so cheaply, using Open Capture Standard

Colleges Need to Teach the Teachers to Produce Quality Video

Technical snafus can disrupt lectures and frustrate instructors. For strong results, colleges and universities need to think about training ahead of time.

The Problem With Flipped Classrooms: Teachers Shoot Lousy Video

Educators are recording video lectures for students to watch outside of class, but they're often terrible quality. Here are easy fixes for lectures worth watching.

The State of Educational Video 2014

The proliferation of mobile devices and the surge in popularity of the flipped classroom mean that video is at the head of the class in today's schools.

Rochester Institute of Technology Embraces the Flipped Classroom

Online video lessons viewed at home let university professors get the most out of classroom time, and students reap the rewards.

How to Choose a Captioning Service

Few content publishers have the know-how or resources to do their own captioning. Here are the issues to explore when selecting a service provider.

Play and Learn: Why It’s Time to Gamify Educational Video

Gamification keeps students engaged, yet it's been underused in classroom video. It needs to take a giant leap forward -- and the games need to be fun!

CreativeLive Launches 24/7 Educational Video Channels

With a catalog of more than 500 video courses in topics covering art, business, music, video, and more, CreativeLive brings video education to users around the world, 24/7.

CDNs Offer More Than a Quick Byte

Nowadays, CDNs are jazzing up their menus with value-added services such as transcoding, content management, and monetization. Want fries with that?

Authenticity Is Key for Educational and Training Videos

What separates useful educational videos from laughably bad ones? To be successful, they first need to feel authentic to the audience.

Flipped Classroom Model Taking Off, Thanks to Online Video

A new report from Sonic Foundry and the Center for Digital Education shows instructor and student benefits from a video-driven flipped classroom approach to learning

Online Video Disrupts Higher Ed, Streaming Courses to the Masses

Massive Open Online Courses are reinvigorating the way we use educational video -- and video is changing online learning.

Learning by Design: Go Beyond Performance in Educational Video

Anyone creating educational online videos should discover the principals of instructional design, which emphasize what the student learns.

Research Report Charts the Rise and Challenges of OTT Video

An in-depth survey of over 750 media industry professionals looks at the growth of cord-shaving, the importance of rights management, and the continuing problem of bandwidth limitations.

New York Schools Choose Ensemble for Media Sharing and Delivery

SUNY and NY6 schools have adopted similar measures for sharing digital media and controlling costs.

Attention Colleges and Universities: Kill the Lecture!

Lectures are outdated, ineffective, and just plain dull. Online video is ready to take over, delivering information in a far better way.

Online Video Lets Professors Flip the Classroom

In a trend called "flipping the classroom," college instructors have students view instructional videos online before class, so that classroom time is put to better use.

Three Paths to Lecture Capture in Higher Education

Learn how Duke University, UCLA, and California State University-San Marcos all took different approaches to offering lecture recording for students.

The State of Education Video 2013

Online video is flipping the classroom: students view instructor videos at home, then do homework in class for maximum teacher-student interaction.

What’s the Path to Purchase for Video on Campuses?

Video use is growing at colleges and universities, but who makes the call on purchasing systems is often not clear.

How to Create a Video Strategy for Colleges and Universities

Captions, interactivity, and lifespan management should all be part of a comprehensive video strategy.

Having an Online Video Strategy Is Crucial for Higher Education

Campuses need to think about their streaming video needs before choosing a solution. Here are the factors to consider and the questions to ask.

Kaltura Upgrades its Cross Campus Media Suite

Version 3.0 brings cross-course sharing and new LMS plug-ins

Sonic Foundry Mediasite 6.1 Simplifies Multimedia Presentations

Mediasite moves from lecture capture to online video management with online storage and editing.

Higher Education Faces a Storm of Change with Video at the Center

Video is transforming how college students learn, but creating a video strategy takes careful planning.

The State of Education Video 2012

With universities like MIT and Stanford using online video to expand their reach, and with technology and platform vendors investing serious dollars into the educational market, 2012 is shaping up to be a very exciting year for video in schools.

Academic Job Market Growing for Video Professionals

Despite the slow economy, colleges and universities are recognizing that they need specialized professionals for digital and online media production.

Lecture Capture: A Bold Idea to Make Classroom Learning Flexible

Recording lectures for use out of the classroom seems to help in-classroom performance.

Educators and Students Benefit from Video's Power to Connect

Whether it's in the classroom or not, video can play an important role for teachers, students and coaches, helping them build one-on-one connections.

R.I.P. to the Flip, a Camera that Made a Big Impact in the Classroom

The Flip camera was dead simple to operate, inexpensive, and never needed a USB cord. For those reasons and more, it was beloved by teachers.

Online Video E-Portfolios are Coming into Their Own

Schools that provide a seamless, video-rich e-portfolio are giving their students a leg up in advancing to colleges and the job market

Educational Video in 2011

Video is no longer novel on college campuses. While video's not quite as ubiquitous as textbooks, it's getting there.

Class Act: Good Times

There's never been a better time to be using video in education

Class Act: Learning in HD

Despite the move towards HD for online video, there are still use cases where SD is the best fit

Kaltura Announces Cross-Campus Education Suite

MediaSpace lets colleges create their own YouTubes, letting everyone contribute online media.

Class Act: It's Not About the Equipment

Class Act: Navigating the Hallways of Academia

Video.edu News: Adobe, Bucknell University

Adobe opens up the eLearning Suite to the Mac, while Bucknell University's Video-Rich virtual tour wins a Webby award

Class Act: The iPad and the Flash Challenge for Elearning

Apple's public brand has been polished to a bright luster over the last decade. But it's fair to say that Apple has always had a special place in the education worldsince the introduction of the Apple II. Thus, I anticipate that educators will pay a lot more attention to the iPad than they have to any previous tablet or e-reader.

Video.edu: Video Remixing, and the Pain and Pleasure of iPads

USC's Stroome online video suite leverages Kaltura for remixing, while at least two universities are blocking some iPads from campus networks

Video.edu: iPad U?

Seton Hill to give incoming first-year undergrads iPads; Adobe's CS5 offers tools for educators

Video.edu: U.S. DOE Releases Technology Plan, C-SPAN Puts Thousands of Hours Online

Video figures prominently in the Department of Education's National Education Technology Plan, and C-SPAN has created an online video library with 160,000 hours of content.

Video.edu: UCLA Starts Streaming Again, OpenCourseWare Consortium Raises $350,000

Citing the TEACH Act and fair use, UCLA asserts that streaming copyrighted content is a legit educational use, while the OpenCourseWare Consortium gets a boost from universities across the globe

Video.edu: Library Alliance Defends Streaming, Yale Admissions Goes Viral

In the latest education video news roundup, the Library Copyright Alliance says that streaming films is just fine, while Yale channels Glee for a new admissions video.
Wed., Feb. 24, by Paul Riismandel

The Tipping Point: 2009 Education Video Year In Review

Video.edu: Education Video News Roundup

In this new biweekly feature, we'll keep you apprised of the latest developments in education video news. This week: UCLA suspends online video and President Obama's 2011 budget proposes big changes for education technology funding.
Tues., Feb. 9, by Paul Riismandel

Class Act: Where’s the Teaching Camera of Today?

Class Act: Form to Enhance Function

Class Act: On Production Values and Flipping Burgers

There's a tangle of ideas embedded in the concept of production values.

Class Act: Making Educational Video More Accessible

Though many sites offer a bevy of educational video, there is still no central hub for academic content that spans the web.

Class Act: Preserving Your Video Legacy

With the last distributor of new VHS movies giving up the format, it is time for educational institutions to think about what video they have stored in this medium.

Advanced Learning: Education Year in Review

The use of video in higher education has moved beyond mere lecture capture.

Futurewatch: Education—Critical Decisions

2009 will be the year educational media goes beyond podcasts and becomes truly mobile.

Adobe's New eLearning Suite

The Adobe eLearning Suite, which includes the brand-new Captivate 4, takes aim at both rich media presentation tools and conferencing/collaboration platforms with offerings that should appeal to both academic users and enterprise training departments.
Tues., Jan. 20, by Paul Riismandel

Futurewatch 2009: Big Opportunities, Big Challenges in Educational Video

It’s an exciting time to be working in educational media, but it’s also a critical time as we make decisions on platform, content, format, and management that may well determine the equality of students’ learning for years to come.

Class Act: What Makes for Compelling Video?

Faculty profile videos are a good way to get people excited about your institution, but only if you have something to show.
Tues., Dec. 2, by Paul Riismandel

Class Act: Educating the Next Generation of Online Media Makers

The maturation of online media will demand an increasing level of sophistication in production, design, and distribution. So who's training our future online media innovators?
Mon., Nov. 3, by Paul Riismandel

Class Act: Intellectuals' Property Rights

How should we balance protection and openness when it comes to educators' intellectual property?
Tues., Sept. 30, by Paul Riismandel

Class Act: Is DIY the Way to Go for Educational Institutions?

With a DIY approach to online video, you're substituting one resource for another—time for money. It's not a bad equation, particularly if your institution is just testing the waters, but it is wise to recognize that trade-off at the start and budget learning time as an investment in your school's online success.
Fri., June 27, by Paul Riismandel

Class Act: What's Your Digital Media Strategy?

These days, most learning institutions take the necessity of investing in their websites seriously. But when it comes to digital media, I feel like it’s 1998 all over again.

Futurewatch: Education

To CDN or not to CDN? That is the question for schools in 2008.

Gimme Five: Rich Media Presentation Systems for Education and the Enterprise

By carefully assessing your needs and comparing them against the features of these five rich media presentation systems, you're likely to find one that meets your requirements.
Tues., April 15, by Paul Riismandel

How to Manage Video Content in Higher Education

Managing online video content isn't simple, easy, or cheap. Yet, when the use of dynamic content management systems (CMSs) for websites has trickled down within reach of every blogger, it’s frustrating to realize that the same kind of management for digital media has not necessarily made the same journey, especially in education.

Class Act: We're Educational Media Professionals

What's in a name? Plenty, and it's time that those of us whose job is to coordinate digital media to make their case.

Class Act: The Future of Educational Video?

It's time digital media becomes an adjunct to writing for college students and instructors, and schools, colleges, and universities should provide basic audio and video production skills.
Fri., Nov. 16, by Paul Riismandel

Class Act: ROI in the EDU

Increasingly, educational technologists are asked to weigh the costs in money and labor of technologies with tangible, demonstrable returns.

Changing in a Flash

Just because Flash Video has leapt to the forefront of consumer content delivery doesn't mean it's time to abandon all other formats within the academy.

Commentary: Class Act—Educational Media: Changing in a Flash

The academy is a breeding ground for technological innovation, but sometimes lags behind when it comes to actually adopting it. Such is the case with Flash—universities are beginning to deploy it, but slowly.

Commentary: Streaming in the Ivory Tower

Educators can learn a lot from the enterprise side of the streaming media industry, where ROI and audience data comprise core metrics. Likewise, the rest of the industry can learn a lot from educators who are faced with making media pay off with very tangible results: better grades and better jobs.
Sun., May 6, by Paul Riismandel