The University of Central Florida
Helping enhance online courses
Before Visual Communicator
According to Michael Sheehe, a member of UCF's Course Development and Web Services, the department previously used a variety of expensive hardware and software combinations including broadcast cameras, professional studio lights, and a number of video editing and special effects software to produce its videos for online courses.
"When we started producing videos for online courses, we hated the fact that it took so much time and so many people to create one video," says Sheehe. " We knew we needed to find a scalable and sustainable solution."
Looking at multiple video and presentation solutions on the market, CDWS came across Adobe® Visual Communicator® software. After one look at its unique features and price point, CDWS decided to purchase it and research its possibilities. "For the price, I was simply amazed by Visual Communicator's technology and feature set," says Sheehe. "It's amazing that Visual Communicator combines multiple products into one software package, while still being able to keep it easy to use and cost effective."
With the increasing number of faculty members adopting mediated online courses, the University of Central Florida (UCF) now has well over 1,700 courses online. To help the faculty connect with students who are taking online courses, UCF's Course Development and Web Services (CDWS) partners with the faculty to utilize advanced media for instruction in the online environment.
Streamlining video creation process
Visual Communicator helps UCF streamline the process of creating videos for online courses, enabling CDWS to focus on more advanced video projects. With Visual Communicator it now takes one person — instead of three — to create a video.
"With point-and-click ease, Visual Communicator is very straightforward and simple for faculty that don't have a lot of technical background. Faculty without any prior knowledge of Visual Communicator can learn how to use it in less than 15 minutes," says Sheehe.
