Spoken Tutorial Technology

Introduction

This series showcases all the technologies used for the creation of spoken tutorials by the in-house production team of the Spoken Tutorial Project, IIT Bombay.

The tutorials have been contributed by Prof. Kannan Moudgalya, the PI of the project and Mrs. Nancy Varkey, Senior Project Manager of Content Creation Team.

1. What is a Spoken Tutorial

• Demo of a spoken tutorial through live recording and play back
• It is instructional material: one can try out the commands in parallel by pause and rewind
• One can use this procedure to explain any software - in fact, anything that one sees on the computer screen
• 4 Quadrants for additional study material: show Linux file attributes and LaTeX bibliography
• Such a recording facility is available for Windows through Camstudio, a FOSS system
• Show the spoken tutorial that explains the use of Camstudio
• In Linux, recordMyDesktop can be used for this purpose - a spoken tutorial will be available soon
• 1st step - Outline: Divide software into Levels of training, further split into 10 minute spoken tutorials; see the outline of Scilab
• 2nd step - Script: Show the script for this tutorial
• 3rd step - Narration and recording: Already explained
• 4th step - Translating in local languages: Show English, Hindi, Bengali script of getting started with Scilab
• 5th step - Dubbing into local languages: Show the spoken tutorials on dubbing and editing through moviemaker
• Mention that we will have such tutorials for Linux using software, such as, Audacity and Kdenlive
• Show English, Hindi, Bengali spoken tutorials on Scilab getting started and letter writing using LaTeX in Tamil
• Explain the benefits of English video and local language audio
• How study plans can be used to teach even advanced topics: Show LaTeX and Scilab
• How this technology can be used to bridge digital divide: buying train tickets, locating low cost agricultural loans, getting primary health care and first aid, etc.
• Spoken tutorials are free and available from http://spoken-tutorial.org
• Target audience: remote child, for self learning
• List the honoraria
• Who all can create spoken tutorial - create a numbered list
• Benefits of spoken tutorials
• Show the wiki page for a list of ongoing projects and invite participation
• Show http://spoken-tutorial.org and the contact us button
• Welcome participation on six numbered items and other esoteric activities
• List out the subsequent spoken tutorials
• Show funding support and say thanks

2. Creation of a spoken tutorial using Camstudio

• How to create audio-video tutorials using screencasting
• Uses of screencasting
• Introduction to Camstudio
• Download links
• Main menu options
• Capture area settings
• Video options
• Cursor Highlight options
• Audio options
• Follow mouse options
• Program options
• Setting Keyboard shortcuts

3. Creation of a spoken tutorial using recordMyDesktop

• About recordMyDesktop
• Introduction to recordMyDesktop
• Installation using Synaptic Package Manager
• Main menu options
• Advanced options
• Video options
• Cursor options
• Audio options
• Follow mouse options

4. Dubbing a spoken tutorial using Movie Maker

• Brief introduction of Movie Maker
• Overview of the different panels
• Open a new project
• Import media
• Add media to the time-line
• Mute the original audio
• Set the parameters for narration such as Input Level
• Demo narration
• Move the audio clip
• Save the project
• Create a movie
• Explanation of video quality settings for the finished movie

5. Editing a spoken tutorial using Movie Maker

• Brief introduction of Movie Maker
• Overview of the different panels
• Open a new project
• Import media
• Add media to the time-line
• Explanation of the VCR Controls
• The SPLIT button
• Layout of the timeline
• Icons of the timeline
• Deleting portions of a video
• Adding portions to a video
• Extending the length of a video-clip

Audacity and ffmpeg

6. Dubbing a spoken tutorial using Audacity and ffmpeg

• Install Audacity once through Synaptic Package Manager
• Listen to the original tutorial
• Time the begin time of each sentence
• Open Audacity
• Start narrating with appropriate pauses between sentences
• Record in one go
• Split the audio into sentences
• Starting from the back, slide the clips to match the noted timing
• When done, save the audio stream in ogg format
• Using ffmpeg commands, separate the video component from the original tutorial
• Using ffmpeg again, merge the dubbed audio and the seperated video component to create the dubbed tutorial

7. Editing using Audacity

• Open Audacity
• Supported file formats
• Import audio file
• Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Effects, Change levels, Structure

8. Guidelines for recording and narration

• Recording comprises of two simultaneous activities that is Narration and Screen casting
• Guidelines to be kept in mind before recording a spoken tutorial
• Guidelines to be kept in mind while recording a spoken tutorial
• Submission of a dummy recording
• Guidelines on narration
• Guidelines on screen casting
• Validating the spoken tutorial

9. Guidelines for a Campus Ambassador

• About the Campus Ambassador Programme
• Eligibility to become a Campus Ambassador
• The responsibilities of a Campus Ambassador
• Instructional activities to be coordinated by Campus Ambassadors
• Training for Campus Ambassadors
• Physical Items for Campus Ambassadors
• Other benefits for Campus Ambassadors
• Great work to help the society
• This will help the students
• How to become our Campus Ambassador

10. Side-by-Side Method

• Learn what is meant by the side-by-side method
• Learn how Side-by-Side method helps learn one command at a time
• Method to learn slowly or fast using spoken tutorials
• Learn WHERE the required material for a spoken tutorial is available
• Message for workshop organisers

11. Spoken Tutorial Forums

• About Spoken Tutorial Forums
• About Spoken Tutorial Forums webpage
• How to view all previous questions posted on forum?
• How to sort on various column headers?
• Register on the Spoken Tutorial website
• View forum questions
• Post a new question in forums
• Answer a question in forums
• Search via keyword or video time
• Important points to remember about forums

12. Spoken Tutorial Supplementary Material

• About Spoken Tutorial Project
• Recommended web browsers
• About Spoken tutorial Basic, Intermediate and Advanced levels
• About Instruction sheet
• Various sections in the Instruction sheet
• About Assignments
• About Installation sheet
• About Code files
• Demonstration on how to use the code files
• About Additional reading material

Contributors and Content Editors

Nancyvarkey