The Digital Content Library (DCL): How to Video

The DCL has created a fun and helpful YouTube video providing instruction on why and how instructors can digitize materials used in class or out of class. Check it out!

Reserve Films and the DCL

Instructors: If you have films from your personal collection that you would like to share with students, the Language Center will place your films on reserve for students to check out and view in Jones Hall. However, many students find the necessity of viewing the films during business hours restrictive. We strongly encourage you to consider the Digital Content Library (DCL) as an alternative to placing films on reserve in Jones Hall.

In the case of subtitled films, the readability of the digitized version may be insufficient for some students, and in those cases, you may consider both putting the film on reserve, and having it digitized through the DCL.

You can check the DCL catalog and view films at: http://dcl.umn.edu/, and learn more about this service at Elsie Speaks.

The DCL: Planning ahead for media-rich courses

CLA language instructors: The Digital Content Library (DCL) is an efficient way to share films with your students. The DCL is pleased to digitize films, but as their services are growing in popularity, they would greatly appreciate as lead time as possible. The Language Center can help by submitting content to the DCL on behalf of language instructors. When planning classes that are media-rich, please contact your departmental liaison or email elsie@umn.edu to discuss your needs.

The Digital Content Library: The U of M's answer to YouTube

What do the Human Language Series, an esteemed linguistics instructional series, and Skärgårdsdoktorn, a popular Swedish medical drama have in common? They are both protected and shared through the Digital Content Library (DCL) at http://dcl.umn.edu/.

The DCL is a combined resource of the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) and the College of Design (CDes). It offers media in multiple forms, including video. This digital video is password protected and available only to U of M students, faculty and staff.

The video available through the DCL is of average quality, equivalent to clips on YouTube. It may not be the best choice for showing a full-length film in class, but it's an excellent resource for sharing shorter clips in class, or allowing students to watch entire films at home.

By request, almost any item in the Language Center video library can be digitized for instructional purposes. Currently, over 125 films in the Language Center film library have been digitized, some in their entirety, and some only select clips. You can search for films on our website at http://filemaker.cla.umn.edu/LangCtr/findrecords.php. If the film is available through the DCL, there will be a link at the bottom of the item detail page.

As a bonus, the DCL has given us DVD copies of VHS tapes that have been digitized. As part of the digitizing process for tapes, the DCL must make a DVD first. We have been given permission to circulate these DVD copies, and many VHS tapes have been archived and replaced with DVDs in our library. The DVDs are of no better quality than their VHS originals, and they lack standard DVD menus, although they do have chapters set approximately every ten minutes. When these DVD copies have been put into circulation, the original VHS tape is no longer available for check out.

Circulating these burned DVDs is a good option for films that are not commercially available in the United States. However, whenever possible, we strongly recommend that instructors purchase films on DVD instead of relying on a DVD copy of a VHS tape. The quality of a purchased DVD is far superior to a copy of a tape, and purchasing the standard format when available (currently DVD) will help us stay within the spirit of copyright protection.

If you have never visited the DCL, you should definitely check it out at http://dcl.umn.edu/. You'll be amazed at the wealth of materials available for you and your students.

Technology Tips to Prepare for H1N1

We are offering some quick tips for instructors to use technology to minimize the negative impact of H1N1, whether it affects 1 or 2 students or a large number of students.

1. If you are not using any course management system yet, this should be a good time for you start using one. A course management system, such as Moodle and WebVista, offers convenient tools for instructors to communicate with students, to distribute course content, and to conduct class activities online. The University supports both the WebVista and Moodle course management systems. To request to have a site set up for your class, go to http://webvista.umn.edu/forms/request-site.shtml for WebVista, or http://www1.umn.edu/moodle/instructor/request.html for Moodle.

2. Use Netfiles. Netfiles is a file-storage resource with collaboration and sharing features. With Netfiles, you can upload class-related files and share them with colleagues and students. Current UMN Staff, Faculty and Students are eligible for a NetFiles account. To activate your account, go to your internet account options page at https://www.umn.edu/myaccount.

3. Use iTunes U to distribute audio and video content to students in the form of a podcast. iTunes U provides both restricted and public access to educational content and makes the distribution of audio, video or pdf files to your students an easy task. To sign up for an account, go to http://itunes.umn.edu/

4. Use the Digital Content Library to deliver copyrighted movies and other audio/video content. To find out more information and to submit content, go to http://dcl.umn.edu/

Other tools that we recommend include Media Mill and Media Magnet for creating, managing and distributing media content, and Camtasia Relay for capturing your class. Please contact the Language Center for help if you are interested in using these tools.

Stay healthy!