Gutenberg

If you are here to learn how to upload the free e-books from project Gutenberg onto your Amazon Kindle then click here  or scroll down

I continue to be impressed with the use of short videos as a method for teaching people how to do things.  I suspect that the process of creating such short videos is an even more powerful tool for re-enforcing learning, and can create an asset that others may find useful.   Projects such as the ever impressive Khan Accademy http://www.khanacademy.org/ with its 2500+ instructional videos and associated tutor eco-system is worth  taking a look at if you have not already done so.

Youtube http://www.youtube.com/ and video jug  http://www.videojug.com are full of great examples of short videos that demonstrate howto do things, thought of variable quality. It is always easy to criticise others efforts , having watched a few of these, read some materials on best practice  and thought a bit about what makes a good one work, I thought I would have a go at creating one.

I recently found out how to load free books from Project Gutenberg onto my Amazon Kindle and thought that it would be a good subject, it not being mentioned on the amazon instructions and on the basis that e-readers and OER are likely to be a thing of the future.

While the cost of a 2 min advert on commercial TV can be  many times more than the annual budget of a small school, I thought I should set myself some design goals and constraints:

Design goals

1. The final video should be no longer than 5 minutes in length.

2. After viewing it most people would feel confident to have a go at exploring Project Gutenberg and be able to download an e-book to their PC, connect their Kindle and upload the book.

3. Compared with a written howto it should give the viewer more confidence to have a go.

4. The aim was for the viewer to feel as if they had a friendly instructor sat beside them and to keep personality out of the way and focus on activity.

Design constraints:

1. On the basis that most people are short of time, I set myself a goal that it should not take more than 1 hr to plan and film the material, no scripts, a  simple structure outline

2. Use simple software tools that are free.

3. To minimise risks and assumptions and for it to more than instruct, for it to motivate someone to have a go.

To see how it turned out click below: (best viewed full screen)