I decided what I wanted to do for the last assignment was to show you how to function minimally in Minecraft but to do that I would need OBS (open broadcast software) so I could screencast Minecraft and overlay my video, but I needed to download OBS and then remember how to work it. It occurred to me that I could show you how to do that plus I could show you in Zoom. It turned out to be more complicated than planned but I learned quite a lot in the process.
For one thing, I could not get the whole thing to work in one go so I needed a video editing software. To edit my video from Zoom I need to figure out how to use Windoze Photo app, which took a lot of figuring out. None of this was straightforward so I learned more than I had set out to do today, and in the end was challenged and enriched by the process.
Hope you enjoy the result. If you're new to OBS and think you can use it you'll need a 15 min run through like this to save you 15 hours trying to work it out on your own.
https://youtu.be/DemBDdI5i8s
I've been working with OBS for a couple of years now. In 2017 I produced this slide show to present my work at conferences. I've embedded the above video in the slide show, which you can see here, https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12KL1390JLzBsopdsMLMi6ZHNC23CEzT2biNp0mCOV3M/edit?usp=sharing
ReplyDeleteFantastic. I used OBS before but found it quite tricky to use. So, your explanation is extremely useful.
ReplyDeleteVance Stevens looks like a great tool. Not sure I have understood very well what you use it for. Can you clarify what you can do with it that you can't do in zoom... Could I not stream in zoom and talk at the same time? Sorry, this all new to me....
ReplyDeleteZoom is primarily for meeting and recording is an added plus. OBS is designed for streaming and recording is an added plus. It streams very well video games to YouTube. It would also stream a webinar to YouTube. We did this in the past, when we feared to exceed the concurrent user limit of a webinar. We added a stream to YouTube like an overspill room so that people could at least listen in. Comparing both solutions is a bit like comparing apples and pears.
ReplyDeleteHeike Philp thanks
ReplyDeleteVery interesting! My 10-year-old son was addicted to Mine Craft several years ago.
ReplyDeleteI'm not versed with this field, but is
Google Project Stream similar to OBS?
Also, how do you connect this whole thing with language learning?
Yuko Kato to answer your first question, I had to look up Google Project Stream and from what I can see the two are totally different. OBS allows you to record to your computer or stream live a game you have installed on your computer and are already playing, and OBS is available worldwide. GPS is in beta, available only in the USA to people who can obtain one of a limited number of codes, the beta ends in January, and GPS allows you to play a game you don't already have online for free, in a chrome browser. I think it streams the game to you. With OBS you stream whatever you are doing on your computer out to the world (and / or record it to your computer).
ReplyDeleteThe question about what Minecraft and other virtual worlds have to do with language learning is a good one and I'll address it shortly.
Vance Stevens Thank you for your response. I think Google Project Stream is yet experimental, but I'm sure it will be available worldwide some day.
ReplyDeleteWhat I understand is that it will allow players without a good video card/computer to play an online game without any lag.
Anyway, although I don't understand 100%,
I do see that is a very exciting project!
Now, I wonder it would be easier if I use GPS and Camtasia 2018. I could record Second Life with Camtasia without any problem.
For the second part of your question, what is the language purpose of this. I co-wrote an article which might be a good starting point, Smolčec, M., Smolčec, F. and Stevens, V. (2014). Using Minecraft for Learning English. TESL-EJ 18, 2. Available: http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume18/ej70/ej70int/. This gives many examples of students using MC to practice and improve learning a FL.
ReplyDeleteSeveral of the colleagues who appear in this article, as well as Heike Philp, have formed a community EVO Minecraft MOOC. The purpose of this community is to help teachers experience the affordances of MC for communication, critical thinking, problem solving ... all elements underpinning real communication i.e. the desire to learn and use a language. How this community works to introduce teachers experientially to participatory cultures online is explained here: Kuhn, J. and Stevens, V. (2017). Participatory culture as professional development: Preparing teachers to use Minecraft in the classroom. TESOL Journal 8, 4:753–767. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.359 and http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tesj.359/full
Yuko Kato i had forgot that the full text of Kuhn and Stevens is not yet available until after a certain period of time. Here is an alternative reference where you can get the full text of a recent publication about EVO Minecraft MOOC. It explains how EVO Minecraft MOOC helps teachers to understand the participatory culture which players enter and how to apply the affordances of the game to language learning contexts, Stevens, V. (2017). Gamifying Teacher Professional Development through Minecraft MOOC. In Zoghbor, W., Coombe, C., Al Alami, S. & Abu-Rmaileh, S. (Eds.). Language Culture Communication: Transformations in Intercultural Contexts. The Proceedings of the 22nd TESOL Arabia Conference. Dubai: TESOL Arabia. Pages 75-92. Available: vancestevens.com - vancestevens.com/papers/evomcmooc_TACON2016.pdf
ReplyDeleteThat is so interesting. Thank you! I asked my 11-year-old son if we could do something similar with Fortnite, and he said MC is more suitable for practicing English as you build a house to fight with Zombi? (-;
ReplyDeleteYuko Kato you would be welcome to join us in January-February in EVO Minecraft MOOC. We have several there who participate with their kids. The experience is fun for the kids, they improve their English, and it's eye opening for the parents. It's free and we do it because we ourselves learn so much. For more information on how to join in EVO, http://evosessions.pbworks.com. For EVO Minecraft MOOC, https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/112993649763396826671; look for posts there from Jane Chien, one of our co-moderators, who participates with her son Mattie.
ReplyDeleteVance Stevens
ReplyDeleteThank you! I would definitely like to see how teachers teach a language through "maikura."