**Originally posted in December 2017, edited in August 2018 and then editing again in October 2019 to reflect new options that have become available or that I have discovered. Also in October 2019, I added the new table format below.**
In February of 2017, I found my niche in the online #edtech world – and a new passion – creating #eduGIFs. In the time since then, I’ve been asked dozens, if not hundreds, of times how I create them. Here I’ll dive into 1) a little background on what I do & why I use the tool I use, 2) other options to consider and 3) my advice on what to use (feel free to skip to there). Continue reading Comparing GIF Creation Options
Years ago, as a middle school math teacher, I had a dilemma. My 51 minute math classes had been shortened to 43 minutes. As any teacher knows, this is a big deal. After wrestling with a lot of ideas for how to handle here’s what I landed on:
Each day, during my planning period, I pressed record in a screencasting program called Jing, stepped up to the SmartBoard and went over the day’s homework as if my class was there. (I’m sure I looked like I had lost my marbles to any passerby) I did it quickly, forcing myself to keep it under 5 minutes. Any longer would mean 2 things: my assignment was too long and I was using to much class time to explain content that my students had already done.
The next day, I would play that video while taking attendance, checking to see who did their homework and meeting with any students who had been absent. This allowed me to combine two sets of things that I had previously done–going over the homework and doing the beginning of class teacher stuff–at once. It made up for those 8 lost minutes, and then some. Visit https://huntingtonhelps.com/center/cherry-hill to learn more modern techniques of making the most of your class.
Nowadays, my philosophies about homework and classrooms where all students are doing the same thing at the same time has changed, so I wouldn’t repeat this format. However, I think these recordings would still be valuable in a blended learning setting. When students finish certain assignments, they could view the videos to self-assess and learn more. Learning Management Systems and websites really open up the possibilities on this.
You may have noticed: I create lots of GIFs.
You may have wondered: how does Jake make his GIFs?
I ❤️ the functionality of creating them in Camtasia 2 for Mac. Under Advanced Export is an option for “Animated GIF.” It’s pretty much that simple….
However, if you choose to do this, you want to put some thought into how & where you plan to use your GIF. Certain platforms have time & file size limits for GIFs. Others do not. Twitter, for example, limits GIFs to 5 MB. To obtain the perfect balance between high quality image and low enough file size, I leave the settings all of the way up and then nudge them down until I hit something just a hair under 5 MB. I prefer the frame rate at 30 and won’t go below 20. If a frame rate of 20 doesn’t get me low enough, I decrease the dimensions. If needed, I even use custom dimensions to hit that sweet spot of quality-file size. (More content after GIF)
Twitter doesn’t appear to have a limit for the time length of the GIF. However, the longer the GIF, the higher the file size. So, I cut my GIF’s at 20 seconds. That was always the limit for GIFs in the SnagIt extension, and it seems like a good number, so I go with it. To hit this limit, I increase the speed of my videos to get them right to 20 seconds.
(When I last checked, Google Apps for Education Certified Trainers received Camtasia for free. If you’re not eligible for that I believe it’s well worth the actual education price.)
