Tips

Installing VideoPoint without Curve Fitting

Some instructors prefer their students to master data modeling before using curve fitting (since savvy students could simply get the model values right from the fit parameters), we made it so you could install VideoPoint with or without curve fitting. When you run the installer look for the options for installing with or without curve fitting.

Taking Accurate Data

Though the addition of velocity and acceleration plots was a much awaited update to the original version, with this increased capacity came a need for more accurate data taking. The best way to improve your data collection accuracy is to increase the size of the movie window while taking data. To do this, choose Movie->Fill Screen (F8 on Windows) or Movie->Double Size (F7 on Windows,).

Another suggestion is to use some of the larger size markers. If you switch to one of the larger circular markers (select a series, then click on the ), you can center them fairly easily on small dots in the movie.

Finally, if you are trying to take very accurate data, try using the nudge tool to move the selected point ever so slightly.

VideoPoint in Your Curriculum

Video analysis with VideoPoint is an integral part of the Workshop Physics curriculum, available from John Wiley and Sons. Led by Dr. Priscilla Laws at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, the Workshop Physics curriculum is a set of hands-on activities that let the students learn by doing. Since the early 90s, video analysis has been used more and more in the curriculum as the tools have improved through constant student and instructor feedback.

VideoPoint can be integrated into your classroom in many different ways. Lecture demostrations can be given with VideoPoint to show relationships of functions to real data; hands-on classroom activities let the students explore the movies on their own. VideoPoint homework assignments and projects have often produced very interesting analysis of situations that we never dreamed of when working on the software.

Increasing Student Interest with VideoPoint

In general, we have found that students are very comfortable with video on a computer and show interest when looking at the movies in the collection on the CD. However, we have been amazed at how much time the students will voluntarily spend working on VideoPoint projects when they have either shot the movie themselves (e.g., shooting a basketball) or captured the clip from a popular movie (e.g., Goldeneye).

Learning a New Interface

Of course, any time you decide to bring a new piece of software into the classroom, you have to be concerned that the students learn the interface quickly enough to spend their time learning physics instead of learning the software.

VideoPoint's interface has been designed, tested and tweaked through years of in-class testing of prototype and beta software; we have found that the interface is easy to use and students will often pick up the basic skills long before you finish your introduction in class.

Logistics of VideoPoint in the Classroom

Installing VideoPoint
If you have a decent server setup in your classroom, most people find it convenient to install both the program and the movies onto the server instead of installing it on all local machines. VideoPoint does not save any preference files at this time, so you don't need to worry about unprotecting any system files during class time.

Using Movies on the CD
If you don't have the capability of making movies in the classroom, you can still use the movies that are on the CD. We've found that placing a copy of the "Movies" folder on an ethernet-speed network works very well and keeps the students' drives from being cluttered. Because of the way VideoPoint saves files, many people can analyze and save data on the same movie at the same time without any problems.

Of course, placing the CDs in each machine works just fine as well.

Making Movies
You can either capture one movie that all the students can use or you can split the students up into groups and have each group do its own movie. Making one movie is easier, but the smaller groups generate more student interest since each has had a hand in making the movie that they are analyzing.

When capturing videos, it's usually best to have groups of three or four students. Usually, you will need one camera/computer person, one person doing the action, and one either assisting with the camera or the action. Any more than four and people stand around; groups of two often have problems doing everything at once.

Classroom Activities

These are some examples of how VideoPoint can be integrated with the classroom.

• Sample in-class activity
• Sample homework assignment
• Student project highlights
• Some other movies