Lights, Camera, Action! Using Video to Transition your Lectures Online
For many faculty, transitioning a face-to-face course online will mean using personally created video content to replace the traditional in-class lecture. Video pedagogy (i.e. using media as a teaching tool) is a way to be thoughtful and strategic about the development and delivery of digital content used in the learning process (Snelson, 2018). So, let’s talk a little more about how you might use videos effectively for your learners.
While videos can do a lot of things, it’s important to first acknowledge that a face-to-face course won’t be exactly the same when transitioning to an online environment. This means that while videos can be a strategy to replace face-to-face lectures, don’t strive to make a 90-minute video. From my experience, students often watch longer videos 1.5 or 2 times faster than the recorded speed, which makes their goal to simply get through the video content rather than actively listen to, retain and apply information. The first step when creating a video is thinking about how you can thoughtfully break down, structure and organize course content into manageable pieces (e.g. a series of 10-15 minute videos).
Videos can be used in a variety of ways to support student learning. Most often, we think of videos as substitutes for lectures, allowing students to re-watch and download lectures remotely, or a way to add supplemental material to our course content. However, videos can be used in a variety of other ways to support student learning, such as:
Demonstrating experiments where either equipment is not available or the design is too complex for students to independently complete the work.
Providing examples of how to correctly perform skills, methods, techniques, or use tools.
Illustrating models, abstract principles, changes over time, etc.
Substituting for an in-person visit to a field site, clinical environment, laboratory, cultural institution, etc.
Simulating a real-world case study and demonstrating ‘in action’ decision making through embedded quizzes in the video.
Creating learner-generated content through alternative assignments and assessments.
Delivering feedback to students through a conversation and the use of screen capture to identify specific areas in student work that needs development.
Transitioning Your Face-to-Face Lecture into a Video
Before organizing your video content, reflect on how you typically structure your face-to-face lectures. In a face-to-face course many will use Smith’s (2000) bookends approach to support active and collaborative learning. This method starts with a low-stakes engagement activity that recaps or summarizes previous content. Subsequent activities build on the content, alternating between short lectures of 10-15 minutes and learner-learner engagement. You continue this throughout the duration of the class and end with a summary and opportunity for students to reflect on or apply the content.
Image from Smith (2000)
A similar method can be applied to transitioning your face-to-face content online. Start by breaking up your lecture content into shorter manageable videos that students can watch chronologically, much like how they would listen to the flow of a lecture in a face-to-face class. Each video can be structured in a way that provides students with an independent parcel of knowledge, and an opportunity for them to either engage with the content, their peers, or you the instructor. Below is an example of how you can structure a short video.
Introduction
Start with a “hook” to gain the attention of the learner, establish relevance, and increase the motivation for watching. In a face-to-face class or during synchronous online learning, this is easily achieved with a polling or quick discussion question. In asynchronous content, this becomes more challenging to integrate, but not impossible. Think about sending out a survey or a poll prior to the week’s content or embed a short reflective prompt, pose a question about how the content links to the real world, or encourage a prediction of what will happen in an experiment, scenario, or case study. This is an opportunity for learners to understand the importance of the knowledge and encourage attentive viewing (Snelson, 2018).
Make sure to clearly state the outcomes of the video, and what the learners will take away from the content. Articulating this will also help you organize the content, especially if you’re working on breaking up a larger face-to-face lecture into shorter videos. These outcomes might be different than your course-level outcomes, and that’s okay.
Content Delivery
Delivering the video content can be done in a variety of ways and can mirror how you would typically deliver your face-to-face content. This means that you may wish to simply narrate the content you use in your class! To help you with this decision, here are some things to think about:
Being on Camera: Showing yourself on video is a personal choice, so think about if you’d like to be visible as you deliver the content. You may wish to have a video of yourself along with the content, or just the content showing. Whatever you choose, make sure you keep it consistent throughout the video and in your course.
PowerPoint Slides: Will you just be delivering narrated PowerPoint slides? Will you want learners to see animations? Will they need to see and hear videos? Think about what you typically include in your lecture deck, and then work to replicate those same pieces of content in your video. Panopto allows for the integration of YouTube and external media, so don’t shy away from using clips within your course videos. Make sure to follow similar etiquette for slide creation in your video as you would in your face-to-face course – text, colours, and the amount of content per slide is important to consider.
Rhetorical Questions: In a face-to-face class you might use questions to engage learners, check for understanding, and encourage attentive listening. This technique is still valuable in videos. Try integrating questions or encouraging predictions throughout the content, where you question, pause, and answer (Koumi, 2005). Pairing that with a visual cue, like a photo, helps reinforce the importance of the answer and content that students are learning.
Tempo and Pace: While learners can stop and rewind, an engaging video will be considerate of tempo since the pace of delivery impacts your elucidation and annunciation. Be sure to vary tempo and emphasis as you narrate, because these verbal cues are important for reinforcing essential content and maintaining attention (Koumi, 2005). Even more important, just like in a face-to-face class, provide short 2- 3 second pauses between ideas or themes to allow space for students to contemplate what they are learning.
Script: One of the things I’ve learned making video content is to have a script to guide my narration. This ensures that I keep on topic and on time, and helps limit my tendency to use filler words such as “um”, “like”, etc. Using a script provides you and your learners with an additional tool. For learners, this becomes a piece of course text that they can choose to read in addition to watching the videos. It’s also a tool to help you provide captioning for your video content. While Panopto has the ability to caption, it often requires you to go back and check for mistakes and a script can help support you with that process.
Engaging Students
“...the main reason why television did not become everyone’s teacher was because it lacked the very essential quality of teaching: the ability to interact with the learner...” (Rosenberg, 2001, p.22)
Just like in a face-to-face class, it’s important to provide opportunities between video content to engage learners. This can be done in a variety of ways through ungraded or graded assessments. Below are a few suggestions for how you can engage learners while they are working through your video content.
Embedded Quizzes: You can embed questions into your video through Panopto. Using questions like this can be a great way for students to receive immediate feedback on their knowledge comprehension.
Polls: Use a poll question at the beginning and/or end of a video to ask your students what they think, to share their experiences, or to check their understanding of the content. Then share that data with your students either in real time results or in a summary at the end of the week.
Short written/video responses: Have students respond to a problem, a reflective prompt, etc. at the end of the video. This can be submitted using a variety of tools integrated into Brightspace, such as a journal submission, short answer response, or even a short video from the student. This is a great opportunity for you and the learner to begin a conversation about their knowledge comprehension.
Discussion boards: I use this in a lot of my videos! I like to end on a juicy question and then prompt learners to head over to the asynchronous discussion forums to engage. This allows students to replicate in-class discussion and provides an opportunity for students to connect with each other.
Pair or Group Debrief: Encourage students to break off and discuss the content together. This can be done through the choice of asynchronous (discussion boards, email, collaborative documents) or synchronous (Collaborate, online chat platforms, telephone!) methods.
“Smile - You’re on Camera”
Now that you know a bit more about how to move your face-to-face lecture online via the use of videos, you can begin breaking down specific classes in your course into short video modules. Remember that you don’t have to do everything but going back to Smith’s (2000) bookend approach will help transform the use of videos as a passive learning experience into one that engages your learners through a variety of active learning opportunities.
Go on, hit record, and be adventurous! And don’t forget to share your accomplishments with the Dalhousie community on Twitter with the #DALonline and tag @DalCLT and myself @jillmcsweeney!
References
Koumi, J. (2005). Pedagogic design guidelines for multimedia materials: a mismatch between intuitive practitioners and experimental researchers.
Smith, K.A. (2000). Going deeper: formal small group in large classes, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 81.
Snelson, C. (2018). Video production in content-area pedagogy: a scoping study of the research literature, Learning, Media and Technology, 43:3, 294-306.