Are you thinking of using video for teaching and student assessment? On this page you will find some examples of how you can use video in the learning process.
How to use video in your teaching
Videos can be used to provide an overview of a given topic, to explain contexts and connections, as well as for summing-up, joining the dots, and much more.
Students can pause videos, rewind them, and fast-forward over the things they don’t need to repeat. They can also watch a video as many times as they need or want.In short, videos can be excellent resources for learning.
Video is an effective medium if you intend to use PowerPoint presentations in your lessons. You do this by opening the presentation and using a tool such as ScreenPal (formerly known as Screencas-o-matic), which makes a screen recording as you speak over the slides one after the other. Here is an example of a teaching video that uses an existing PowerPoint presentation as its starting point.
It is possible to make video recordings while you write by hand. This can be very useful in mathematics-related subjects. By connecting a writing tablet to a computer, you can make a screen recording as you write.
You can also make recordings using a standard tablet at the same time as you are actually writing using either your finger or a pen.
There are many good reasons for making recordings of your teaching. Some subjects are offered to both on-campus and remote students, so there are benefits in making recordings of teaching carried out on campus available to remote students. It is worth emphasising here that your students may perceive teaching quality in different ways, so as a teacher you should take steps to ensure that you don’t end up with all your remote students feeling that they haven’t received adequate attention.
Another reason for making recordings of teaching during a lesson is that refreshers can be offered to students at a later date. This may be especially useful for students who may have been ill and were unable to attend the original lesson.
Following introduction of the GDPR, it is important to obtain the consent of students who may be captured on your recordings. Be aware that this applies not only to their faces, but also to their voices. Click here for more information about the practical implications of the GDPR for teachers who want to make recordings of themselves while teaching. This page also contains the relevant student consent forms, as well as a list of contacts who can provide you with further information.
Are you looking to produce more ‘professional’ recordings as part of your teaching? Help is at hand! eDU - medieproduksjon offers expertiseand all the advice and help you need.
As a teacher, you may wish to record a short video segment with the aim of stimulating your students to greater efforts and participation in an upcoming lesson.
You can also use videos that others have made and distributed via channels or services such as YouTube or LinkedIn Learning. Such videos offer your students variety, and it may be motivational for them to see people other than their everyday teachers explaining or demonstrating a subject or skill.
When you re-use a video from an external source it is very important to insert a written explanation of its context, relevance and purpose.
In brief, the Flipped Classroom concept involves students working with their learning materials (which will often, but not always, include video) independently outside the classroom setting, enabling classroom time to be used for active learning activities such as mentoring, discussion, clarification, reflection and problem solving.
Many teachers have had positive experiences with encouraging their students to make assignment videos, often in groups. Such assignments can be beneficial in terms of student learning because they will learn how to combine their creative talents with the planning and organisation of the video content. Working together on making a video commonly requires genuine collaboration, as opposed to simple work sharing or ‘co-operation’.
We can also envisage expanded assignments comprising an initial stage involving the production of a video by students as a group, followed by a second stage involving a peer assessment process, in which the different groups provide each other with feedback about their videos. Such a process can boost student effort because it is motivating first to show your work and then get feedback from others.
In isolation, watching a video can be regarded as a passive activity, but it is also possible to organise assignments that promote more active involvement by students in connection with videos.
Are there any activities that students can take part in prior to, during and/or after watching a video? As a teacher, it is perfectly possible, as this link demonstrates, for you to organise such activities: http://snarfilm.no/pedagogisk-videoaktiviteter.php.
Pre-viewing. Prepare yourself before watching. Perform some brainstorming or complete an assignment.
While viewing. Answer questions on an activities form, assemble arguments for and against, identify good quotes, search, find connections or write down your explanation.
Post-viewing. Make connections, discuss content or construct thought maps that summarise the video’s content.
As a teacher, making videos of this type can save you time and may provide a dramatic boost to your students’ levels of activity, involvement and learning outcomes. Here is a screenshot showing a video with accompanying text describing learning activities.
It may be possible, or in some cases even essential, to click on different objects in order to progress to a specific segment of a given video. This function offers the viewer different paths through the video.
Video can be an aid in inquiry learning. This link offers a good example: http://snarfilm.no/pedagogisk-fase2-la.php. Such videos may be of special relevance in health-related subjects.
The aim of instructional videos is to demonstrate specific techniques or to reinforce technical skills training. Watching videos demonstrating procedures and techniques enables students to better develop their practical skills and in doing so, obtain greater benefit from workshop and laboratory lessons.
A little hint! You can also ask your students to make instructional videos themselves as learning assignments. Remember to ensure that rights issues are properly administered so that the videos can be used on future occasions.
Do you need to make a short video segment to explain how an item of software works or to highlight a specific software function? By making videos of this kind available to your students, you free up valuable lesson time for subject teaching. Such videos also ensure that all your students have the same basic information as they continue their studies.
There is no shortage of ‘How-To’ videos on the internet that can be recycled for use in the classroom. USN employees and students have access to the online learning site LinkedIn Learning,which offers a large selection of instructional videos.
Remember that software packages are always being updated.So it makes sense to make introductory software videos as general as possible to ensure that they will continue to be relevant for many years.
Here is an example of a software instructional video:
Video feedback Is about providing feedback to your students using video.
In order to make a feedback video you must first read the student’s assignment. You must then review it once more, from beginning to end, while making comments at the same time as the screen recording is being made.
You can produce a video in which two or more people are talking together, for example on a sofa. This format offers opportunities for highlighting different peoples’ individual opinions and experiences on a topic. You can of course replace the sofa with another, possibly outdoor, setting.
It is possible to make recordings of both Skype and Zoom conversations. This provides cost-effective opportunities to interview people from outside the university environment without having to organise visits by guest speakers or lecturers. You can make videos of conversations with people such as subject specialists, politicians, and business leaders. Such videos will help to reinforce your teaching and will also be stimulating for students who will be exposed to opinions and perspectives from outside their everyday university setting.
Challenges related to the use of video
Video may sound like an ingenious solution, but be aware that there are also some challenges linked to its use:
Some students prefer to have written texts, in some cases because it enables them more easily to speed read, take notes, annotate, insert marginalia and, not least, search within the text itself.
A video deprives the student of an opportunity to ask questions ‘live’.
Organising the viewing of a video can be a nuisance. For example, a student sitting in a public space, such as a classroom, has to organise high-quality headphones if he or she is going to get the full benefit of the video resource.
Other factors include file size and cost. Large video files can become expensive if they have to be downloaded or played using mobile networks.
The implementation of universal design and the GDPR are also placing new demands on teachers as they try to develop video as an aid to teaching.
Snarfilm: what earlier was called Norgesuniversitetet (DIKU) established the term "snarfilm" which is short teaching videos with focus on pedagogical use (norwegian).
Do you need help with professional recordings, streaming setup, ordering equipment or such? eDU - medieproduksjon will be happy to help.
