Video can be a great way to enhance your blended learning classroom, creating opportunities for working directly with individual students, giving directions on complex tasks and providing remediation on skills that some students might need to practice.
Tip 1: Keep it Short
When it comes to video creation, time is of the essence. Research on instructional videos shows that learner engagement with videos begins to drop after the 6-minute mark—and it falls dramatically after 9. So it’s essential to chunk instruction such that each video covers a single learning objective or task, and nothing more. Multiple short videos are better than one long video.
Tip 2: Minimize the Use of on Screen Text
Studies also show that the best instructional videos are highly focused, use visual cues to highlight key information, and minimize the use of on-screen text.
In her video on the big bang theory, high school science teacher Moira Mazzi uses compelling visuals and clear annotations to explain a complex idea to her students. This keeps student attention on what Mazzi is saying and gives students an idea of the key terms and ideas they need to record in their notes.
Tip 3: Recording Tools to Upgrade Your Videos
Upgrading a few of your recording tools can make a big difference on the quality of your videos.
Microphone
Your smartphone and laptop come with this feature built-in (which you can enhance by plugging in any earbuds with a microphone, like Apple’s), or you can invest a little in an external microphone for better sound quality.
Screencasting
Quicktime screen recording works great for creating short instructional videos just remember to upload your video to YouTube once you've got it where you want it. Another free option is to use Loom. Loom has a great set of features and will automatically eliminate the need to upload videos, you can share them directly from Loom. Click here for a short video on how to use Loom for screen recordings.
iPad
Screen recording on your iPad can be a great tool for creating short instructional videos that involve any sort of hand written formulas or annotations. Follow this link for instructions on creating instructional videos with you iPad.
Tip 4: Make Your Videos Interactive
Research shows that when students take notes or answer guided questions while watching, they retain material better than students who watch passively. Embedding questions in your instructional video using programs like Edpuzzle can improve student interaction and provide you with invaluable formative assessment data. Students should think of video-watching as a task they perform actively in order to learn.
In this video on the Pythagorean theorem, math teacher Michael Krell embeds frequent checks for understanding and provides feedback for students who get those checks wrong. Students are free to jump ahead to key points in the video to test their mastery of the material, if they so choose. Krell makes paper copies of the video slides for his students so that they can take notes as they watch.
Step 5: Have Fun and be Yourself
Videos in which the instructor speaks in a natural, conversational manner, with an enthusiastic tone, are the most engaging. In our experience, students really appreciate knowing that it’s their actual teacher behind the video.
In this video on states of matter, for instance, middle school science teacher Demi Lager lets her personality shine through. No matter how interested students may be in solids, liquids, and gases, her warm tone and sense of humor are likely to keep them engaged.'
Andy Swickheimer, Director of Technology
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