Video is a powerful medium for sharing ideas. Consider how you might use an instructional video to record the response to a question you get each and every term from your learners? Or think about how you might use video to work through a complex problem that learners struggle with, such as a scientific equation. Video also allows us to see the impossible, through slow motion, time lapses, or simulation. One key affordance of video is that learners can review, rewatch, slow down, and repeat sections of the video on demand.

The use of educational video has become an important resource for use in learning. Video can be integrated as as support for traditional courses, serves as a resource for many blended and flipped courses, and may be the main information delivery mechanism in some fully online courses. Several studies have shown that video can be a highly effective educational tool when used appropriately. Educational video comes in many different forms, below find some examples:

Lecture recordings

 

Screencasts

 

Talking head video

 

Presentations

 

Classroom recordings

 

Interviews

 

Simulations

 

Animations

 

The potential strengths of video as a medium for instruction include:

  • linking concrete events and phenomena to abstract principles and vice versa
  • the ability of students to stop and start, so they can integrate activities with video
  • providing alternative approaches that can help students having difficulties in learning abstract concepts
  • adding substantial interest to a course by linking it to real world issues
  • a growing amount of freely available high quality academic videos
  • developing some of the higher level intellectual skills and some of the more practical skills needed in a digital age
  • the use of low cost cameras and free editing software enables some forms of video to be cheaply produced.

The potential weaknesses of video as a medium for instruction include:

  • unless your video is captioned with subtitles it can be difficult to access for the hearing impaired
  • many educators have no knowledge or experience in using video other than for recording lectures
  • there is currently a very limited amount of high quality educational video free for downloading, because the cost of developing high quality educational video that exploits the unique characteristics of the medium is still relatively high.
  • links to online video may disappear after a while, impacting the reliability of outsourced video
  • creating original material that exploits the unique characteristics of video is time-consuming, and still relatively expensive, because it usually needs professional video production
  • to get the most out of educational video, students also need specially designed activities that are designed to be done before or after accessing the video
  • students often reject videos that require them to do analysis or interpretation; they often prefer direct instruction that focuses primarily on comprehension.

The importance of captioning video 

Closed captioning makes video accessible for people who are deaf or hard of hearing by translating audio into text captions displayed on the screen. By including captions you can make the video more accessible for all learners. You may find that some learners appreciate seeing the text and hearing the audio together for greater focus and dual coding. The captions may also identify who is speaking and the emotions they are feeling, and include icons for elements such as music. Captions are helpful for people who are learning English, as it allows them to see the words as they are being heard. Captions can be generated by drafting a script for your video in advance, which forces you to plan what is going to be said and provides explicit planning. Furthermore, captions allow people to search the transcript of your video which can be useful for search and finding a specific passage within a video. Many online video sharing service have auto-captioning built in, but be mindful that these are only as good as the quality of your audio and clarity of your voice. You may have to edit the captions to ensure they are accurate.

Sharing video online 

If you are using Brightspace, Kaltura now available within the environment. Kaltura allows instructors and students to upload, record, organize, publish, share, view and interact with video. Auto captioning is also built in and can be requested for each video you upload.  Access this link for instructions on using Kaltura and requesting captions. If you are not using Brightspace, you may also share your video creation online with YouTube. Keep in mind student privacy and data that may be in the video in accordance with FIPPA. When you upload a video to YouTube you can make it Public, Unlisted or Private. I suggest you make the videos “unlisted” so they can not be found on YouTube and access will only be granted to people you share the link or embed code with. Access this resource to learn how to set your video as unlisted.

References 

Bates, T. (2016) Teaching in a Digital Age. Chapter 7: Pedagogical differences between media. Retrieved from https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/9-5-3-video

Cover photo by Lance Anderson on Unsplash