Educational Technology

I have been talking often about the learning management system (LMS), Canvas, these past few days. We are switching over to it for the coming academic year, which, according to my calculations, starts in about two and a half seconds.

One of the many features I appreciate about it is how easy it is to record a video of yourself. Within their universal text editor, you have the potential to use video feedback when evaluating a student's work, send along a video as a part of an announcement, or even just create one for a course page.

In a recent workshop I was giving, I was stopped dead in my tracks by one of the participant's comments. “I could never do that,” she said, in reference to spontaneously creating a video of herself for some portion of her course.

I had been focused on how technically easy it is for us to now create video for our courses. It hadn't occurred to me that the struggle wasn't about to end there for some people.

8 Recommendations for Making Videos

In case that resonates with any of you, I offer you eight things to consider when making a video for your class.

Start simple

Videos can get very complex to create. One of my favorite examples of this is Common Craft. They have evolved their business model now, but when they used to make custom videos for clients, they would charge $10,000 to create a 3-4 minute piece.

Scripts needed to be written, graphics needed to be created, and I can only imagine the maintenance it took to get the hand that placed the images in and out of the frame looking that good.

When creating a video for one of your classes, don't start with the idea of creating a magnificent work of art. Instead, think about having a conversation with your class and inviting them to engage in your course in another way, besides reading text.

Use Bullets to Organize Your Thoughts

While you may decide to provide a transcript of your video, I don't recommend reading from a script, as you're creating it. Even the greatest orators make it obvious to us when they're reading off a teleprompter.

Create a list of a few bullets you want to address and use that as your guide. Consider that even if you wind up forgetting to say something, no one will be the wiser (unless you tell them). You can always include additional information in text form, that you use to accompany the video.

Consider having one core story, statistic, or anecdote to use in your video, as a means for generating interest.

Look at your web cam

One thing effective presenters do is make eye contact with various people during their talk. It's the same thing when you're recording a video, except your method of eye contact is going to be through you looking at your web cam, not at your computer screen.

This takes some getting used to, but is worth practicing, for the effect it produces.

Record for the ears and the eyes

My belief is that we should keep things simple when creating videos for our classes. But, one place worth paying close attention to is your sound and video quality. You want good picture quality coming from your web cam, as well as high audio quality that either gets captured from your web cam, or another external device.

The web cam we have heard recommended more than any other is the Logitech HD Pro Webcam.

If the built in camera on your laptop is sufficient, it's generally not a good idea to rely on your computer's built-in microphone. You will typically sound muffled. Instead, consider purchasing an external microphone to capture your voice. While professional microphones can run hundreds of dollars, I've been pleased with the sound quality generated by my new Samsun Go Mic, which only costs around $40.

Switch it up

You can record your voice over a PowerPoint, or you can record just you talking… Or, you can do the next best thing: Switch it up, as you’re conveying your message.

There are many tools that allow you to record a video of yourself (many of which also include the option of recording your slides. I often use TechSmith’s SnagIt for the more simple videos I create, while TechSmith’s Camtasia works great for pieces that are a bit more complex.

If you’re going to record a video of just you, have a couple of props you can hold up to change people’s focus. My husband once used a few of our son’s toys to illustrate his points in a video and people still remember the examples he used today.

If you want to record your slides, consider switching it up some of the time and just talking to the camera with your face filling the whole screen at some points.

Keep it short

It is no accident that TED talks have become as popular as they are. Most of us have ridiculously short attention spans when we are on the internet.

There’s no hard-and-fast rule, but if you can say something in less than three minutes, keep yourself limited to that. The absolute longest I ever allow myself to go is 20 minutes in a single video, but I usually feel like I’ve failed in some way when mine turn out to be that long.

Express yourself

Think about creating some kind of a memory with your video and presenting an openness to your students that will help them feel more comfortable in approaching you.

If you make a mistake, you can go back and correct it, but you also might choose to laugh at yourself a little and show that you’re not afraid of a little failure on the way to learning… just like you’re encouraging them not to fear failure.

You can even consider building in a sense of the unexpected and plan out, in advance, how to capture your students’ imagination. I’ll still never forget this math professor from Biola University and his April Fools’ prank.

Experiment

Finally, instead of spending 20 hours creating what you perceive will be the best videos anyone has ever seen, spend 20 minutes creating a single video that explains a complex topic your students often have trouble understanding.

Better yet, leverage the open access resources (OAR) that are out there for explaining complex topics and keep your video projects as a way of authentically connecting with your students in more informal ways.

What advice do you have for people who are fearful of creating videos for their classes?

Top 100 tools for learning

Jane Hart has launched her 10th edition of her annual top 100 tools for learning list. Each year, she collects votes from learning professionals from around the world, including those in the education and corporate training fields.

This year, she's increasing the total number of tools that will be listed to 200, but will now be differentiating between education, workplace learning, and personal and professional learning. Jane will be releasing her compilation of everyone's votes on October 3, 2016. You can also go back and revisit her 2015 list to discover what people were saying last year.

Ethics and educational technology

One thing I am keenly aware of, as I start to compose this list, is how important it is to keep questioning the ways in which educational technology companies make their money and their level of transparency around how student data is used/protected. Audrey Watters has this superb edtech guide for educators with information that all of us who are using technology to facilitate learning should be aware of…

Especially when we make use of free tools, we should be mindful that no educational technology comes without some kind of price. We need to know what we're really paying when they tell us their tool is free.

My vote on the top 100 tools for learning

The following are my top ten tools for learning, categorizes under Jane Hart's new structure of: education, personal and professional learning, and workplace learning.

Education

PollEverywhere – I'm a big believer in using retrieval -tactics to strengthen student learning. PollEverywhere allows me to pose various types of questions to learners and have complete control over whether their results are displayed and when. Learners can give their answers to the questions that are posed via their smart phones, tablets, computers, or even via Twitter.

Canvas – Our university is switching over to the Canvas learning management system (LMS) in the Fall and I couldn't be happier. This LMS was built from the ground up with mobile in mind and is also strong in terms of making the fewest clicks possible needed to perform various functions.

Zoom – There's something that happens in communication when you can see another person and hear the sound of their voice. Zoom makes one-on-one conversations rich, not to mention entire classes. People can get set up simply and start connecting right away. I especially enjoy their breakout rooms feature, which is easy to use and gives the ability to have people discuss topics in smaller groups.

Plickers – There's something to be said for sometimes leaving the technology outside the classroom. Plickers combine the power of retrieval practice without the distractions that smart phones can bring. Learners hold up cards that are specially printed to allow them to indicate their answer, based on the orientation that they're holding the card. If they hold it straight up, their answer is A. If they rotate it 45 degrees, their answer is B, and so on. The person facilitating the session can capture all the Plicker card answers by scanning them with the Plicker smart phone app. The first time I tried Plickers, I was blown away at how fast those answers got into the app.

Kahoot – Sometimes it can be fun to mix things up and bring in a game show. Kahoot makes it easy to add questions to your game and brings a level of energy and excitement to a class like nothing I've experienced before. It even works in contexts you might not expect (like when I used it with our faculty, who aren't always known for their silly nature, as a whole).

Personal and professional learning

iTunes (podcasts)  – Learning never has to end with podcasts. They are like shows on the radio, but without having to be listening at the exact time the show airs. I listen to podcasts daily, using an app called Overcast, which accesses the iTunes podcast feed for the various shows I like to listen to… I can pretty much never keep up with all the wonderful resources that are out there in the form of podcasts, but it is fun to continually try.

Twitter – My personal learning network (PLN) completely changed when I started using Twitter regularly. Twitter is a social network that's value comes forth when you connect with “people who are like you – and also people who are not like you” (Peter Newbury on Teaching in Higher Ed).

Feedly – I still have fond memories of walking to a nearby bagel shop and reading the newspaper in my 20s. Now that I'm in my 40s, we have far superior newspapers. We can read them on our various devices and customize them to our exact preferences. Using Feedly, I can subscribe to the blogs and news sources that I want and have Feedly keep track of which stories I've read, already, and which ones are still unread. I can send articles that I want to bookmark (save for reference) to Pinboard.in, without having to leave the news reader app that I use. When I stop finding value in a particular source, I just unsubscribe on Feedly and can further increase the value of my virtual newspaper.

Workplace learning

Clarify – Another thing I did in my 20s (but this activity was a lot less fun than walks to the bagel shop) was make documentation. If you ever find yourself needing to build a how-to manual, Clarify will make this process incredibly easy for you. You just walk through the steps it takes to perform a function and have Clarify take screenshots along the way. You can add instructions and arrows/steps/annotations on your screenshots. When you're done, there are a myriad of export options, which can be customized so you get your documentation just the way you want it.

SnagIt – I've never been as concise as I would like to be, but SnagIt helps me move closer to that goal. When someone asks me a question, I can just take a screenshot (a picture of what's on my screen) and draw arrows and add text to give the answer in the proper context. I can also “video” what's on my screen (screencast), whether for the purpose of answering a question, or giving feedback on an assignment.

What tools have you found to be especially helpful in facilitating learning, or in contributing to your own personal and professional development? Comment below, or consider submitting your own vote for the 2016 top 100 tools list.