Lights, Camera, Action!

 

We have reached the last month of 2015. The year has gone by quickly and this time of year gets crazy busy. As we scramble around to get ready for the holidays and keep our students occupied, we tend to look for things that can make our teaching lived easier but not be just “busy work” for our students. The learning doesn’t stop and I found it so much easier for us all, my students, and myself, if I kept to the learning routines already established and provide highly engaging learning activities. But how do you do that in an online course?

One way is the use of videos, but not just any video. Students respond best to videos that the teacher has created and they (the students) like to see their teacher in the video. I know, who would have thought. But it is true.  Do you hear yourself saying the following: Wait—I am not going to start creating videos that I have to appear in—I don’t like seeing myself on-camera. I don’t even know how to create a video.

Ok, it does sound a little bit intimidating. But start small. Start with someone else’s video that you have repurposed. YouTube, TeacherTube, SchoolTube, and WatchKnowLearn are good places to find videos. Try searching the YouTube Educational channel for academic subjects. Each of these sites has educational content—some that is downloadable, some that is not. So please follow copyright laws regarding the use of any videos that you don’t create yourself. Any materials that were first published after 1978 are copyright protected. You can find the Fair Use guidelines here: U.S. Copyright Office's educational-use guidelines (PDF).

You can also find a Fair Use Checklist (with guidelines/links) from the University System of Georgia. And, you can always email the video’s maker for permission.

Now I that I have made my disclaimers about copyright—what about having students create the videos?  Book trailers, scene reenactments, public service announcements and advertisements are a few of the types of projects your students can take on to enhance the learning both in the classroom and in the online classroom.

Check out some of these sites for more ideas and suggestions for using video with your students:

• Edutopia’s YouTube channel
• Online Interactivity for Educators: A Teacher’s Tour of YouTube
• Use YouTube to Inspire Young Artists
• Video in the Classroom
• Here is a Must Have YouTube Tool for Teachers
• From Passive Viewing to Active Learning: Simple Techniques for Applying Active Learning Strategies to Online Course Videos
• 5 Video Tools for Your Online Class
• Why Use Video in the Classroom?
• Ten Ways to Use Video in the Classroom
• 11 Better Ways to Use Video in Your Classroom

Find more education infographics on e-Learning Infographics

Peggy Steinbronn, Ed.D.