I just had an interesting experience related to a pure distance-learning class I am teaching. I’m relating this to broach a subject near and dear to my instructor heart. As I was getting the same old take-out sandwich at the same old Subway today, a student came up to me and said with a big smile that he was taking his first online course and that he liked it. It took a minute for things to register for me since I was right in the middle of figuring out if I wanted mustard or mayo or both . The student was talking about the course I am teaching! And it hit me that he recognized me from the short videos I make and post to establish a rapport with my students. What warmed the cockles of my heart was the fact that I was succeeding in my attempt to establish a connection with my distance-learning students with video.
I bring this up because it’s evident that far too many faculty have the idea that making a video is a Big Deal. Maybe it brings to mind that room with the green wall, big lights, microphones, and two or three technicians with huge cameras. Since it seems like such a special experience, it’s easy to put off trying video, figuring that you need to get set for your Big Experience on Camera. This is an incorrect notion, and it’s silly. It’s not silly because it might be a new experience for you. It’s silly because it’s a horribly out-of-date way to think about video, what it takes, and what its purpose is.
Making a video these days is not like it was just five years ago. Today it takes only a small digital camera like the one you probably already own switched to its “movie” mode. It doesn’t take special lighting, and it doesn’t even take a tripod if you just want to set the camera on a few books or duct tape it to the top of a wine bottle like I do. You start the camera, look into it, and talk. It’s even easier if you have a webcam with a built-in microphone on your desktop or built into your laptop (most laptops have them now). With this you can just log in to a hosting Web site like YouTube (accounts are free) and record right into the hoster’s Web site!
I use both of these techniques to make a forty-five-second or so “hi theres” to a class, a brief explanation of an important assignment, or even just an introduction at the start of a term. To make sure that everyone knows that it’s me talking to this specific class and that it’s not just the video equivalent of a form letter, I make sure I say something that clearly puts it into the timeframe of the course—such as the term, a recent class or news or sports event, or the weather.
When you stop the camera after making a “minute movie” like this, you have a choice. You can upload it as it is to a hosting service (I use and recommend YouTube), or you can do some editing on it using Windows Movie Maker (PCs) or iMovie (Macs) and then upload it. This lets you eliminate passages where you stumbled or wish you had said something differently. But don’t get hung up on the idea of editing your short video productions. Editing is not really all that necessary for these kinds of “here and now” short videos. That’s why I typically record directly into YouTube, and I don’t even plan on editing. Timing is of the essence here, not carefully planned, lengthy, and orchestrated content. Short is better. Less is more. It’s the you that video and voice convey that establishes and helps maintain a connection, not a talking-head lecture so long that it becomes tiresome.
Did you catch the notion here? This kind of connection-building video is not a major production. Its importance is in the moment, and its charm is its spontaneity. That’s what contributes to your distance-learning students seeing you as a human being rather than a name attached to e-mails. Try it. It’s easy, it’s free, and your learning-management system readily accepts its placement in a course for viewing by your students. Video delivers you in a way that people know you when they bump into you and feel connected enough to walk up and talk. Isn’t that what you were aiming for in class all along?
It would stand to reason that the ID’s focus should be on relating to his or her audience by giving information in various ways that is relevant, usable and connected to recall. In this post, Janossy speaks about how making a web video is an important piece of e-Learning. For the e-Learner who may not be a visual learner having a web video connects the learner to a more personal platform that brings the learning into a 3-D focus that almost mimics in-class lecture.
The learner is able to make a visual connection as well as hearing the information and for Laureate Ed. videos we also are given subtitles which adds a third dimension to the video. I think that people are naturally drawn to images that make a connection and having a video professor helps the learner relate to the information in a whole new way.
In the past, I have taken on-line classes where the information was written down and the text book was the only means of reference. For me, I am not someone that learns by reading the material. I have to analyze and ‘chew on it’ for a while before I can synthesize it enough to talk about it in an intellectual manner. I really need that human interaction to help me synthesize the material or I really struggle with it. I find that my learning is hindered without the ability to speak to someone about the problems I may be experiencing as well. I know in today’s society, it is much easier to ‘text’ or ’email’ a person rather than call and have personal dialogue with them but I find it very frustrating that written word can be misunderstood and more ‘text’ and more ’emails’ have to be sent. While I can relate to the value of having technology at my fingertips I can also see the downside as well.
As to Janossy’s assertion that making these short video’s are easy I would have to disagree to some point. People trained in technology and who use it often have a better understanding so it is easy if you know how to use it. Some people can’t grasp new concepts of texting with the use of a blackberry or even know how to go about sharing the video once it is recorded. People who use new technology every day or are exposed to new things forget that not every aspect is easy for everyone to learn. I’ve heard my friends remark on how they can’t program a DVD player or turn on and play a Wii game but they use their blackberry like an extension of their bodies.
I believe these barriers of the ‘unknown’ may be the reason some professors do not use all the technology available to them. I would propose to change the learners thinking there needs to be more opportunities for peer counseling and technology seminars to these people who may need training or more help. So I would conclude with this by saying that the use of video is extremely important to add texture and dimension for visual learners however, there needs to be more opportunities for people to train on technology that is new to them in a venue that is comfortable and understandable to reluctant users.