Taking risks in education is, well, risky. As I have mentioned in several previous posts, one of my SIF assignments is to work on the hybrid U.S. history sections being offered at GSU this fall. The course is innovative in a number of ways: it takes full advantage of the D2L platform, it has it’s own, custom made (and free!) textbook, and it uses video segments, essentially little documentaries, to supplement instruction and to create a class that meets in-person once a week, and in a virtual classroom on the other. The film segments, in combination with reading from both the textbook and from primary sources, become the material on which Thursday class is based. So, the classroom is also flipped, meaning that it replaces time often spent in lecturing for time spent on discussion or other types of activities that usually get little time in survey courses.
As great as this sounds, there is a little bug in the system so far – very few students are watching the video. Because they are accessed through D2L, the number of students accessing each video can be tracked, and the results to date have been discouraging. This is frustrating – not only because of the many hours that go into producing each video segment but also because the videos are an attempt to engage learners who are supposedly visual, and who will tell you that they don’t keep up with reading because of the medium, not because they are averse to learning.
Now, as Jeff Young (one of the instructors of the course) pointed out to me yesterday, this failure may look worse simply because D2L allows it to be quantified. We can suspect that many students don’t read their books, but this is something we can’t quantify. So, the poor rates of accessing the videos (and the rapidity with which they are abandoned) may be less of a reflection of the course than of the work habits of college freshmen.
But it also reflects the importance of finding a way to maximize the leverage of the videos, to tie them into the course in such a way that students feel compelled to watch them, or are more immediately rewarded for doing so. In the scheme of things, this is a normal bump on the road of innovation, which like many things, is built on failure as much as on success.
Discussion are on-going about how to increase the use of the videos. Any suggestions from the SIF crowd?
A sample video, featuring GSU Senior Lecturer Larry Grubbs
http://youtu.be/vBGTho09wzg
Dylan Ruediger
I agree that the lack of participation is exacerbated by the fact that there is actual data. In fact, you could be quite possibly be reaching more students than before using the videos.
However, I have a few suggestions if you are still open to them.
1) Allow the videos to be played at different speeds. I personally do not know how to integrate this function into YouTube, however, I know it can be done. Most of the videos I watch for class allow me to watch them at 1.5x or even 2x the speed. While it may seem crazy (and at times silly with the chipmunk voices) we as listeners can easily follow speech at faster speeds. Try it yourself if you don’t believe me. Giving learners the ability to change the speed to match how they learn is important and can keep them engaged.
2) How these videos are delivered is also important. Are the embedded? Are they pop-up windows? Do they have to click a link? If you are able, try different configurations with either different classes or different lessons to see if there are different response rates. You also may find that creating a YouTube channel that hosts all the videos played one right after another may be effective (although then your data becomes a little convoluted).
3) When learners watch these videos are they prompted with what the intended take aways are? For example, should I be focusing more on the actual dates of events or how they relate to one another? It would be very helpful both for learning and for attention purposes to give students direction on what they should give the most focus.
4) This is by far my most radical change, but I still think it needs to be said (or written). How relevant is this information to freshmen in their daily lives? How does it relate to them and their goals? My guess is that there are not many ties ins from WWII history – but perhaps there are. It would be interesting if these videos took a different approach from a lecture style to a more narrative approach. The star could be a typical 20-year-old who is experiencing these historical events first hand. He/she could share experiences in losing loved ones in certain important battles and whatnot. Think of it as a more historical fiction story with the purpose of teaching an audience of 20-year-old learner. Perhaps, if there are still videos to be made, you and your team could try it out – I would love to see the data on viewership.
Roxanne – I think you have some interesting ideas, but I suspect that they would meet with resistance from the professors, who are wary of making the videos seem like novelties or, as in the case of your last idea, too far removed from their primary purpose which is content delivery. Stories, like your idea of a historical fiction video, are very powerful, but also kind of dangerous because students tend to interpret them as real. This happens even with hollywood movies that you show in class. They also (and maybe this is the biggest practical issue) are much more expensive and time consuming to film, edit, etc. Considering that these videos are intended as things that will be used twice a week all semester long, the relative simplicity of format — while problematic in some ways, is essential in others.
Dylan, perhaps it is because I am passionate about making lessons meaningful – but what is the use of making videos that aren’t captivating to the intended learners? I think it could be a good thing for students to get swept away in the experience of a historical fiction video that is factually accurate and delivers an instructors desired content.
Getting back to the example I provided, showing history from the perspective of a 20-year-old could still provide all the meaningful content such as important dates, battles, strategies employed, etc. just more in a narrative approach rather than a string of facts and information.
I completely agree that there could be initial hesitation and could require more planning – but if the goal is to engage with students in order for them to remember the details of historical events, I would ask yourselves “Are you actually accomplishing it now?” From your post, you seem hesitant.
As an innovation fellow, I encourage you to push the envelope, to try new techniques, to persuade those around you to think outside the box – otherwise, we are doing the same-as-usual routine.
Again, these are just suggestions to get you excited! š
I’m thinking bullet points might be effective in the videos. I know this isn’t really addressing the issue of students not watching, but it might by making the videos more clearly connected to goals in the course. What are the freedoms? List them out individually and together as Larry addresses them. Maybe then there is an online discussion forum about the 4 freedoms?
Brennan – This is the direction that they seem to be heading in, trying to figure out how to tie videos more explicitly and directly connected to the goals of the course, and perhaps even more concretely, to the goals of the particular session of the course. Some of the newer videos (which were not set up on youtube yet for sharing) are using text/bullet points to direct attention to the primary source reading associated with the video and/or to assignments. The tricky part is doing this without ending up with overly wordy videos that end up becoming kind of narrated texts.
But I think your comment is right on point.