Academics as film makers

Wayne Britcliffe & Simon DavisE-Learning Development TeamUniversity of York

Pedagogies and support

Models of video use (non-exhaustive)

Demonstration (Learning & Teaching Support)

Experiment technique ChemistryBiology

200130

Assessment Support

Virtual Field TripStudent Presentation Critique

Naturally spoken languageVideo driven case studyStudent developed video

EnvironmentEd StudiesChemistryPro Org DevPhysicsLanguageHealth SciEd Studies

402412010 (+ 80)110502016 (25)

Information

Virtual Field TripAcademic Integrity + Lib + ITStudent ‘Welcome’ Sites

EnvironmentCentralMultiple

40All 1st YrsAll 1st Yrs/2000

Why we need to support video use

There are as many uses for video as a learning and teaching resource as there are staff wanting to use video

Where video has been integrated student responses have been very positive– Survey and focus group feedback

Staff feedback suggests a strong need for central support of video development/use– Survey and focus group feedback

Student feedback suggests a need to support infrastructure appropriate to the delivery of such audio visual resources

Key support considerations

Staff (and students) won’t necessarily have audio/video development skills or appropriate software/hardware

Audio/video will need to be ‘consumed’ both on and off campus

Audio/video resources may need to be secure (as reasonably possible)

Staff won’t necessarily have the skills to readily make audio/video available to students in as accessiblea way as possible

Implementing support

Streaming service fully established– Was trialled and piloted before implementation– ‘Building Block’ integration with institutional VLE

Secured funding to buy 20 Kodak zi8 HD cameras– Including lapel microphones, tripods and reflectors

Lecture capture trials completed

Infrastructure

Training and support Development of a blended workshop focussed around

‘talking-head’ footage and basic editing skills– Input from video professional

Funded cameras placed with AV and ELDT for loan handling

Creation of custom ‘WinFF’ download– File conversion for editing and streaming

Suite of guides and online resources developed

The blended model of support

Equipment Planning & prep (shaped to suit specific remit)

– Student Created: Different planning task and intro materials to broaden coverage of different types of video (talking head, illustrated narrative, dramatisation etc.)

– Presentation Critique: Writing an abstract, beating nerves, delivering a presentation

Production Post-production Distribution (conversion & streaming)

The face-to-face workshop and ongoing (VLE facilitated) support had to take in a number of main considerations:

Examples

Practical Work in Chemistry

Diversity of lab experience

Boost higher order laboratory skills

Very large cohorts resulting in laboratory space (and time) being at a premium

Why shoot video?

Practical Work in Chemistry - Feedback

General feedback from staff– Easy to upload/integrate– Streaming off campus vital (Chemistry)– Support & guidance required for processing

video (Chemistry) From students (Chemistry)

“Very good to show how to carry out a procedure which you may not have done before. Also, they were good to remind you even if you had performed the procedure before. They were not too long either so were easy to watch.” “Think they are excellent,

hope they are a permanent feature on the VLE.”

“It enables us to see how to do things much more effectively than written instructions and some lab demos.”

Presentation Critique (Phys, Edu, Chem, Management)

The videos provide an opportunity for students to review their performance and be peer reviewed

Tutors can assess presentations in their own time

Transferable skills development

Why shoot video?

Student Presentation - Feedback Chem Students

“Please could you consider videoing our second presentation for comparison”

“Helpful - very good for picking up bad habits that you may be unaware of.Nice to know that only you group could see it.”

“The comments from the tutors were at least as useful as the video itself - but by no means leave it out.”

Physics Students Students found all aspects of

feedback cycle helped with development ofpresentation skills Watching video of own

presentation; 94% Feedback from staff

in VLE 83% Feedback from other

students: 82% Reflecting on own

performance in blog; 76%

“Watching the video was most useful. Several things I felt went wrong during the talk weren't noticeable at all, while some things I didn't notice were.”

International Student Transition/Transition

Initial reason (Int Site) was partly to address the possible swine-flu epidemic

Reaching over 2000 international students face-to-face is difficult

Why shoot video? More engaging and

immediate than written content

A ‘real’ representation of the Department

Student Transition & Academic Skills - Feedback

General feedback from staff– Key messages much more easily remembered– Became much more knowledgeable about

University student support generally– Network of people known radically improved and

bonds made during shooting

"Students generally react very warmly to video and it seems to stick in their memories, especially when it is made at York with York academic staffand students."

“The process of creating and collaborating on the video gave me detailed knowledge of the support services and opportunities available here at York, it also build lasting links with various departments and student networks.”

"Personally I found it a steep learning curve to create compelling video but very effective at conveying difficult and problematic concepts, for example 'collusion'."

Student Transition & Academic Skills - Feedback

Feedback from students

"The videos take a long time to buffer and download.”

“The videos as it grabs your attention.”

“The videos were a good stimulus.”

“Video downloads take too long and the information in them could be presented in other ways.”

“The videos convey a lot of information in an easy to understand format.”

Student Developed Video (Education)

Transferable communication skills

Presenting information with a non-traditional medium: Stimulate a deeper

understanding of the message

Distilling message appropriately for a target demographic

Why shoot video?

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=bE5jIDU90d8

Moving forward

Staff Issues:– Audio/video editing/export– Hardware use/choice– Digitisation– DVD Extraction– Copyright/licensing– How to best support

Future Development:– Student video uploads– Back-end video processing– More flexible embedding of video– Automatic bandwidth selection

Questions http://vlesupport.york.ac.ukYorkshare Headquarters Support Site