Teachers would agree with me that they spend much time in finding a video on YouTube that demonstrates their lectures and interests’ students in learning. However, when they publish the video in the classroom and ask students about what they learned or experienced in the video. Teachers are left disappointed by the silence among the students, all they get back is the blank faces of students. As a teacher, I must say the feeling of demotivation is inevitable. What to do now? How do I interact with my students with videos?
Well, teachers are aware of take my class for me services over the internet and it bothers them the most. Students excuse themselves for the distractions around during online classes or disinterest because of the teaching methods. However, we all know it was as tough for the teachers to adopt the new normal as it was for the students. Despite this, teachers are trying to make learning more convenient and effective than ever, showing leniency towards students and their attitude more than ever!
The modern ways of teaching include sharing videos to interest students in the subject, developing concepts, and clear confusion with graphical demonstration. Students are more diverted towards video content in this era of online streamers and social media content creators. They may skip online classes and watch the same lecture on YouTube uploaded on some random channel. What makes his/her videos so engaging that students prefer those over yours? Here are some strategies to make online classes interactive with videos as these teachers on YouTube do:
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Avoid Full Screen
Teachers often show videos to students in a full-screen mode. Consequently, students just watch those videos and are unable to make the most out of that 2 minutes video. It just played and ended, disappears and now the educator expects answers related to it. For teachers, they use full screen to offer their students full visibility. However, it just makes students watch the video as they are watching your lecture and not understanding it.
According to psychology, the mind tends to learn with text only and learn more with images, and the most with text and images combined. Thus, teachers should reframe the videos and include some text in the informative videos. The text that delivers, that engages students, and that flourishes the video. Therefore, you can add a question to a specific part of the video or add facts to it.
There are several ways and several engaging texts teachers can embed in a video. Besides, teachers can walk through those questions and facts once the students are done with the video.
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Precise Videos
You may find lengthy videos containing the content you need to deliver to the students. Instead of playing the entire video and then selecting the part, you should trim the videos. Make the videos precise and short and provide the content that matters. Marking the start and stop during online sessions disturbs the momentum and takes away the interest of students.
There are multiple free tools online to trim videos and mark the start and stop. They are convenient, fast, and easy to use.
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Mute Videos
The video you found for students to watch will not be effective to students as their way of explaining is way too complex. However, you should mute the video and voice-over yourself. Be the narrator because you are educating the students, not any YouTuber with high-level knowledge for a higher-level learner.
Besides, teachers can transit those videos and let the students be the narrator. Let students explain those videos. You might think it is time-consuming, ask students to voice over those videos. All you have to do is mute the video and ask anyone or two students to narrate it. Save time and engage students.
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Short Videos
The lengthier videos, the harder it gets to remember them. Studies show that retention of content is by far the most significant with short videos of a maximum of 3 to 5 minutes. Videos less than 6 minutes are the most impactful, whereas, greater than that makes student lose their interest. Correspondingly, for younger students in the primary, videos with a maximum of 200 seconds run-time are ideal for them.
Tip: YouTube now features the shortest side of videos with YouTube Shorts. You can simply play a video and make a short video out of it by just pressing the “clip” button below. Create a desired cut of the video and publish it in the classroom.
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Timer, Visual Deadline
Teachers often just verbally declare the deadline of any homework or discussion. It creates a panic situation among the students whether to perform the activity or have an eye on the timer. Thus, developing chaos among the students and the results are disappointing, all efforts trying to engage students are in vain.
However, teachers can run a full-screen video of a timer. By this, students will effectively participate with the timer in front of their eyes, saving time for continuously checking on the clock. Besides, keep the timer to manipulate students to speed up the process and develop their organizing skills with tight deadlines. Accept their contribution even when the timer runs out. Hence, students will not be bothered with time intervals for any homework or assignment.
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Immersive Videos
Schools have been offering devices to students for attending online classes via iPads and tablets. However, it can be a great initiative to implement Virtual Reality technology in online classes and online exam help. An optimistic initiative that not all educators can adopt but the future of VR in education looks promising.
Since VR technology is costly and not meant for every educator, teachers can create other immersive environments similar to VR. For example, they can insert relevant 360-degree videos in their slides for students to interact and have a more exposed look to it.
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Quality of Videos Matter
Quality content is useless until its visual quality is low. Videos presented during online sessions are often of low quality due to the compression of data on a conference calling platform like Google Meet. Besides, low-quality videos give a bad impression on teachers’ efforts, and most importantly, students struggle to view them properly.
Consequently, teachers must ensure to download high-quality videos, preferably 1080p or higher. Despite the compression of the video quality, students will be able to see that video in 720p which is visually acceptable. Anything less than that will cause the video to be blurry on the end of the student’s screen despite the good internet connection. Moreover, frames per second (fps) is another technicality to watch out for. The higher fps the smoother the visual experience.
Conclusion
There are numerous ways to boost the learning process via videos other than shortening them. With technology advancing through the years, more technical tools are showing up to facilitate education and online learning. For instance, currently, many universities and colleges are implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), and Virtual Reality (VR). These technologies offer students an immersive experience at distant learning.
In addition, as a student and parents, we should appreciate the efforts of teachers in making efforts for effective online learning. Even fresh blood struggled to adopt the new technologies and methodologies while learning online. But these teachers proved if they can do it, anyone can do it!