Conventional educational movies are sometimes lengthy, deal with quite a lot of content material, or lack significant alternatives for college kids to have interaction with the content material. Lengthy movies could make it difficult for college kids to stay targeted and attentive. Content material-heavy movies will be troublesome for college kids to digest; they might really feel overwhelmed by the quantity of fabric they’re being requested to course of without delay. Moreover, movies that merely require college students to look at and pay attention could make it robust for college kids to retain the data and monitor their understanding. So, what is an efficient different? Enter microlectures.
What are microlectures?
Zheng (2022) defines a microlecture as “a brief video, often produced by the teacher, that explains a single key idea or a selected talent.” In contrast to conventional lecture movies which can be typically lengthy and complete, microlectures are bite-sized educational movies that concentrate on one chunk of content material. For instance, a trainer schooling professor may create a concept-based microlecture that explains the backwards design mannequin, or a skills-based microlecture that demonstrates craft measurable aims for a lesson plan.
Microlectures have three key traits (Zheng, 2022). First, they’re temporary (usually shorter than 10 minutes). Second, microlectures are private (that’s, they convey a way of “teacher presence”). Third, microlectures are interactive. Zheng (2022) explains that instructors can incorporate interplay into their movies via the usage of “pause factors” the place they immediate college students to pause the video and full an exercise (e.g., a mirrored image, quiz, writing train, or notice taking exercise).
Why are microlectures helpful?
Scagnoli (2012) has recognized a number of necessary advantages of microlectures for college kids:
- Microlectures enable for self-paced studying. As a result of microlectures are recorded, college students can simply pause, play, and rewind as many instances as wanted in an effort to evaluate and course of the content material.
- Microlectures enable for studying on-the-go; college students can simply watch or hearken to microlectures from any location or at any time, corresponding to when they’re in transit.
- The temporary nature of microlectures permits college students to concentrate on only one key idea at a time.
Zheng (2022) additionally explains that the interactive nature of microlectures (the place college students are prompted to have interaction in energetic studying actions) enhances pupil studying.
By way of advantages for college, microlectures encourage professors to interrupt down ideas and clarify them in a transparent and concise vogue (Scagnoli, 2012). Microlectures are additionally versatile and will be utilized in any modality (Scagnoli, 2012). For instance, on-line instructors can create microlectures to assist college students find out about key ideas all through the course, whereas on-site instructors can create microlectures to assist college students preview or evaluate necessary course ideas. Moreover, microlectures lend themselves properly to the flipped classroom method, the place college students are launched to course ideas exterior of sophistication in order that they will use class time to concentrate on higher-order duties, corresponding to making use of and analyzing (Scagnoli, 2012). Professors also can design microlectures in order that they inform the category content material. For instance, a professor might have college students watch a microlecture and submit questions earlier than class in order that they know what to evaluate or deal with at the beginning of sophistication (Scagnoli, 2012). Lastly, microlectures enable college to create a library of reusable content material (Scagnoli, 2012). This could cut back general prep time down the road.
What are useful instruments for creating microlectures?
There are numerous totally different instruments that college can use to create microlectures. For instance, a professor can use the built-in digicam on their telephone or laptop computer to file a easy “speaking head” video the place they’re talking on to the digicam (Scagnoli, 2012; Costa, 2020, 70-71). Professors also can create narrated slideshows utilizing the built-in audio and video recording instruments in PowerPoint and Keynote. As well as, professors can create screencasts the place they file their display screen and embrace audio narration solely, or audio plus video of themselves (Costa, 2020, 73-76). There are a number of screencast instruments accessible, corresponding to QuickTime, Loom, Screencastify, Screencast-O-Matic, and Zoom. Professors also can create microlectures with edtech instruments like Flip (previously Flipgrid) or Edpuzzle (which permits customers to embed questions all through a video).
iPads are additionally nice for creating microlectures! With the iPad, college can:
What’s the course of for making microlectures?
In my work with college, I like to recommend a five-step course of for making microlectures: Plan, Create, Document, Caption, and Share.
- Plan: First, college decide what they may deal with of their microlecture. I’ve created a Microlecture Planning Template to information college on this course of. The planning template consists of the next sections:
- Pre-planning: Right here, college choose a course, determine the precise matter the microlecture will deal with, develop pupil studying aims, and decide an acceptable evaluation.Starting, Center, & Finish of Microlecture: Right here, college define the content material they may train and interplay alternatives they may present through the starting, center, and finish of the microlecture. The planning template consists of guiding questions to contemplate at every stage, together with hyperlinks to particular energetic studying methods that may be utilized.
- Subsequent Steps: Right here, college decide the format they may use for the microlecture, the recording instrument they may use, and any extra supplies which can be wanted.
- Create: As soon as the planning course of is full, college create or collect the mandatory supplies (e.g., slides, digital handouts, and so on.).
- Document: School file the microlecture utilizing a instrument of their selection.
- Caption: School make sure that the microlecture is precisely captioned.
- Share: School share the microlecture with college students.
What ought to college bear in mind when recording microlectures?
When recording microlectures, it is very important take into account the standard of the video together with preserve it “actual.” Michael Wesch (as cited in EDUCAUSE, 2020) highlights the significance of fine lighting, clear audio, and a secure recording setup. In her e-book, 99 Tips for Creating Simple and Sustainable Educational Videos, Karen Costa (2022) recommends that professors “overlook Hollywood” by remembering that their movies should not have to be high-quality productions with all of the bells and whistles (Costa, 2020, 68-69). Costa (2022) additionally recommends avoiding particular references to due dates, holidays, and different term-specific data in an effort to preserve movies reusable (108-109).
Wesch and Costa additionally emphasize that movies should not have to be excellent, a sentiment that’s echoed by Flower Darby in her e-book, Small Teaching Online. Darby explains:
…college students desire casual movies during which you might be genuine to stiff, formal, or professionally edited movies. They need to see and listen to you being you. You needn’t file and re-record till you obtain the peerlessly polished presentation. Do you at all times articulate each phrase completely when educating within the classroom? If not, don’t fear about doing so in your educating movies (Darby, 2019, 58-59).
Michelle Pacansky-Brock, Michael Smedshammer, and Kim Vincent-Layton (2020) discuss with this as a “humanized” method to video creation. They clarify:
When professors painting their imperfections – the ‘ums,’ quizzical expressions, background interruptions like a cat leaping on the desk or a toddler peeping within the background, and transfer away from their desks to file of their every day settings – they turn into actual and relatable. In different phrases, they turn into ‘humanized.’ College students start to sense that their on-line teacher is an actual particular person with imperfections and a busy life, very like them (Pacansky-Brock, Smedshammer, and Vincent-Layton, 2020, 9-10).
What ought to college take into account on the subject of captioning and sharing microlectures?
As soon as a microlecture is recorded, it is very important make sure that it is going to be accessible to all learners. This consists of making certain that the video is appropriately captioned (Zheng, 2022; Pacansky-Brock, Smedshammer, and Vincent-Layton, 2020, 15). Not solely are captions important for college kids who’re deaf and exhausting of listening to, however they’re additionally helpful to different learners. For instance, they permit college students to look at movies when they’re in quiet settings (Tobin and Behling, 2018, 73, 95, 100). 3PlayMedia, a media accessibility firm, additionally discovered that individuals use captions for a wide variety of reasons, together with to strengthen their concentrate on the content material, study new terminology, and enhance their comprehension of the language (Lewis, 2019). Platforms like YouTube can help with captioning, although it is very important make sure that any auto-generated captions are correct(Zheng, 2022). Lastly, it is very important take into account how you’ll share your microlectures with college students, whether or not that’s by embedding them in your LMS (Pacansky-Brock, Smedshammer, and Vincent-Layton, 2020, 15), or compiling a YouTube playlist (Costa, 2022, 143-144).
Conclusion
Creating microlectures could be a priceless solution to improve pupil studying, whatever the modality during which you train. These temporary, private, and interactive movies present manageable, related, and fascinating studying alternatives for college kids. How may you incorporate microlectures into your educational practices?
Tolulope (Tolu) Noah, EdD, is the educational studying areas coordinator at California State College, Lengthy Seaside (CSULB), the place she facilitates college improvement. Beforehand, she was a senior skilled studying specialist at Apple, and an affiliate professor within the College of Training at Azusa Pacific College (APU). Noah was acknowledged for her educating effectiveness by receiving the 2019 Educating Excellence School Award at APU, and she or he is a daily speaker at educating and studying conferences. You’ll be able to join with Tolu on Twitter at @drtolunoah or through her web site, www.tolunoah.com.
References
Costa, Karen (2020). 99 Ideas for Creating Easy and Sustainable Instructional Movies: A Information for On-line Lecturers and Flipped Lessons. Sterling: Stylus Publishing.
Darby, Flower (2019). Small Educating On-line: Making use of the Science of Studying in On-line Lessons. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
EDUCAUSE (2020). “Make Tremendous Easy Movies for Educating On-line.” YouTube video, 10:26, July 24, 2020, https://youtu.be/bfhRpfUi9GY
Lewis, Elisa (2019). “Infographic Survey Outcomes: Closed Caption Use.” 3PlayMedia, June 3, 2019. https://www.3playmedia.com/blog/infographic-closed-captions-use-survey/
Pacansky-Brock, Michelle, Michael Smedshammer, and Kim Vincent-Layton (2020). “Humanizing On-line Educating to Equitize Increased Training.” Present Points in Training, 21, no. 2: 1-21. https://cie.asu.edu/ojs/index.php/cieatasu/article/view/1905/870
Scagnoli, Norma (2012). “7 Issues You Ought to Know About Microlectures.” EDUCAUSE, November 1, 2012. https://library.educause.edu/resources/2012/11/7-things-you-should-know-about-microlectures
Tobin, Thomas J., and Kirsten T. Behling (2018). Attain Everybody, Train Everybody: Common Design for Studying in Increased Training. Morgantown: West Virginia College Press.
Zheng, Hua (2022). “Quick and Candy: The Instructional Advantages of Microlectures and Lively Studying.” EDUCAUSE Assessment, February 17, 2022. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2022/2/short-and-sweet-the-educational-benefits-of-microlectures-and-active-learning
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