Tools and Tricks and Techniques, Oh My!

Hello again!

This week, we got bombarded with dozens (hundreds?) of apps, sites, tools, widgets, and gadgets. Our task: to create a video.

Sounds simple you say? Just a short, 5-minute video, yes. But simple? Not really.

My topic for this four-part series is the historic development of the atom. In the first module, we covered the Ancient Greek origins. This time, I was hoping to breeze through the experiments of the 19th and early 20th centuries that improved the atom from a small sphere to a complicated, charged network of subatomic particles. My goal was to illustrate the evolution of the atom, as well as two of the major experiments.

Originally I wanted to use a Khan Academy/whiteboard style video to illustrate these concepts. Of the most commonly used video formats, the Khan Academy style is one of the most effective at engaging students (Guo, Kim, & Rubin, 2014). However, I realized quickly that without a special tablet, it's really hard to draw that well in a digital form!

Whiteboard explainer videos have become very popular- I'm sure you've seen plenty!

So I decided to use Google slides, a medium I am very familiar with, and take more advantage of the animation features it offers to give my presentation some movement. To avoid death by Powerpoint, I used small amount of text on each slide, focusing only on the main idea (Brame, 2016).

I used exclusively images from the Creative Commons, so that I wouldn't have to clutter my presentation with attributions. When I couldn't find an image, I used Canva to create my own. I even created several images that I could layer on top of one another to suggest motion or highlight objects. Really, where would I be without Canva?

This image plus half the things I do online, brought to you by Canva

I also decided to try to have the best of both worlds, and add a video of myself into the presentation, instead of just narration. As Rottmann & Rabidoux (2017) suggest, maintaining a social presence can help students stay engaged. So once I felt pretty good about my presentation, I used screencastomatic to capture both my presentation and a video of myself in the upper corner.

After recording, I had to edit all the captions to align with my narration, and I decided to add one more layer to this technological monster. I uploaded my video into EdPuzzle, and added a few questions into the video. This serves several purposes. First, it break up the video and allows for a moment of reflection in what is otherwise a fast-paced information dump. Secondly, it would provide some insight into students' understanding. This could be particularly useful if the video were used as pre-"reading" for an activity or class. And thirdly, I just wanted to use another cool tool.

So, before I talk any more about this video, it's probably time you watched it!

My video certainly isn't perfect but it's better than any I've ever made! I was able to keep it under 6 minutes, as suggested by both Brame (2016) and Guo, Kim and Rubin (2014), largely by speaking quickly and with enthusiasm, as they both also recommend! I used an informal outdoor setting, interspersed myself with the slides, and added motion to the presentation (Guo, Kim and Rubin, 2014). I avoided any specific references to times or places, so that hopefully this video could be used again in another context (Rabidoux & Rottmann, 2017).

A few issues persist however. The first is that while I had meant for my discussion of Democritus to be a quick intro, it probably would have been good to go ahead and throw a picture of him or his atom onto a new slide for some visual interest and to stir students' memories. Another is that my narration was never perfect, and could certainly be improved through further practice. I also realized through this process that five minutes is not very long for a video, and it's very hard to cover a lot of content in that time! Given another chance, I think I would re-work my video and not try to cover white as much information.

All in all, I believe it reflects the best practices for instructional videos, and with more time to refine and workshop it, it could be even better! I hope you enjoyed seeing how the sausage is made, and your feedback is very welcome!

References

Brame, C. J. (2016). Effective Educational Videos: Principles and Guidelines for Maximizing Student Learning from Video Content (924097172 725056109 K. E. Perez, Ed.). CBE—Life Sciences Education, 15(4). doi:10.1187/cbe.16-03-0125

Guo, P. J., Kim, J., & Rubin, R. (2014). How Video Production Affects Student Engagement: An Empirical Study of MOOC Videos. Retrieved September 11, 2020, from http://up.csail.mit.edu/other-pubs/las2014-pguo-engagement.pdf

Rottmann, A., & Rabidoux, S. (2017, November 8). Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved September 11, 2020, from https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/views/2017/11/08/creating-effective-instructional-videos-online-courses