Videos in the classroom
I have presented shown videos in my classes, some have been in 5-10 minutes increments, one in particular was for 75 minutes or so. During my Faculty training, they discouraged us from showing complete videos due to students falling asleep, etc. Any ideas on what the industry standard is on how long the videos should be?
Hi William,
Good advice for all instructors. The key is as you mentioned understanding the flow of the video so you know when to pause have discussion and then move on. I agree with you about the lights. When they are out you going to lose them.
Gary
I think using several checkpoints in longer videos causes students to be more attentive and focus on the point of the video in the first place.
Some great videos are available on MSNBC or CNBC or the History Channel or the Documentary Channel for example. Plus relevant segments of TV series can be used as well. However, never, ever totally turn the lights off!!!!!
Focused discussion and feel free to stop and pause often to engage students and emphasize points being made in video.
Short videos always will be allow the students to retain more information and the students will remain more alert as oposed to even a video lasting 30 minutes or more wil put students to sleep partly because the room is darkerand attention span is to short. 15 to 20 minute video is as long as I will show.
I have found that 10-15 minutes is the max that a video will capture a student's intrest. So I try to keep them brief. Afterwards we discuss what we observed and how it relates to our topic or i will demonstrate it in person if possible. To many people rely on the video to teach. That is our job.
Agree that passive viewing must be balanced by active discussion.
Cheryl
due to copy right laws there are no more video in our school they must be in beded in the power point this has limited the rescorses I can use .
I have not made my own videos. I usually either rent them from the video store or use sources such as YouTube. Another source is InsightMedia which is usually one of the vendors Universities use.
The use of video could help in my institution however does anyone else have the challanges of copyright laws? Has anyone made their own videos?
Hello there
I had found out that stopping the vedio after certain time like 15 minutes and discussing the material with students will keep the students more focus, and they will learn more out of the vedio.
Hi La'Keisha,
You are on the right track with the 5-10 minute segments. The brain can keep focused only so long before it seeks variety. This means not only lectures but the use of other kinds of media. By keeping your classes in segments you enable the learners to stop and refocus when you do something different. If you use a segment of a video then you can stop and discuss it with your class and then go back to the video. The same can be said for PowerPoint presentations. You shouldn't have too many slides with too many points because the learners will start to drift away.
Gary
