| Welcome to Digital Dialogues!
As a reminder, we have some great regular support options for you each week!
- Becky has drop in hours on Tuesday 4-5, Thursday 1-2, and Friday 9-10. Just drop in to her Zoom room to connect and ask any question, big or small. These sessions are first-come, first-served, so plan ahead, and feel free to make an appointment if these times don’t work for you. Feel free to email Becky for the link.
- We have a weekly lunch-time session with different department experts presenting informally on online teaching topics on Wednesdays from 12-1. Feel free to sign up for as many as you’d like this semester. Our next three topics are:
- September 2nd: All thing Videos! YuJa! Canvas! Lights! by Becky Cottrell
- September 9th: Discussion Boards- Practicing direct practice skills, having difficult conversations, and more! Presented by Ann Obermann
- September 16th Working with TAs in Online Learning. Presented by Dr. Kristin Danhoff
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Teaching Tip-Videos!
Using instructor created videos in your courses is a great way to connect with students and bring your own personality and expertise into your classes. You can use videos in a variety of different ways in your classes, including:
- Video announcements
- Pre-recorded lectures (for asynchronous classes or to maximize active learning in synchronous time)
- Discussion starters
- Sharing visuals through demonstrations or pictures
You can easily use tools like YuJa, already embedded in Canvas, to create and upload videos for your students. Check out this tutorial on how to create YuJa videos (scroll down to the section entitled “Use YuJa to Create and Upload Videos”). As you create videos, ask yourself these questions to ensure that your videos are effective:
- Do you have a purpose for your video? Students are most likely to watch videos that directly relate to course assignments or course objectives.
- How is your tone? If you are bored and unenthusiastic, your students will be, too. If you are conversational and excited, your students will be as well. Evidence shows that students prefer videos that show some humor or personality.
- Do you have an audio/visual element? A visual element engages students beyond just a lecture. This might include pictures, PowerPoint slides, or other visual enhancements.
- How long is it? Videos should be short, and there is evidence that student attention drops off somewhere in the 4 minute range. Planning ahead can help you maximize your content and avoid rambling to keep your videos short. Longer topics can be broken up into shorter segments.
- Do you have captions and other accessible elements? YuJa will automatically caption your videos for you, but if you are using a lot of technical terms, you should double check to make sure the captions are accurate before posting.
Intentionally using videos in your courses is a fun way to keep your students engaged in the course, and to show them that you are present in the course as well! You don’t have to be perfect in order to create effective videos |
