Academics as film makers Wayne Britcliffe & Simon Davis E-Learning Development Team University of York Pedagogies and support

Models of video use (non-exhaustive) Demonstration (Learning & Teaching Support) Experiment techniqueChemistry Biology Assessment Support Virtual Field Trip Student Presentation Critique Naturally spoken language Video driven case study Student developed video Environment Ed Studies Chemistry Pro Org Dev Physics Language Health Sci Ed Studies (+ 80) (25) Information Virtual Field Trip Academic Integrity + Lib + IT Student ‘Welcome’ Sites Environment Central Multiple 40 All 1 st Yrs All 1 st Yrs/2000

Why we need to support video use  There are as many uses for video as a learning and teaching resource as there are staff wanting to use video  Where video has been integrated student responses have been very positive –Survey and focus group feedback  Staff feedback suggests a strong need for central support of video development/use –Survey and focus group feedback  Student feedback suggests a need to support infrastructure appropriate to the delivery of such audio visual resources

Key support considerations  Staff (and students) won’t necessarily have audio/video development skills or appropriate software/hardware  Audio/video will need to be ‘consumed’ both on and off campus  Audio/video resources may need to be secure (as reasonably possible)  Staff won’t necessarily have the skills to readily make audio/video available to students in as accessible a way as possible

Implementing support  Streaming service fully established –Was trialled and piloted before implementation –‘Building Block’ integration with institutional VLE  Secured funding to buy 20 Kodak zi8 HD cameras –Including lapel microphones, tripods and reflectors  Lecture capture trials completed Infrastructure Training and support  Development of a blended workshop focussed around ‘talking-head’ footage and basic editing skills –Input from video professional  Funded cameras placed with AV and ELDT for loan handling  Creation of custom ‘WinFF’ download –File conversion for editing and streaming  Suite of guides and online resources developed

The blended model of support  Equipment  Planning & prep ( shaped to suit specific remit) –Student Created: Different planning task and intro materials to broaden coverage of different types of video (talking head, illustrated narrative, dramatisation etc.) –Presentation Critique: Writing an abstract, beating nerves, delivering a presentation  Production  Post-production  Distribution (conversion & streaming) The face-to-face workshop and ongoing (VLE facilitated) support had to take in a number of main considerations:

Examples

Practical Work in Chemistry  Diversity of lab experience  Boost higher order laboratory skills  Very large cohorts resulting in laboratory space (and time) being at a premium Why shoot video?

Practical Work in Chemistry - Feedback  General feedback from staff –Easy to upload/integrate –Streaming off campus vital (Chemistry) –Support & guidance required for processing video (Chemistry)  From students (Chemistry) “Very good to show how to carry out a procedure which you may not have done before. Also, they were good to remind you even if you had performed the procedure before. They were not too long either so were easy to watch.” “Think they are excellent, hope they are a permanent feature on the VLE.” “It enables us to see how to do things much more effectively than written instructions and some lab demos.”

Presentation Critique (Phys, Edu, Chem, Management)  The videos provide an opportunity for students to review their performance and be peer reviewed  Tutors can assess presentations in their own time  Transferable skills development Why shoot video?

Student Presentation - Feedback  Chem Students “Please could you consider videoing our second presentation for comparison” “Helpful - very good for picking up bad habits that you may be unaware of. Nice to know that only you group could see it.” “The comments from the tutors were at least as useful as the video itself - but by no means leave it out.”  Physics Students  Students found all aspects of feedback cycle helped with development of presentation skills  Watching video of own presentation; 94%  Feedback from staff in VLE 83%  Feedback from other students: 82%  Reflecting on own performance in blog; 76% “Watching the video was most useful. Several things I felt went wrong during the talk weren't noticeable at all, while some things I didn't notice were.”

International Student Transition/Transition  Initial reason (Int Site) was partly to address the possible swine-flu epidemic  Reaching over 2000 international students face- to-face is difficult Why shoot video?  More engaging and immediate than written content  A ‘real’ representation of the Department

Student Transition & Academic Skills - Feedback  General feedback from staff –Key messages much more easily remembered –Became much more knowledgeable about University student support generally –Network of people known radically improved and bonds made during shooting "Students generally react very warmly to video and it seems to stick in their memories, especially when it is made at York with York academic staff and students." “The process of creating and collaborating on the video gave me detailed knowledge of the support services and opportunities available here at York, it also build lasting links with various departments and student networks.” "Personally I found it a steep learning curve to create compelling video but very effective at conveying difficult and problematic concepts, for example 'collusion'."

Student Transition & Academic Skills - Feedback  Feedback from students "The videos take a long time to buffer and download.” “The videos as it grabs your attention.” “The videos were a good stimulus.” “Video downloads take too long and the information in them could be presented in other ways.” “The videos convey a lot of information in an easy to understand format.”

Student Developed Video (Education)  Transferable communication skills  Presenting information with a non-traditional medium:  Stimulate a deeper understanding of the message  Distilling message appropriately for a target demographic Why shoot video? Example:

Moving forward  Staff Issues: –Audio/video editing/export –Hardware use/choice –Digitisation –DVD Extraction –Copyright/licensing –How to best support  Future Development: –Student video uploads –Back-end video processing –More flexible embedding of video –Automatic bandwidth selection

Questions Yorkshare Headquarters Support Site