Evaluating videos for the classroom

Videos can be extremely useful for enhancing your lessons and reinforcing concepts you are teaching. Even a subject like grammar can be made more interesting with the right video. Here is a video by Scholastic that could be used in a 6th grade English class:

Source: Scholastic on YouTube (standard YouTube license)

There are multiple ways a teacher could use a video like this. If a projector is available, it can be played for the class as part of a larger lesson on grammar. Another option, since it is on YouTube, the link could shared with students to watch on their own time, either in class or as homework. The teacher could supplement the video with a worksheet or quiz to assess student comprehension.

YouTube and Vimeo have millions of videos available at the click of a mouse. How do you find one that works for your class? 

In his Educator's Podcast Guide, Bard Williams of ISTE suggests answering 10 specific questions to guide the selection of podcasts for education. With slight adjustments (mostly replacing the word "podcast" with "video,") you can use the same 10 questions for evaluating videos that you are considering for your classroom. 

Let's go through all 10 questions and see how this video holds up!

Is the content appropriate for your current area of study?

Yes! The content of the video covers the eight parts of speech which is commonly covered in a middle school English classroom. 

Does the [video] add to or enhance your current lesson plan?

Yes! The video provides audio and visual elements that complement my in-class lectures and assignments. 

Does the content and production of the [video] meet school and community standards for acceptable use in your school?

Yes! The content is school appropriate. The video uses language and visuals that are acceptable for broadcast in my classroom.

Is the content of the [video] well organized and easy to follow?

Yes! The video focuses on the essential definitions of each part of speech and provides several examples for each. It follows Richard Mayer's coherence principle by avoiding the inclusion of unnecessary additional content. 

Is the content of the [video] compelling enough to hold the attention of your audience?

Most likely. The video includes eye catching graphics, entertaining music to accompany the lesson, and the speaker uses an informal conversational style that I believe would appeal to students at the middle school level. It follow's Richard Mayer's temporal contiguity principle by presenting graphics and narration simultaneously. 

Is the [video] in a digital format that works for your classroom?

Yes! YouTube videos are easily accessible through a web browser without the need to download files or install additional software. They are ideal for broadcasting in classrooms that have a projector attached to the teacher's computer. Alternatively, teachers can provide students with a link to the video so that they can watch it individually on their own devices. 

Was the [video] produced by a source you consider credible?

Yes! Scholastic is a credible publisher of educational materials and the man in this video, Marvin Terban, is a well-respected educator with over 40 years of teaching experience.

Is [watching the video] the best method of learning about this topic for your students?

It depends. This video moves rather quickly through the eight parts of speech. I believe this video can be an effective learning method for many students, but some students may learn these concepts better with one-on-one tutoring, or by reading about the parts of speech, at their own pace, from a book or teacher-generated worksheets. 

Is the [video] supported by additional online content (a Web site with further resources or archives, for example)?

Yes! Scholastic does offer additional videos with Marvin Terben covering other grammar topics. There is also a link to purchase a printed workbook by Terben that contains plans for expanding on these concepts through worksheets and exams. 

Does the [video] include any usage rights that limit the broadcast or distribution of content?

This video is licensed under standard YouTube copyright, which does have some limitations. I would be unable to download, distribute, or make modifications to the video. It must be viewed "as-is" through the YouTube website. Sharing the video with students, or playing it in the classroom, would be acceptable uses of the video.

Questions excerpted from from "Choosing the Right Podcasts for Your Classroom" Copyright 2007, ISTE ® (International Society for Technology in Education), Educator’s Podcast Guide, Bard Williams. www.iste.org

As we can see, this video meets nearly all of the criteria that Williams suggests in his article.

In my next post I am going to explore some of the resources available for teachers to create their own videos. 

Creating Infographics

Infographics combine information with images and graphics to present information about a topic in a visually appealing way.

I created the following infographic using Piktochart (www.piktochart.com). This is an example of how an infographic can be used as part of a pre-reading activity for literature, as in this case, to introduce students to background information prior to reading Of Mice And Men or The Grapes of Wrath.

Click to view larger

You can create free infographics at Easelly, Picktochart, or Infogr.am, These services make the infographic creation process simple enough to be accessible for most tech savvy high school students. While teaching students to incorporate images into their project, it can be a good opportunity to reinforce their knowledge of copyrights and encourage them to seek out images licensed under Creative Commons copyright. (Images in my example above were sourced from Wikipedia under a Creative Commons attribution license that allows republication.)

As a lesson and assignment idea, teachers can assign the creation of infographics as an alternative to a traditional report. For example, in a social studies classroom: After researching the 13 original American colonies, students will demonstrate knowledge by creating an infographic combining key dates, statistics, and facts with relevant images, maps, and graphics. Students can then share their infographics with each other on a class website or wiki to expand their learning on a subject.

Using Pixlr

Pixlr (www.pixlr.com) is a robust image manipulation tool that runs completely through your web browser, offering a free online alternative to Photoshop. 

source: Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons attribution license)

The collage above was made entirely within Pixlr. I started with an original image from Wikimedia Commons and used Pixlr's online tools to add text, modify colors, isolate certain elements, change the contrast and brightness of the image, and arrange them into a collage.

Pixlr can be a helpful tool for students to have access to in the classroom.

Memes and Animated Gifs

Memes and animated gifs can be a fun way to enhance your lessons and get your students' attention.

ImgFlip's Meme Generator is a free online image creation tool specifically designed to make meme images quickly and easily. You can browse through their collection of images or upload your own. Adding text is easy.  

image source: imgflip MemeGenerator

I would be super excited if my school gave ChromeBooks to every student!

Another easy image creation tool is MakeAGif which lets you create animated gifs from videos or images. I made this short animated gif of a baby sloth yawning using a YouTube video that was licensed under Creative Commons copyright allowing reuse. 

original video source: People Laugh At / YouTube (Creative Commons attribution license)

Teaching with Padlet

Padlet (www.padlet.com) is an online service that lets you create virtual bulletin boards on which you can post text, pictures, videos, presentations, web pages and other online resources.

Use in the classroom or educational setting:

Teachers can create a padlet to compile resources for their units (as I will demonstrate below) to allow students to explore topics and concepts related to in-class learning. Another option is to create an empty padlet and give students permission to post their own work or resources to it.

Example lesson using Padlet:

In my 10th grade English classroom, I teach a unit of study focused on literary archetypes. I want to get my students thinking about characters and situations in books and movies that follow commonly used templates. I created a padlet to give students online resources that they can browse at their own pace to learn more about archetypes. Each item in the padlet has specific instructions to follow and questions that check for understanding.

After exploring all 10 online resources contained in the padlet, students will demonstrate knowledge and understanding of literary archetypes by writing a children's story that uses common character and situational archetypes.

Copyright considerations:

Using Padlet in the classroom can be a great opportunity for teachers to discuss the issue of copyright with their students. For each item posted in the padlet above, I made an effort to identify the copyright owner and list the type of license it is published under. I would introduce students to Creative Commons copyright licenses and explain how they differ from standard copyright protections by allowing you to republish and, in some cases, modify an author's original work.

Application:

Last week I discussed three design principles for enhancing learning with instructional multimedia--pre-training, personalization, and segmentation--that have proven beneficial for student learning. I have attempted to implement all three principles into the lesson above.

• Pre-training: Before giving students the padlet assignment above I would provide pre-training through classroom discussions and a short presentation that define very clearly what an archetype is, and provide examples of common archetypes that they are already familiar with, like heros, villians, and mentors. 
• Personalization: Using conversational language in Padlet is another practice that I would recommend. I use words like "you" and "your" so that students can relate to the material more readily. 
• Segmentation: Padlet is an excellent method to segment a lesson into chunks that learners can work through at their own pace.

Reflection:

When searching for lesson materials to include in this padlet, my goal was to use as many resources as possible that are licensed under Creative Commons copyright licenses. This turned out to be more difficult than expected. It was helpful that Google, YouTube, and Vimeo each offer advanced search options that let you filter results to show only content licensed under Creative Commons, and there is also a Creative Commons search engine available online to find additional resources. Still, there seems to be a lack of educational materials available that utilize these licenses, which resulted in me including resources that are under standard copyright terms. This process has encouraged me to license my own creative products under Creative Commons in the future so that others can benefit from them as well. 

Padlet is an educational technology tool that I plan to use more in my classroom. It provides an easier alternative to creating a website or webpage to share resources with students. It can be customized further by changing the layout and sorting options of posts, and an option to turn on or off the ability for viewers to leave comments on posts. It is embeddable into existing websites (as you can see here) or viewers can launch a padlet through a unique link that you provide them. 

Enhancing Learning With Multimedia

Multimedia can be used to facilitate learning through the use of words and graphics together. The body of scientific research supports the claim that lessons that incorporate multimedia can be more effective than lessons that use spoken words alone. The presence of multimedia can cause learners to be more motivated to learn and enable teachers to reach a wide range of learning styles (Wikibooks, 2017).

In the article “Research-Based Principles for Designing Multimedia Instruction,” Richard Mayer (2014) shares a number of research-based principles that can help educators make informed decisions about how to most effectively use multimedia in their instruction. The principles of pre-training, personalization, and segmentation, in particular, made me stop and consider how I have received and delivered instruction in the past, and has given me reason to be more deliberate in creating multimedia in the future.

According to the pre-training principle, learners can benefit by learning the names and characteristics of key concepts prior to viewing a multimedia presentation. This principle reminded me of multimedia presentations I have watched where information was not presented clearly beforehand, and as a result, I probably got less out of the presentation than I should have because my mind was playing catch-up with the information I was being given. Using the pre-training principle as a teacher I can make an effort to define, and teach student the names of, key concepts before jumping directly into a multimedia presentation. The pre-training provides a foundation for students to learn new information from the multimedia by allowing them to focus on the more advanced information in the presentation rather than basic terms and definitions.

I was also intrigued by the personalization principle that purports that using a conversational style, rather than formal language, helped learners retain more essential information and perform better on assessment tests. The conversational style, according to Mayer, promotes a sense of social presence to the learner. This is not something I have given much thought to before, but the results make sense. Through personalization, the teacher can help the learner relate to the material more easily and readily, whereas formal language might alienate or disinterest some learners. I often use a conversational approach in my own teaching practice when lecturing, but I usually take a more formal approach when creating multimedia materials for instruction. In retrospect, this is the wrong way to go about it. Learning about the personalization principle has encouraged me to adopt more personalized language in my future multimedia presentations.

The segmenting principle says that learners may perform better on assessments when the lesson is divided into shorter segments that they can advance when they are ready to continue the lesson. By this principle, it can be better to split a 30 minute presentation up into multiple segments of three to five minutes each, allowing the learner to decide when to advance, rather than to show the entire 30 minute presentation at once, because it allows for student-centered learning to take place.  I have taken online courses where lessons are segmented in this fashion, and they often will include a short assessment after each segment to make sure that key concepts are learned before progressing. This method has the advantage of the learner being able to review a particular segment when essential information was missed, which can be highly beneficial for learners with short attention spans or trouble focusing.

These three principles: pre-training, personalization, and segmentation, can work in conjunction within one lesson. For example, if I am preparing a multimedia presentation to teach rhetorical devices, I can utilize pre-training by reviewing key terms and definitions with the entire class before introducing multimedia elements. This way students will be ready for new concepts and examples during the lesson. I can break up the presentation into several portions and allow students to use their own electronic devices to view the segments at their own pace. My narration would include personalized language such as “you” and “your” while discussing rhetorical devices in order to connect with the learners on a deeper level.

The research-based principles of multimedia I learned at the outset of this course have encouraged me to put more thought into the finer details of lessons that I create in the future. According to Mayer, “research shows that multimedia instruction has the potential to greatly improve student understanding of how things work” (2014). My own experiences with multimedia in the classroom, as both a learner and educator, reinforce to me this positive view of multimedia-enhanced learning because I have seen how multimedia can improve the quality and depth of learning of my students. It is partially what has influenced me to choose to pursue a master’s degree in educational technology.

References

Mayer, R. E. (2014). Research-based principles for designing multimedia instruction. In V. A. Benassi, C. E. Overson, & C. M. Hakala (Eds.), Applying science of learning in education: Infusing psychological science into the curriculum. Retrieved from http://hilt.harvard.edu/files/hilt/files/background_reading.pdf

Wikibooks. (2017). Instructional Technology/Technology Information Literacy. Retrieved May 06, 2017, from https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Instructional_Technology/Technology_Information_Literacy#Multimedia_Instruction

A Brief Introduction

 Hello there!

My name is Ronald Barranco. Welcome to my educational technology blog.

About me:

I currently teach high school English in Clark County, Nevada while working on earning my master's degree in educational technology from Central Michigan University.

I am a graduate of the University of Nevada - Las Vegas, where I earned my Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education with an emphasis in English education. Prior to attending college, I worked in the information technology industry for over a decade. As a teacher I strive to use technology to engage my students in the learning experience and help them develop 21st century skills of their own.

Thank you for visiting. I am looking forward to exploring the use of instructional multimedia with you on this blog over the next eight weeks.