By Chris Fulton, Centre for Teaching and Learning Enhancement

On 13 March, Prof. Benjamin Hodges and Prof. Melody Lu shared their experiences in creating videos for blended learning courses with 30 colleagues. In a mini-presentation titled “From Script to Screen: How to Produce Short Form Educational Videos,” Prof. Hodges outlined issues relating to the pre-production, production and post-production of videos. Prof. Lu outlined in a short presentation titled “How to Turn Existing Lecture Contents (PPT) into Video: a Guide for Busy Professors” the purpose of videos in a blended learning course and the steps taken to create concise videos from existing course slides.

One talking point I heard repeated during the presentations was that creating videos from existing PowerPoint slides is a relatively straightforward activity for professors. The process of cutting down course content, adding narration to slides and then converting the slides to videos is relatively simple. However, what takes educators and content producers more time is developing a flow, rhythm or dialogical approach which suits the objectives of the videos. Also, producing educational videos with a higher quality production value will require significantly more time and resources.

Another talking point that I heard during the discussion was that online follow-up activities are needed for each educational video. Often these online activities were quizzes on the university’s learning management system, Moodle. It seems that short, online follow-up activities are essential to ensuring students have adequately engaged with course content and are prepared for substantive activities or project work. However, there was some concern that students tend to place too much emphasis on short quizzes.

It was mentioned that CTLE has video production studios for UM academic staff and their teaching assistants to record and produce educational videos for their courses. Reservations can be made by UM staff at https://ctle.um.edu.mo/portfolio-items/ctle-studio-1/.