Objective:
Accommodate course resources/tools and create multiple paths for learning to meet the diverse academic needs of students
Video
Instructional videos are a key component of online learning. Within one video, you can communicate verbally, in writing, through diagrams, through images, and with motion. Students can speed up, slow down, or pause videos as needed. For students who are fully online, videos serve as a way to get to know the teacher by voice and style. Just as there are many types of lectures with varying levels of effectiveness that depend on the content, there are many types of videos. Some introduce a new concept while others teach needed procedures.
This specific video is a tutorial for the web-based statistics calculator, StatKey. It shows students how to move data from a spreadsheet, such as those found with Google Forms results, and copy it into the statistics calculator. When uploading videos to YouTube, they are automatically given a rough closed captioning. However, this has many errors, especially when dealing with technical content where the vocabulary is not easily recognized. I cleaned the transcript of this video so that it matches actual speech. Closed captions not only support students who cannot hear, but those who read better than they hear. Though we have few English Language Learners in our school, especially in this Statistics course, one commonly forgotten group of students is foreign exchange students with developing English abilities. It is just another input for quality information to be transferred.
Reflection
I strongly believe in using videos as instructional resources in my classroom. Videos allow my courses to become self-paced, making true mastery-based learning possible by giving students extra time when they need it and saving time when they don't. I couldn't imagine going back to one-pace-fits-all instruction after tasting the achievement improvements and anxiety reduction that has come with self-paced mastery learning.
95% of the time, I like to design and create my own videos rather than use existing ones from the web. This allows me to perfectly align the videos to the content and level of my courses. Students appreciate hearing their own teacher's voice, as it establishes trust and connection, even outside of face to face lecture. As a teacher, creating videos and observing students use them allows me to evaluate the effectiveness of my lessons each day. When I see misconceptions arise in the first students through a section, I have an opportunity to redo that video before more students face the same issue.
I recommend that students use the videos in different ways. Students who cannot easily focus or sit still should watch at a high speed. Students who have a hard time following an explanation should slow it down or frequently rewind. In this video, students can use closed captions to benefit from text and voice.