Videos provide learners with yet another way to engage with your content. Fostering both visual and auditory engagment is effective for a wide variety of learners. Creating your own videos provides a personal touch, builds rapport, and helps establish your expertise on a given topic. Utilize the following tools to create videos:
Panopto - using your web browser or downloading a desktop application, Panopto allows you to record video, audio, and screen share to create content. Video editing, include adding captions, is available via Panopto.
Zoom - typically used for web conferences, Zoom's recording feature makes it easy to record mutliple presenters, screen share, and share recordings of sessions.
Creating content that meets learners' needs and fosters engagement is made possible by leveraging the appropriate tools. Here are just a few free tools you could use to create engaging content:
Google Slides/Microsoft PowerPoint - create, edit, collaborate, and share presentations that can contain text, images, videos, and more.
Adobe Express - use a plethora of templates and/or AI-generation to create any kind of digital content you can think of (flyers, presentations, videos, social media graphics, infographics - just to name a few!).
Audacity - typically used for creating podcast, this free audio recording software allows users to go beyond the basics of recording and editing
Google Sites - organize robust amounts of information in visual and accessible ways on a free website builder with templates (just like this one, which was created using Google Sites!)
Google Forms - collect, organize, and analyze information
Many tools exist to help with the seemingly daunting task of content creation. There are a wide variety of free/freemium resources for image, color palette, music, and font available. Faculty members may also request specific stock images and videos from Adobe Stock.
Remember to prioritize accessibility, ensuring that all multimedia content is captioned, transcribed, and compatible with assistive technologies. Employ a blend of visual and auditory elements to reinforce key concepts, and consider incorporating student-generated multimedia projects to foster critical thinking and creative expression. Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your multimedia content through student feedback and assessment data, refining your approach to maximize its impact on learning outcomes.