Using Video in Pedagogic Practice - MicroCPD

Hazel Westwood offers her top tips for engaging students through using video in your pedagogic practice. (Video transcript)

The Business School's Hazel Westwood shares ideas on how to use video to enrich teaching, learning and assessment - particularly useful to staff looking for ways to increase student engagement in bi-modal courses.

Mention using video to enhance teaching and learning and many teachers in Higher Education will first think of lecture capture. Yet, there are millions of accessible video clips[1] which are an untapped resource for teaching. Embedding video into lectures brings case studies and examples to life.

The attention-grabbing nature of video, especially when using clips from news reports or documentaries, engages and immerses students in subject areas. Well-sourced relevant video clips can help to introduce a complex subject area. Following on with discussion holds engagement and raises questions which analysis can answer. This presents opportunity to flip learning in a way not defined by order of “in lecture” or “independent study”. Instead of the classic theory, example, analysis, approach, using video to first grab attention flips the teaching method to example, analysis with applied theory.

Once increased attention is gained, more focus on analysis is enabled. Moving from example to post-case clip application of theory effectively embeds relevancy of theory into the teaching method. To capitalise on learning, formative assessments or discussion can follow, to encourage learners to apply the same theory but to a different video case. Hence student experience is enhanced by enabling a sense of student satisfaction which comes with immediately practicing and applying newly acquired knowledge. Using video in pedagogy brings better student understanding, not just of the theory but of its current relevancy.

Virtually every student has a phone camera in their pocket and enjoys using it. Assessment by video is no longer the sole domain of media degrees. It brings variety for both learners and teachers across a vast range of subject areas. From a simple recorded individual or group presentation, with or without additional visual support, to production of a scripted video, the variety of video-based assessments is growing. Supporting analysis for a student made film against a set of objectives, relating to the assessment criteria, produces opportunity to extend experiential learning into reflection.

Student films for assessment can also be used as a resource, for example as a piece of social marketing collateral, as we did via an assessment based on student lifestyles and obesity. They also enrich student skill sets and graduate portfolios.

Further resources and reading

[1] In addition to the billions of videos on You Tube, BoB is a broadcast catch-up service for colleges and Universities in the UK BoB (Box of Broadcasts). Login to FindIt to authenticate as a university user with a valid licence.

Signing in to Box of Broadcasts: If you haven't used it before you will be asked to create an account with your University credentials (you only need to do this once via your institution). Learning on Screen is the initiative of the British Universities and Colleges Film and Video Council.

Further information on copyright

Videos can be played in lectures and tutorials provided they are related to the topic at hand. Where you want to include/ embed a video clip into slides or Canvas we should automatically include an acknowledgement, citing at least the author and title of the work. (Don’t forget to pause the recording when using lecture capture tools).

https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/as/libraryservices/library/copyright/copyright-essentials.aspx (scroll down for the section on video)

https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/as/libraryservices/library/copyright/licences.aspx (scroll down for the section on Educational Recording Agency (ERA) Licence)

Student filming guidance

If asking students to film for an assessment it is important to highlight how to keep filming legal and safe. The following links will help in this:

http://filmlondon.org.uk/get-permission-film

http://filmlondon.org.uk/filming_in_london/planning_your_shoot/legal

https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/filmbirmingham

https://www.theiac.org.uk/resourcesnew/filming-in-public/filming-in-public.html

References and additional reading

Berk, R. A. (2009). Multimedia teaching with video clips: TV, movies, YouTube, and mtvU in the college classroom. International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 5(1), 1–21.

Jones,T. & Cuthrell,K. (2011) YouTube: Educational Potentials and Pitfalls, Computers in the Schools, 28:1, 75-85, DOI: 10.1080/07380569.2011.553149 https://doi.org/10.1080/07380569.2011.553149