Thoughts on M(F)L Videos for remote and socially-distanced learning

Since the first lockdown in March 2020, I've been creating short video clips and presentations using a number of screen and camera recording tools, such as screen-cast-o-matic, Loom or simply my mobile phone. I've recently started editing these clips into more engaging videos using iMovie on the Mac/Iphone (I don't use Windows at home, but the Movavi Video Editor is supposed to be a good and free Windows alternative). I will follow up with more technical details on my workflow in a separate post. For now, have a look at one of my recent creations, a How-to Guide for a Directed Writing Task:

Some of my videos were more engaging than others, and I have learnt a few things along the way:

· Focus on the outcomes and learning intentions.

Like with any other lesson, the key questions should always be "what are students going to take from this" and "what should the outcomes be". Tell students your learning intentions at the beginning of the video and come back to them at the end just like you would do in a normal class lesson.

· Make them short and sweet.

In my experience, and also according to large-scale studies on the topic, student engagement with video content quickly diminishes after a few minutes. The videos I create therefore usually last around 6 minutes. You don't need professional video editing software, but free programmes like iMovie allow you to quickly edit and snazz up your content. For example, you can add text overlays or include background music for content that does not require students to listen to your voice. There are a number of websites that have royalty-free music available. iMovie even has movie trailer templates that you can add your own content to.

· Feature in the video.

We are all wired for connection. Students like seeing you in the video. When they can see a familiar face, be it only for a few seconds, they will be more attentive to what is going on. Also, if you are showing a particular skill e.g. how to write a text on a certain topic, filming yourself actually writing out the text (you can use a document camera for this, or simply your phone on a cheap stand) will help students get a better idea as to what they have to do.

· Show materials you are using and link them.

Especially when teaching remotely, students like to be taken through the individual steps of a task. Sometimes, the materials that they require for a particular task have been used before e.g. in the form of a booklet or in my case, sentence builders. What I personally find useful, is to show students the concrete resource within your video so that there is no ambiguity. To make it even more concrete, link the resources to your platform (I am using MS Teams and ClassNotebook) so that misunderstandings can be avoided.

· Make them reusable.

Creating video content takes time, so I try to make sure that my resources are future proof. Avoid specific references that would make your video feel out of place in a different context, e.g. references to a certain point in time ("Merry Christmas"), or information specific to a particular class or year, (e.g. naming names, insider anecdotes and the like).

In her book "Balance with Blended learning" (which I highly recommend), Catlin Tucker describes how she's included short videos for all of her lessons, in particular for the information that she will repeat over and over again. Her view is that it gives students control over the content, they can access it anytime and anywhere despite not being present in the class and lastly parents can also have access to the content, which again will support the learning of our students. Lastly, I personally think it's a huge time-saver to say to a student who has been off for a while "go and watch this video first and then come back to me".

· Focus on what is important tech-wise.

Obviously, we as teachers are not film-makers. We do not have the required equipment nor time at our disposal to make the next Hollywood blockbuster. As it turns out, studies even suggest that student engagement is worse for professionally produced content when compared to amateur "teacher in their living room" type videos. There are however a few cheap and easy tricks that can greatly improve the quality and effectiveness of your videos. The first and by far the most important is to focus on good audio quality. Hardly any of us will have studio-quality microphones like professional Twitch streamers (ask your students if you don't know what that is), but you can get lapel lavalier-type condenser microphones for just a few quid online. This little gadget will improve audio quality drastically over most cheaper laptop microphones, and also reduce background noise. The second thing to focus on is lighting. You don't need studio lighting, but make sure to be in the brightest space in your home (face a window, ideally), turn on all your lights, and even better get some genuinely bright light source to illuminate your face. I use a very bright daylight lamp that we already had to fight the Scottish winter gloom, but you can get LED panels for very little money, or just use a desk lamp with a bright bulb.