10 Tips for Recorded Lectures

You may choose to upload your PowerPoints to Canvas or provide written lectures, but you might also want to record video lectures to create multiple means of engagement for your students (it is always best to err on the side of greater flexibility!). Here are 10 tips for creating good video lectures (and the resources to go with them).

1: Keep is short. Chunk it.

Students can’t sustain attention when it comes to a long (video) lecture. A “regular” lecture in the 55-minutes–plus range is a virtual impossibility for students. Your best bet for students to retain the material you present to them through video is to break it up into smaller segments of no more than 10 minutes (and, more realistically, five or six, if possible).

One now well-known technique to do this is called “chunking”—chopping up a larger lecture into “bite-sized” pieces and matching these pieces up with related materials and framing language. In doing this, you might, for example, find that you will be able to re-purpose your lecture notes to have a written introduction, a 6-minute video explanation of a key topic, a short reading to go with it, some connecting language, another video, and so on. Depending on how you lecture, you may have already done this to an extent. It saves work for you, in the end, because a) you only have to make a few short videos for key ideas instead of recording (and potentially editing) a longer lecture, and b) it signals to students exactly what is most important.

Another benefit to chunking is that you aren’t repeating the same information in too many places. Students can feel like they’re spinning their wheels when the textbook, the readings, the lecture, and the take-home essay are redundant. The other side of that coin is that you can use videos to key students into the parts of their homework where they should pay particular attention. Shorter videos can also help guide students when it comes time to review the information they may have missed. They can, for example, watch the one video on a key concept from Chapter 4 rather than needing to scrub through the 55-minute recording about Chapters 3 and 4.

2: Make it interactive (when possible).

This one relates to chunking but stands on its own as well. Consider incorporating interactive elements into your videos. If you’re worried about the technical aspects of that, have no fear! While it is a relatively painless process to, for example, add a multiple-choice question to a Kaltura video, it’s even more painless to simply provide a literal pause in-video for students to reflect on a question. Especially effective questions are those which ask students to form opinions, draw connections, or apply information. Answers (if there are any clear ones) can appear after a short pause or, if your question(s) are posed at the end of one video, at the beginning of the next. If you are searching for a more dynamic interactive experience, consider utilizing PlayPosit (integrated with Canvas) for your videos

3: Make it dynamic.

When you’re in the classroom and you’re using the whiteboard—or even just as you move about the room—you’re providing valuable context to the information students are taking in. It’s sort of how temperature is not a flavor but definitely plays a role in how you taste and enjoy your food. Any addition that can make a video more dynamic will make it more memorable. Consider incorporating a whiteboard or scratch paper (either physical via webcam or digital as part of the recording) or manipulatives (when appropriate and realistic). You could also consider using the Lightboard (eGlass) Studio on the 5th floor of the Cofrin Library. It functions as a transparent whiteboard and can add a unique feel to your videos.

Another piece of making a video more dynamic is making sure students see your face. Putting a face to a lecture alone can help increase a video’s effectiveness (one hypothesis as to why is that we cannot help but engage more with a speaker when instinctively tracking their eyes).

4: Give specific & transparent instructions.

When should I watch this video? What should I be paying special attention to? How does this relate to the homework? Will this be on the test? It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek to ask these questions, but they are in the back of students’ minds. What is obvious in a face-to-face setting is often missing in the online environment. It never hurts to be exceedingly clear about the purpose of your videos and where they fit in the grander scheme of your course. Tell students exactly when to watch the material (for example, “after reading Chapter 6” or “before taking the Unit 3 quiz”), and why they’re watching. Provide framing language whenever possible (e.g. “This lecture covers Topic X and clarifies the most confusing parts of Chapter 6. In it, I provide two examples of Y. Try to think of another example or two. Ask yourself how the author would address the problem posed at the end of the video.”).

5: Set (reasonable) expectations.

With a large degree of certainty, students will not watch all of your videos. If your video material is one-to-one the same as face-to-face instruction, you’re likely to lose their focus early on. Be sure to take student bandwidth (mental and technical) into account. For example, can some of a longer lecture be written out? Many (not all) students prefer to read at their own pace to watching videos that require a certain level of real-time mental digestion. Also be aware of student (and your own) time. Recording video takes time—and watching it takes time as well. If students have multiple courses with video content, they can quickly become taxed by screen time. Consider saving video for key concepts, problems, and demonstrations. Also think about whether you might provide a transcript alongside your videos that students can review later on. You might also offer some lectures in a different format (such as downloadable audio) – just keep this in mind, less can be more.

6: Review, repeat, & be repetitive.

You have probably heard that it takes three times, five times, or some other number of times hearing a piece of information before you “remember” it. Of course, we know there’s no hard-and-fast number of times that will ensure you’ve “learned” something. Because students are constantly “filtering” what you say in this way, it’s critical to re-emphasize what’s most important—but doing so without alteration is likely to get filtered out yet again. When information is re-articulated rather than repeated, it’s easier for students to link what they’re hearing to prior knowledge, construct patterns, and form imagery around it—all tendencies tied to their ability to remember.

7: “Guide on the Side” (too).

Students aren’t present when you’re recording with a webcam in your home office. This often results in “talking to” rather than “talking with” students as you might in a face-to-face interaction. The old cliche in instruction is that there are “sages on stages” and “guides on sides”. While it is challenging to remain a “guide” on video, it can be done. To do so, remember to always provide context for your videos be it within the video itself or with framing text where the video is added to your course. Give students a way to interact with the material such as a study guide or guiding questions at the outset. The best videos are those that steer students to information and draw connections and conclusions rather than the more instinctual tendency to provide it directly.

8: Keep accessibility in mind.

When making video, remember that access may be restricted due to impairment or bandwidth limitations. It’s a good idea to make videos downloadable in the event students do not have strong internet. For the same reason—and to accommodate a variety of study habits—it is a good practice to provide a transcript of your video and audio content.  This will also provide an avenue for learning for the visually impaired. For the audio impaired, it is also good practice to accurately close caption all audio/video materials.

9: Use what already exists.

While there’s a lot of junk on the internet, there is also a wealth of quality content already available on YouTube, Vimeo, and other streaming sites. You may even be able to find audio/video materials available through PBS, NPR, TEDEd, Khan Academy, or the like. This will cut down on your workload and may well generate a more robust variety of perspectives as well as a variety of types of content that will help keep students engaged.

10: Record it especially for online.

This one is #10 because, while it’s good practice, it might not be practical depending on your course. What it comes down to is that lectures recorded specifically for online are more effective than a “repurposed” recording of a face-to-face session. The exception is when the face-to-face session is recorded and then uploaded for the same audience to return for review rather than as a “replacement” for face-to-face attendance.

Call for Peer Teaching Mentees for 2024-25 (Due Sept. 3)

Application due Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024

View the Call for Peer Teaching Mentees for 2024–25 as a PDF.

CATL is pleased to announce that the peer teacher mentoring program begun in 2022 based on recommendations from the Teaching Effectiveness Working Group and the University Committee will continue with Provost support for its third year.

The purpose of the program is to provide mentoring and support for professional development related to teaching. Additionally, this program can help build a culture of collegial teaching observations. Although now associated with CATL, as before, Professor David Voelker (Humanities and History) will work with up to eight faculty and teaching professor colleagues throughout the 2024–25 academic year. In addition to serving as a teaching mentor for the past two years, David has co-facilitated the UWGB Teaching Scholars program and the UW System’s Wisconsin Teaching Fellows & Scholars program. He has experience teaching in most modalities, including in-person, hybrid, virtual classroom, and asynchronous online.

David will work with each mentee instructor on a course of their choosing, providing feedback about classroom practices. He will meet with each instructor both before and after observing a class session. Mentees will also complete reciprocal peer observations with another participant in the program to benefit from additional feedback and to gain experience in conducting formative teaching observations. Participants are welcome to choose courses in any modality for observation.

At the end of the year, the teaching mentor will provide a written, confidential evaluation of each mentee’s teaching performance. The mentee will have the option of including that evaluation in their file for contract renewal, tenure, or post-tenure review but will not be required to do so. This process is different from typical CATL observations which are instead conducted at any time to address a specific teaching issue or concern, not to provide an overall evaluation of teaching performance.

WHY SHOULD YOU SIGN UP TO BE A MENTEE?

Participation in this program will give you two opportunities to discuss your teaching in depth and to receive detailed feedback from a supportive observer. Participation also demonstrates your commitment to professional development and provides evidence that may be utilized in a contract renewal, tenure, and/or promotion review.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION

Participation is open to all UWGB faculty and teaching professors. While applications from assistant professors or assistant teaching professors will be prioritized, more senior faculty and teaching professors are encouraged to apply to gain experience with conducting teaching observations.
Up to eight mentees will be chosen for 2024–25. If there are more applicants than available slots, preference will be given to eligible applicants with the least amount of teaching experience at UWGB. Up to two faculty or teaching professors at the associate or full rank may be chosen. Mentees will be selected by the CATL director and the program mentor.

TO APPLY

Please complete this brief Qualtrics survey by Tuesday, September 3, 2024.

QUESTIONS

Contact CATL Director Kris Vespia (vespiak@uwgb.edu) or Professor David Voelker (voelkerd@uwgb.edu).

Dr. C. Edward Watson to Present at UW-Green Bay: Teaching with Artificial Intelligence (Aug 29, 2:00 p.m)

Preparing Students for Life Beyond College: Embracing AI as Essential Learning

UW-Green Bay is excited to welcome Dr. C. Edward Watson, Vice President for Digital Innovation at the American Association of Colleges and Universities and co-author of “Teaching with AI: A practical guide to a new area of human learning.” Mark your calendars as we kick off a new fall semester together with Dr. Watson’s presentation and read on to learn more about the presentation topic! This event is for UWGB faculty and staff. If you did not receive an Outlook invitation for this presentation, please send an email to CATL, and we will get you added to the event!

  • When: Thursday, August 29, 2024, at 2:00 p.m.
  • Where: Virtual presentation hosted in Zoom

Preparing Students for Life Beyond College: Embracing AI as Essential Learning

Generative AI tools have had an astonishingly quick impact on the ways we learn, work, think, and create. While higher education’s initial response was to develop strategies to diminish AI’s influence in the classroom, many would now argue that AI competencies and literacies must be embraced as essential learning for most colleges and universities. These responses and realities create a challenging tension that higher education must work to resolve. Drawing from the presenter’s new book, Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024), this presentation and discussion will detail the challenges and opportunities that have emerged for higher education. The core focus of this keynote will be on concrete approaches and strategies higher education can adopt, both within the classroom and across larger curricular structures, to best prepare students for the life that awaits them after graduation.

Presenter Bio

Photo of Eddie Watson

C. Edward Watson, Ph.D., is the Vice President for Digital Innovation at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). He is also the founding director of AAC&U’s Institute on AI, Pedagogy, and the Curriculum. Prior to joining AAC&U, Dr. Watson was the Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Georgia (UGA) where he led university efforts associated with faculty development, TA development, learning technologies, and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. He continues to serve as a Fellow in the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education at UGA and recently stepped down after more than a decade as the Executive Editor of the International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. His most recent book is Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024). Dr. Watson has been quoted in the New York Times, Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, Campus Technology, EdSurge, EdTech, Consumer Reports, UK Financial Times, and University Business Magazine and by the AP, CNN and NPR regarding current teaching and learning issues and trends in higher education.

UWGB Free Access to Teaching with AI

UWGB faculty and staff can get free unlimited access to the text Teaching with AI through the UWGB library!

Communication Methods & Recommendations

A communication challenge you might face whether you’re teaching in an in-person class, a hybrid one, or one that’s completely online, will be to try to communicate the same information to students who are not able to attend the in-person class, or to communicate with students who may have fallen behind. Remember, you should strive to provide equitable communication to all students, and opportunities for students to communicate with you and with each other, regardless of how they’re engaging with the course. Not only will some instructors have to consider how to communicate important information to students in different physical locations, but also across modalities and time.

The expandable sections below offer some additional information when considering how to communicate instructor to student, student to student, and student to instructor.

✅ Might work because

  • Efficient, but remember that your communication and that of your students will be limited by who attends in-person.
  • You can use the classroom environment to support your goals for the session: whiteboards, projectors, screens, and other equipment in a physical classroom.
  • Hand gestures and body language can help you get your point across.

❌ Might not work because

  • One group of students will get the information first.
  • We have limited interaction time with students, and may not be able to communicate everything we desire to in the time we have.
  • Potential classroom distractions may limit the intake of the communication for some individuals.

✅ Might work because

  • Personable and efficient.
  • Effective for one-to-one communication.

❌ Might not work because

  • Time intensive if you have to do this with every student.
  • Students don't necessarily talk on the phone—they may feel more comfortable communicating through email.
  • Ephemeral (unless you record it!)

✅ Might work because

  • A "distribution list" will allow you to send a message to your entire class at once.
  • Familiar to you and to students.

❌ Might not work because

  • One-on-one communication can get "noisy" and relies on the class list in SIS or Canvas (not Outlook).
  • Media limited.

 

✅ Might work because

  • Engage the whole class or specific groups of students.
  • Keep related things together.
  • Familiar in principle to students.
  • Less formal.

❌ Might not work because

  • Requires regular/frequent interaction for best results.
  • Small learning curve in Canvas initially.
  • Task needs clarification.
  • Less formal.

✅ Might work because

  • Intuitive and in Canvas.
  • Alert the whole class or sections of students all at once.
  • Allows for rich media (video messages, images, etc.).
  • Students get notified.
  • Allows for student comments (optional).

❌ Might not work because

  • Students can disable email notifications—but still see announcements when in Canvas.
  • Can get noisy with frequent use.

 

✅ Might work because

  • Feels more like being in the classroom.
  • Sessions can be recorded for review (or for those who miss).
  • Varying levels of interactive options (whiteboard, breakout groups, chat, polls, etc.).

❌ Might not work because

  • Steeper learning curve the first time.
  • Relies on a good connection and technology.
  • Logistically, some students cannot make it to synchronous sessions.

✅ Might work because

  • Allows instructors to create channels for specific people, or a whole class
  • Can @ people to notify them; and use emojis to respond to chats
  • Could be useful for communicating expectations for group work.

❌ Might not work because

  • Students may be more familiar with it as a synchronous meeting tool rather than as a communication tool
  • Easy to get lost in threads if users don't tag each other for communicating
  • Steep learning curve to utilize full functionality

✅ Might work because

  • Intuitive and familiar to students.
  • Easy to use.
  • Synchronous.
  • A "history" of the chat is available to the entire class making it good for Q&A-type sessions.

❌ Might not work because

  • Synchronous.
  • Media limited.
  • Whole-class only. Cannot be limited to specific students.

✅ Might work because

  • Displays course due dates automatically.
  • Can add other items (like reminders).

❌ Might not work because

  • Requires "due dates."
  • Only the names of events appear directly on the calendar.

✅ Might work because

  • Create blocks of time for students to sign up to meet one-on-one (e.g. office hours).
  • Can use a "feed" to add these blocks to Outlook.

❌ Might not work because

  • Required additional communication so students know how and to use them.

Learning Outcomes that Lead to Student Success 

What are learning outcomes and why do you need them?

There’s a famous misquote from Lewis Carroll, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” The same is true in our courses: if you don’t know what you want your students to learn, it doesn’t really matter how or what you teach them. Every instructor wants to ensure student success, but if we as instructors don’t have accurate and well-thought-out learning outcomes, what does success mean in our classes? Creating learning outcomes should be a collaborative process where instructors responsible for teaching a course come together to craft these statements based on the most important learning in a course, taking care to maintain a balance between critical thinking and base knowledge while keeping an eye toward what makes a learning outcome an achievable learning goal.

Learning outcome creation

Before you create course learning outcomes

  • If your course is part of a program, you should ensure that the learning outcomes mesh with the rest of the program to meet all program learning outcomes.
  • Plan collaboratively with colleagues teaching the same course. All learning outcomes for sections taught of the same course should have the same learning outcomes according to the HLC (Higher Learning Commission) criteria 3a.
  • With colleagues, determine and list the most important learning or skills that will take place in this course.
  • Whittle down the list if it is too large. Consider what you and your colleagues can reasonably accomplish during the semester.
  • Pay attention to the conversation around Generative AI. What your students need to know and do may change because of the rapid development of AI.

Considerations as you create your learning outcomes

  1. Keep assessment and, therefore, your verb choices in the forefront of your mind. As you write learning outcomes, you want to ensure that the learning outcomes contain actions that can be demonstrated. When you ask students to “understand” something, this is difficult to demonstrate. If they “explain” it instead, that is an action that can be done and measured in various ways.
  2. Keep Bloom’s Taxonomy next to you as you create. It makes sense to use a taxonomy when writing outcomes. In Bloom’s model, skills and verbs on the bottom of the pyramid are less complex or intellectually demanding than those at the top of the pyramid; keep in mind they may still be totally appropriate, especially for lower-level courses. More critical thinking skills are required for those skills at the top of the pyramid, but it is useful and acceptable to use verbs and abilities from all levels of the pyramid. If you are teaching an upper-level course, you don’t want to draw all your verbs and skills from Bloom’s Taxonomy’s knowledge level. You should be using some higher levels in Bloom’s system.  The chart below can be a guide as you create those learning outcomes and note that generative AI developments may make the original chart problematic in different ways. There are alternatives to Blooms, as well.

    Alternatives to Blooms Taxonomy levels and verbs.
    Newtonsneurosci, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, v Wikimedia Commons
  3. Use SMART Goals also. In addition to including Bloom’s Taxonomy as part of your learning outcomes, we encourage you to make sure that your learning outcomes are created using the SMART goals model.   SMART goals were developed in 1981 by George Duran, who noticed that most business goals were not created in a way that could be implemented effectively.

SMART is an acronym we can use to describe the attributes of effective learning outcomes for your students. Please note that you will find different versions of the acronyms in the SMART goal model, but these are the ones CATL uses to discuss learning outcomes:

    • Specific – target a specific area, skill, or knowledge
    • Measurable – progress is quantifiable
    • Attainable – able to be achieved or realistic
    • Relevant – applicable to the students in the class
    • Time-based – achieved in a specific timeframe, such as a semester

Example: By the end of the semester (T), students will be able to diagram (M) the process of photosynthesis (S, A) in this biology class (R).

Learning outcomes are more likely to be meaningful if they can meet all of the qualifiers in the SMART acronym. Think specifics as you create your learning outcome. If you can’t tell if your learning outcome meets one of the qualifiers, you should rework it until it does.

Review your learning outcomes

Your next step as a team should be to review your learning outcomes. Compare them to the SMART model and Bloom’s Taxonomy or any other relevant model you might be using. If it helps, consider these examples. First, “Students will improve their understanding of passive voice.” On the surface, it might look like a reasonable goal, but then as you ask, “What does it mean to improve? Where did the student start from? When does this need to be done by?” This goal offers no answers to those questions.

How about this one? “By the end of the semester, all students will receive a 100% score on their math notation quiz.” For context, this is a Writing Foundations course. That begs the question, is this outcome relevant to this group of students? Is 100% a reasonable and attainable goal?

Consider these questions as a guide when creating SMART goals. A more reasonable goal for this group of writing students is that by the end of the semester, students will be able to identify and accurately and effectively use scholarly research in their writing projects 80% of the time. One part of the review process is ensuring your outcomes are SMART, but there are additional elements to consider, including the questions below.

  • Can you identify the verb in your learning outcome?
  • If your students master the skills in your learning outcomes, will they be satisfactorily prepared to go to another course that teaches the next level of this material?
  • If this is a course in a series, have you checked to be sure that your outcomes make sense with the previous and next courses?
  • Has your unit done curriculum mapping for its goals, and do your course outcomes align with that mapping?

Put it all together

Creating learning outcomes that reflect the learning necessary to achieve mastery in a course can be an arduous process. It should be a collaborative process as well. We encourage you to reach out to the CATL team if you would like guidance or help walking through Bloom’s Taxonomy and the SMART goal model. We are always available to help!

Resources on creating learning outcomes