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Many teachers want to improve the learning process in their classes. At the same time, most of the students are interested in using cognitive skills more effectively while studying. Both of them are looking for information on the best teaching methods for students that really work. Let’s together find ways to make the learning process more interesting and understandable!
In this article, you will learn more about how to choose or make video materials for study. Students and teachers can find a lot of useful information and tricks here to help them create video tutorials or presentations for assignments.
Why do teachers need modern technology in the learning process?
Recently, students and professors around the world have been forced to use new methods of teaching and ways of learning.
Distance (online) learning has become a necessity due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it has helped convince many that classical teaching in schools and universities is no longer as effective as it used to be. The full transition to online education also has many disadvantages.
The combination of traditional forms of classroom learning with elements of special information technologies such as computer graphics, audio, video, and interactive elements is currently the best way to convey information to students. This way of learning helps to quickly understand, remember and use the learning material in practice.
Video lectures help students to learn better, as they can pause or slow down the video at any time to take notes and take a break when they need to. This helps in preparing for exams, as students can quickly find the topic they need from the catalogue at any time and watch the video again.
How does this teaching method work for teachers?
The use of multimedia materials helps to increase student motivation and stimulates self-study. Recording a course of lectures or searching for multimedia materials that match the curriculum saves the teacher time. Students can watch/listen to the lecture at home, at a convenient pace for them, and in a personal meeting with the professor, they can ask questions and get more practical knowledge.
What is Flipped Class?
Flipped Class is one of the most effective blended learning models. Its implementation in practice will make it possible to individualise the educational process, reduce students’ anxiety and increase motivation for learning.
This new model helps save students from passive and boring learning. So, lectures are watched at home as a video, and in the classroom, there is an active discussion of information from the education video.
Flipped learning can be a good solution for teachers who find it necessary to conduct discussions, mentoring, teamwork and other activities in their classes. It’s also good for students because if there is any topic that wasn’t clear from the video, then the teacher can explain it during a face-to-face meeting.
How does video help in learning?
There are different ways of perceiving information. Not all students can understand a subject just by reading the text. Many students find visual content a more effective way to deal with a new topic and memorise information faster, as they have a visual representation of it.
According to UNESCO, a person remembers 12% of what they hear and 25% of what they see, and with audiovisual perception, up to 65% of the information is assimilated.
Consequently, the involvement of all senses leads to an improvement in the assimilation of information compared to traditional teaching methods. The video-based teaching program is the most intensive form of education.
Using video materials in the lesson helps to solve the following problems:
- increasing student motivation;
- creating a comfortable learning environment;
- increasing cognitive interest in the subject;
- simultaneous involvement of several channels of students’ perception;
- rational distribution of lesson time;
- promoting the growth of student achievement in the subject.
Therefore it’s necessary to use multimedia materials in teachers’ work to convey information in different ways. In this case, students can choose the way that will allow them to study more efficiently and to be more motivated in this process.
So, well-designed multimedia messages can improve active cognitive processing in learning. But how to choose the right materials for teaching
Good teaching materials must meet these requirements:
- take into account students’ level of knowledge;
- fit the teacher’s curriculum;
- be no longer than 6 minutes;
- have a clear structure of video lectures;
- have the logical sequence of information;
- contain many examples and cases;
- have a synopsis in text or pictures for video;
- be compatible with different devices and operating systems.
Can’t find a video lecture that would meet all these requirements?
If you haven’t found video tutorials that would suit your class and would be convenient for students to watch, then don’t be upset. Everyone can make a high-quality educational video for free or for little money.
There are several types of video content to improve the learning process. Each school or academic subject requires a certain way of presenting the information.
You need to decide which kind of video you should create, taking into account the age, interests and the way your audience will perceive the information. Depending on what type of video you plan to shoot, it depends on what kind of shooting technology to use for this, what kind of equipment and video editing tools may be needed.
There are types of educational videos:
- Screencast;
- Video tutorial;
- Interactive video;
- Online lecture in real-time.
Screencast or recording from a computer screen and a voiceover that comments on what is happening in the video. A great genre if you need to teach viewers how to use any program.
Usually, video tutorials are recorded using a camera or conducted online in real-time. In such videos, a person sits in front of the camera and reads the text. This video format is usually used when a student or teacher needs to comment on slides to complement a presentation.
Short video clips that include interactions such as text, images, quizzes and tests are called interactive videos. The concept of such lessons is to offer students different options, and depending on their choice, show different results. Students feel responsible for their learning through interactive content.
Online lectures are similar to regular lectures in educational institutions. But there is one difference. For online video lectures in real-time, it’s necessary to prepare a presentation or other educational material for video demonstration in advance.
The technical characteristics that must be adhered to when shooting are the same for all types of educational videos. Video resolution must be at least 720 or 1080 p., file format preferably MPEG-4, widescreen aspect ratio 16 by 9, H.264 codec.
So, all that is needed for making multimedia content to teach your class are a camera with good resolution (for example, Full HD), a microphone, suitable software for screen recording, or video editing and image processing.
Before you start preparing equipment and recording video, you should choose a way to conduct a lesson and write a script.
So, there are general steps to make video content for teachers’ lectures:
- Choice of topics;
- Thesis plan for the video;
- Write a script for a lecture;
- Choose a location for shooting;
- Make the right lighting;
- Choose clothes that won’t ruffle or blend in with the background;
- Exclude extraneous sounds;
- Divide the performance into short takes;
- Edit video.
What tools and skills do you need to create a video?
There are many different programs to create a video not only for professionals, but it’s hard to find high-quality tools that are easy to use for a beginner in this. If you are faced with a problem about which one to choose, then this article will be helpful for you.
There are descriptions of the 5 most functional and popular video editing software for students and teachers to use.
Movavi Video Editor
It’s a powerful video editing tool. Cropping, rotating, colour correction, adding filters and effects, transitions and voiceovers are just a small part of the editor’s capabilities. You can create video clips and slideshows, improve video quality, cut video into parts and combine multiple clips into one movie with this video editing program.
Movavi Video Editor can be used with different operating systems, there are versions of this program for Windows and Mac.
The interface of the program was created by specialists who made it super user-friendly. Unlike the difficult-to-use professional video editing software, this program has the same functions, but they aren’t hidden in the toolbar. On the official website of the company, everyone can watch a video review of working with the Movavi Video Editor. Every user who has never worked with media content before can easily figure out all the subtleties and settings.
Despite the fact that this is paid software, there is a free 7 day period to work with this editing program. Usually, this time is enough for a new user to appreciate the simplicity and convenience of using this video editing software for students and teachers to buy a licence later.
Animoto
This is a free service with ready-made themes and intuitive tools that helps to create an educational video quickly and hassle-free. This editor offers directing and editing functions and can analyze music and photos to automatically create a video. All this makes Animoto a great tool for creating presentations for students. This may be a new generation of slideshows.
Animoto has additional plugins, versions for Mac, Windows and smartphones based on iOS and Android.
Users looking for new ideas and inspiration can visit the Animoto website. There is a special gallery of various ready-made projects.
iMovie
Apple’s proprietary iMovie multimedia application is available only on Mac OS and iOS devices.
This tool for video editing is equally good both for beginners and for advanced users. Like any Apple product, this app has an intuitive interface.
The iMovie editor has a large selection of animated titles and visual styles, sound effects and video filters. It’s intended for creating and saving projects, adding all kinds of multimedia content to them.
In general, there are many automated processes in this app, but this software isn’t suitable for fast video cutting. You should consider this before choosing this editor.
WeVideo
WeVideo is an online video maker service. This online editor works in any browser on Windows and macOS. WeVideo mobile apps for iOS and Android are also available.
WeVideo is an easy-to-learn video editor for personal or corporate use. It offers huge functionality for editing video files in all popular formats. Users can edit videos manually or using ready-made WeVideo’s templates.
The main advantages of this web application are the adaptation of video for the display of any mobile device and tools for collaboration between multiple users.
Among the shortcomings of this online editor, experts noted a poor free plan and limited options for users, low speed of the web editor for multimedia files.
Zoom
This is an online service for video conferencing, online meetings, webinars and personal conversations.
Besides this, Zoom has many built-in features that improve video and image quality and make video calls more enjoyable with virtual backgrounds and filters.
Zoom conferences are streamed in HD quality. During a conference, the user can turn input devices on or off, chat with participants and transfer files, view participant profiles, and turn on screen or conference recording.
It’s an indispensable software for teachers who want to record lectures, diversify distance learning with tests or quizzes.
This service is really convenient for students when they need to prepare a presentation because they can use the file transfer in the program right during the video call.
Collaboration rooms and group chat is really a very good solution for student teamwork.
Visit the official website for an overview of new Zoom features and products and use all the functions to make your webinar, lecture or conference really interesting.
Before starting to edit and process your educational material in the program that you choose for this, try all the functions that you may need on any other video file. It’s better to know in advance what the result will be.
You can call a student or colleague to try all the necessary functions in apps that allow you to record video during an online webinar or live lecture.
As you can see, educational videos are an effective way to engage, motivate and improve the performance of students of all ages. The creation of such educational materials doesn’t require special skills or professional programs. Anyone can create high-quality, informative videos quickly and without expensive equipment!
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