Group Admins
Description
Session Description
Session aim
This session will reflect on the use of video to enhance and improve learning and teaching in the Heriot-Watt Online project.
Heriot-Watt Online is a two-year collaborative project between academic schools and professional services at Heriot-Watt University to enhance the existing independent distance learning programmes in order to expand delivery and improve the student experience.
Who would benefit from the session/target audience?
This session would benefit academics, course facilitators and learning technologists, particularly those who are new to distance learning and support or teach in online programmes aimed at international audiences.
What we will cover in the session
We will show how, as learning technologists in the project, we have introduced new pedagogical approaches using existing technology and new technology. We will also show how academics have become central to the creative process of instructional design.
Examples of technology we will cover include:
– Lightboard: allowing academics to demonstrate complex ideas succinctly to students. Academics have embraced the new approach, recording video in a purpose-built studio – often for the first time.
– Collaborate Ultra: using webinars creatively to present an online equivalent of tutorials and allowing distance learning students to interact with tutors. This approach stems from the viewpoint that emotions, culture and behaviour are more effective conveyed through video rather than other ways.
– Lumen5: creating short, narrative-driven, highly-professional video content without any need for training. These types of videos are familiar to, and very popular with, users of various social media platforms.
– Original content: where tutors have used recorded themselves, e.g. with smartphones or digital cameras, and have edited their own video.
What benefits can this bring?
Improvements that we have seen include:
– Increased student participation and engagement, including evidence of improved attainment. We have received some very positive feedback from students.
– Giving academics the skills and confidence to use technology to the best effect for their students and their own professional development. Course leaders have gone from being sceptical about using new technology to being passionate advocates of change in their schools.
Use of video as pedagogical tools is already, in the first year of the project, proving to have had a significant impact on student engagement and attainment. Academics have enjoyed being part of the creative process alongside learning technologists, making their subject matter more useful and engaging for students.
Incorporating video in course design is starting to help shape and reform thinking in schools about long-term strategy with an “online first” approach.
References
Penfold, S. (2017). Why And How To Use Video In eLearning. [Blog] eLearning Industry. Available at: https://elearningindustry.com/use-video-in-elearning-why-how [Accessed 22/05/2019]
Oesch, T. (2017). Using Video in E-Learning: Why, When and How. [Blog] Training Industry Inc. Available at: https://trainingindustry.com/articles/e-learning/using-video-in-e-learning-why-when-and-how/ [Accessed 29/05/2019]
Timothy, A. (2015). How To Effectively Use Videos In eLearning. [Blog] eLearning Industry. Available at: https://elearningindustry.com/effectively-use-videos-in-elearning [Accessed 20/05/2019]
