February 24th, 2009 by Robin Green
Say you’re playing a video for students as part of a learning system lesson. Sure, everyone may be enjoying the video, but it’s your duty to be strong! Remember: You have concrete goals for this lesson, and you won’t let something like pure, passive enjoyment foil them.
Press the pause button. When integrating videos into a classroom learning system, the pause button is your best ally. The pause button is there to help you achieve success in video effectiveness.
Be lavish. Use the pause button as often as you like. Stop a scene and have students predict what will happen next. Stop a line of dialogue and let students predict the next line. Freeze-frame a scene and have students evaluate what they are watching. Press pause and ask rapid-fire questions to check for students’ critical viewing. When you take advantage of the power of Pause, you transform a passive viewing experience into an interactive learning system.
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February 24th, 2009 by Robin Green
When selecting a video to enhance an LMS course or classroom learning system, be sure to watch and evaluate the entire video before deciding to use it. Take notes and write down details such as: what is the content? What are the important points? How long is the video? Is the content appropriate for your learning system? Would your students enjoy watching it?
How would you evaluate your students’ comprehension of the content? Are their instructor or study guides to aid you? And so on. A thorough assessment of a video under consideration will not only help you decide whether or not it’s right for your learning system, but will also help you determine exactly how the video will be used.
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February 24th, 2009 by Robin Green
A video can be used to introduce a language topic, motivate students, or as a reward after an exam. Language students can watch short clips via an LMS and study “real life situations.”
Another group activity for a video-aided language learning system is a character study. Ask students to focus on each character in the show or movie, using vocabulary words to describe a their personalities. Who is the hero/villain? For weaker or younger students, have them listen for specific vocabulary or adjectives, or verbs in the present/past tense, etc.
Keep in mind that an important aspect of integrating video into a learning system is organization. Prepare pre-video questions and activities, as well as post-viewing comprehension activities. Divide students into groups and discuss the answers.
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February 23rd, 2009 by Robin Green
In both LMS and traditional language courses, educators can use video resources in a number of ways to complement a learning system. The key is to have fun with it, and be creative!
Divide students into groups. Play about five minutes of the video without sound, and have students write the dialogue. This short learning system gives students a chance not only to display their understanding of the cultural or situational context, but also use their imagination and creativity.
If you’re playing a TV show or other story-based video, ask students to write a new beginning, middle or end to the show. Ask students to identify the conflict before you play the solution to the problem. You can also have them come up with their own solution before revealing the show’s, and then compare them.
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February 23rd, 2009 by Robin Green
During my travels, I’ve met countless non-native English speakers whose grasp of the language–including slang and colloquial words and phrases–is truly amazing. Many of them were lucky enough to live in a country whose national curriculum includes a strong foreign language learning system. Others, however, never completed more than a couple of basic English classes. So where did they learn such great English? The answer is pretty consistent: music and movies/TV.
Now, my guess is that for most of these people, the ratio was about 75% movies and 25% music. (The latter just sounds cooler.)
In any case, in both formal and informal learning systems, videos can help students grasp a foreign language in a way that purely visual or audio learning systems cannot. It makes sense–in the real world, most students receive both audio and visual clues to aid them. Why should their learning environment be any different?
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February 23rd, 2009 by Robin Green
Where can educators find videos to upload to an LMS? Finding video resources with interesting and appropriate content can be challenging and time-consuming. Be creative and vigorous in your LMS video search. Resources may include the university library, your own collection, and textbook and video publishers. Find short clips on YouTube, or check out free educational media websites like Media College. Don’t forget to ask your colleagues about their video collections.
Videos can be used to aid students’ comprehension of a broad range of topics. Subjects that are especially suited to video learning include scientific and historical topics. Investigate which organizations may have video resources for your LMS course, such as the National Geographic for natural phenomena, or PBS for historical events.
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February 19th, 2009 by Robin Green
If you’ve ever designed a website, you’ve probably done some research about how people read web content. Whether you’re designing your own web page or online courseware, it’s important to keep in mind that eyetracking studies have found most people read in an F-shaped pattern: two horizontal stripes followed by a vertical stripe.
Studies show that website and online courseware readers’ eyes most often fixate at the upper left of a page, then hover in that area before going left to right. Only after skimming through the top portion of the page do their eyes typically float further down.
People also tend to read quickly, so keep your sentences short. Online courseware content that corresponds to the movement of the average eye will prove more effective than a design that doesn’t.
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February 19th, 2009 by Robin Green
Whether you’re an online courseware student or a company trainee, your social and professional life is largely dependent on your cell phone. Living without a cell phone has become anomalous in the western world. If you’ve simply chosen not to own one, the people around you are probably baffled or think you’re strange. They assume that you have no social life to speak of.
Some day very soon, I suspect, it will seem bafflingly odd to be without mobile internet access. The inability to read online courseware or check your email while sitting on the subway will be the new technological faux pas. But the lack of web access will probably hold bigger consequences. Our heavy dependence on the internet for everything from online courseware to VoIP communication to world news, will generate new needs when that dependence becomes a mobile one. Of course, conveniences quickly become necessities in a hi-tech world.
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