In Issue 115 of ETp, I talked about the research done by people such as Richard Mayer, who looked at the impact of video on memory. I also mentioned the work of Birgit Loch and Catherine McLoughlin. One of our biggest challenges, as teachers, is to get our students to engage with video: although there is a lot of useful video content available on the internet, getting our students to work with it in a meaningful way is another matter. Loch and McLoughlin focused on how a video should be designed, and what stages should be included to make it more engaging for the students. One of their suggestions was an introduction, explaining the content, and/or a summary at the end. Another thing we can do is to make use of some of the new tools that are emerging that allow us to do things like adding questions onto a video. This makes the process of watching the video more engaging, as the students suddenly find questions appearing as they watch. A good example of a tool that can do this is Vizia.
Vizia
Vizia allows you to choose a video on a video repository like YouTube and add questions to it. When the students view the video, the questions appear on the screen, and the video will pause and wait for them to input their answers. What is perhaps most interesting, though, is that the students’ answers are then stored and Vizia creates a simple database of them. This gives teachers a real insight into what their students understood and thought about the video. Vizia promotes itself as the ‘end of passive viewing’. As with all tools, success depends on the questions asked and how the information from the answers is used, but it can certainly help to make the viewing process more engaging.
Once you have a Vizia account (creating one is free), you simply paste in the URL of a video you want to use. It does take a few seconds to load, and occasionally I have had to refresh the page, so be patient. When you can see the video on the screen, it is time to start adding your questions. My suggestion is to play the video through first and think about the questions you want to ask. The number of questions will depend to some degree on the length of the video, but my advice with any video is to keep it short – and that probably means under ten minutes. In a ten-minute video I would not pose more than five questions.
You can stop the video at any point simply by clicking on it, and you can clearly see on the player controls below where it has got to. Stop the video, bring your cursor onto the timeline and then, at the point where you stopped it, you can add a question. It is a bit tricky at first, but after a few tries, you will see how easy it is to do. A range of question formats is available (Quiz, Poll, Response and Call To Action), but, so far, I have really only used the Quiz and Response formats.
One thing I really like about Vizia is that it has a ‘Gate’ feature. In other words, you can choose to require the students to provide you with their names and email addresses. This makes tracking their answers much easier. However, there is the option of not asking for this information.
Once you have finished adding your questions and setting the ‘Gate’ feature, you can quickly preview your video. If you are happy, copy the URL from the preview and share it with your students.
All the answers the students input are stored in a CSV file. Click on ‘My Videos’ and then click on the video you want to look at. On the right, you will see a button to access the CSV file. Click on that, and it will download a spreadsheet with all the answers that the students have given. Remember, if you decided to add a ‘Gate’ to your videos, you will also have each student’s name and email address.
I was introduced to this tool very recently, so I have only experimented with it on a couple of occasions. To start with, it can be a bit tricky to add the questions, and the video doesn’t always load the first time. However, I had no problems with the students watching the video and inputting their answers, and the resulting data was really useful. The students don’t need an account to access your videos.
Remember, as with any of the tools I recommend in Webwatcher, the real game changer comes when you get the students to use the tool themselves. They could easily work in groups and create their own questions for a video of their choice. If the students are going to make their own questions, however, they will need to have a Vizia account.
I have made a video that will take you through the basics of using Vizia. Watch it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrVQxTH8aio.
References
Loch, B and McLoughlin, C ‘An instructional design model for screencasting: engaging students in self-regulated learning’ In Williams, G, Statham, P, Brown, N and Cleland, B (Eds) Changing Demands, Changing Directions Proceedings Ascilite Hobart 2011
Mayer, R E and Moreno, R ‘Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning’ Educational Psychologist 38 (1) 2003
Russell Stannard is the founder of www.teachertrainingvideos.com, which won a British Council ELTons award for technology. He is a freelance teacher and writer and also a NILE Associate Trainer.
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