A common video hosting and viewing site. As a course developer, you can use it to host your own videos, create a playlist, search for other videos that are relevant to your course, and assign students to find related videos as part of an assignment.
Veterinary and biomedical students are asked to watch a video of walking through a barn and to list the best practices for animal welfare and farm management shown in the video. They are also asked to list items that need to be improved. This offers a way to expand student experiences and allows them to practice evaluating without the time and expense of traveling. Further, this practice protects the biosecurity of the farm locations.
MATSE 400: Crystal Chemistry requires students to build complex 3D models of crystals. In a traditional lab situation, the instructor walks around the room to assist the students while they build the 3D models. The video above provides the online students an opportunity to see the intricate details of the model building process.
PNG 301: Introduction to Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering is a fully online course where students are required to solve complex mathematical equations. PNG 301 makes use of the Dutton Institute’s lightboard to record the teaching assistant as he works through a series of practice exam questions.
Video allows students to observe the behaviors of specific materials. Seeing the ball respond differently to materials which look alike illuminates the impact of underlaying structure, making it easier to grasp the concept. Even if the chemical structures involved were depicted in a drawing, the impact of the structures to dislocation in motion is not intuitive, so actually demonstrating the behavior helps us to understand and retain the concept.
Research has shown that videos requiring high student interactivity can improve learning. This video is unusual in that it was used as a data source for conducting a time and motion study. The video contains no words, just unedited footage of harvest operations. This video was one of many utilized in ABE 885: Biomass Harvest and Logistics. The goal for students was to learn by doing, so students timed the field operations shown and then used the data to make calculations.
Many instructors supplement their online course materials with instructor-created or third-party YouTube videos. While these videos can enhance the learning experience, they often leave students in a passive role. Current learning theory suggests that we can motivate more effective learning when learners play an active role rather than a passive role.
Credit: Булат Хамитов from Pexels is licensed under CC0
Tell a Personal Story
Sustainability is a word that many people use, but few agree on exactly what it means! The origin of its current use is rooted in a basic reality: the resources of the planet are limited, and human activities today should be undertaken in a way that will not disadvantage or otherwise limit the opportunities of future generations.
Credit: Penn State University, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
In this example, the instructor uses a short video to introduce a lesson on recent climate change. In the video, the instructor explains how and why his surroundings (Duke Gardens) are different from what they were 12 – 15 years ago and that the result is due to recent climate change. The video gives relevance to the lesson’s objectives and the week’s material with a visual example and explanation.
Credit: Storm surge damage to Texas coast after Hurricane Ike, NOAA (Public Domain).
GEOSC 402: Natural Disasters, is offered during the prime time for tropical storms and hurricanes to occur. Often during this course, the instructor will send out current, relevant news articles. In addition, if a natural disaster is imminent, the instructor will post an advance message to help students focus on information that will be discussed in class following the event.
In this video (1:17 minutes), a faculty member provides a brief and engaging introduction to Penn State’s Online Geospatial Program and his role as an instructor for three courses in that program.
This short video provides a lot of information in just over a minute, modeling a thoughtful and concise presentation that’s also fun to watch. And during a peek into his recreational involvement with ice hockey, the instructor allows viewers to connect with his personality.
