Creating Effective Online Lectures

"Chunk" your Lectures!

• Average lecture segments should be 7-10 minutes.  This allows students to digest every part of the lesson,  quickly revisit what they may not have understood and provides a meaningful place to pause if they need to return to the lesson later. Also, It is much easier to re-record 10 minutes than 50 minutes should you run into any technical issues or make a mistake. 
  • Adhere to the "Ted Talk Rule" where no presenter, no matter who they are, is allowed to deliver a talk more than 18 minutes. 
• Tip for implementation: If you are used to longer lectures, review your lessons and identify where the natural breaks in the material might be.  Use these as a guides to decide where every recording should begin and end.

Use Visuals, Images and Animations (wisely)

• Avoid the “talking head” lecture.  Visuals can enhance your presentation and make material more accessible.
• Share your screen with students so they can see your presentation, graphs, figures, drawings  and your face all at the same time. 
• Keep a good pace. Avoid rushing through 
• Tip for implementation: Text-heavy slides can make it difficult to pay attention to what a speaker is saying.  Mix it up and try slides using a single large image. This creates a need for students to listen more to what you are saying instead of just reading the words behind you. This also gives students a reason to take more detailed notes.

Create Guided or Embedded Questions

• Pause to ask students a question, provide a worksheet that they need to complete as they watch the lecture, or create a task for them to do in between videos. 
• Tip for implementation: How do you make sure that students complete guided questions or worksheets? Have them submit their answers as an assignment. This can also help you assess your students’ understanding of the material.   

Test Knowledge with Quizzes and Self-assessment

• Create frequent, low stakes quizzes.  Students will need to pay closer attention to video lectures if they know you will assess their knowledge as they progress.
• Provide opportuniities for students to self-assess with an ungraded reflection, survey or have them lead a class discussion. 
• Tip for implementation: Ask students what they are having trouble with. At the end of a unit, have students assess themselves by asking what their “muddiest point” is or what they would like to learn more about and have them submit their responses via Canvas.

Use Pre-existing Videos or Learning Objects

• You do not always need to create original videos.  Many great Open Educational Recouce videos exist that already do a good job of explaining specific topics. This also creates more variety in students’ learning experience and can be less time intensive for the instructor.
• Videos
  • Vimeo Creative Commons Licensed Videos Browse through all of the Creative Commons licensed videos available on Vimeo.
  • Ted Talks Explore Ted Talks by Topic. Most Ted Talks are licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International (attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives).
• Find Animations & Learning Objects
  • Wisc-Online A collaborative effort from the 16 colleges in the Wisconsin Technical College System this resource provides 'learning objects' or small modules for basic concepts like "summarizing" in the humanities or the "anatomy of the heart" in life sciences. Has a robust browsing function.
  • PhET Interactive Simulations Interactive simulations for science and math.
• Tip for implementation: Explore what resources are available before you begin recording your own videos to gain an understanding of what currently exists and what you need to do yourself.

Be Yourself!

Lastly, remember that this is not a Hollywood production! One of the most important things to do in a video is to be yourself and act natural. It is okay to stumble over a word or quickly correct yourself when you make a mistake. This allows students to truly see your personality and connect with what makes you unique as an instructor.

Tips for implementation: Record a test video, then go back and watch it (bonus points if you have someone else watch it too!). Evaluate what you do well and what needs improvement. Feel free to experiment with environment and style until you feel that you are able to convey yourself in a way that is comfortable and genuine.

Source: Adapted from Simuelle Myers, Instructional Designer, Temple University. 6 Tips for Creating Engaging Video Lectures That Students Will Actually Watch