Faculty Tips for teaching with Interactive Video

When to use Interactive Video

The decision to use interactive video should be based on the learning objectives and technical environment of the instructional media.  If students are dispersed in different geographic locations, and visual information is critical to the learning objectives, interactive video may be the most appropriate technique for teaching your class.  The key word here is interactive.  It is important that the learning objective includes the need for students to interact with the instructor or other students on the material that is visually presented.  The use of interactive video introduces additional complexity, and the added effort should be offset by the benefits provided through the use of video communication.

Examples:

Ask for help first

A number of local resources are available for instructors who would like to utilize interactive video.  For main campus there is the Distance Learning and Teleconferencing Facilities (E-mail address: dlop@osu.edu) and the Technology Enhanced Learning and Research staff  (E-mail address: telr@osu.edu).  OSU Extension and the OSU CARES/OSU Learning Center (E-mail: osucares@osu.edu) offers assistance through OSU Extension services to those who may have students located in rural areas of Ohio.

Teaching tips when using Video Conferencing:

• Set expectations for students and explain how interactive sessions will work.  (Generally reading assignments should be done in advance and the video sessions used to work together or show the results of a project or assignment.)
• Learners should know how to demonstrate their mastery of the subject matter as well as viewing the learning experience as a positive experience.
• Instructions need to be clear and concise.
• Practice first with some fun warm up group exercise(s) that require remote groups to interact with each other.  These exercises should allow them practice how to interrupt if they have questions and the reason behind muting microphone(s) when not talking and  how to use hand signals if audio or video is not being received.  One group exercise may be for one group to use mime techniques to describe an object, while the other group must 1) indicate they have a guess and 2) key microphone to verbalize guess and 3) receive mime response if guess is correct or not.
• Spend 50-75% of the time in student activities.  Keep lecture or presentation of material to a minimum.
• Vary activities, collaborative projects, guest speakers, group-centered activities, games using learning objectives as goals, debates, group competitions, as well as individual and group presentations are just a few activities you may wish to try.
• Visit and instruct from remote sites so every group has a chance to interact with instructor personally.
• Have technical assistant or advisor to take care of glitches when they occur.  Check with them several times during the session to make sure all is going well.  Plan ahead on what to do if audio or video drop out during session.
• Have a backup plan.  If everything fails have cell phone numbers for someone in the remote sites to explain what to do next.
• Encourage students to take responsibility for the remote site if possible.  This may include acting as camera operator, moderator, or person who checks to make sure microphone is active or muted when necessary.
• Have students make name tags and call on them by name when questions arise.  This could be one of the warm up exercises.  Make it a contest as to who creates the more colorful or unique and  readable name tag.  Then have a vote among groups to vote for best in the class.   It also helps if each remote site can use text, school identifier or some other visible technique to help identify themselves.  Have a roster of the names of all students in each of the remote sites on paper that each site can refer to during session.
• Encourage discussion among sites.
• Repeat or paraphrase a question and look at the camera when responding to a question.  This is especially important if each student does not have a microphone near them.
• Move and gesture normally, avoid swaying, rocking, pacing.  Watching yourself from a videotape is an excellent way to pick up on both visual and audio distractions or habits.
• Create visuals large enough and with high contrast colors to enable remote sites to read them easily on their monitors.
• If you are showing a video or audio clip, place it on tape or DVD and make it available at the remote sites to be played.  This provides highest quality at remote site.
• Motivate students by creating a learning environment that keeps them challenged and active with material relevant to subject and learning goals.  Pose probing questions and raise challenging topics.  Entice students to refute or debate a point or statement of fact made.
• Look for and provide feedback. Affirm correct responses or ask for clarification or reasoning behind answer.  Reward participation and feedback with encouraging remarks. 
• Address visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners.  Show it to them, let them hear it, have them do it.
• Look for existing resources on the Internet to supplement your subject matter or to make it more interactive. Below are a few resources to get your creative mind thinking!