Blended Learning: Start with a Video

I recently had a wonderfully productive work session with a teacher looking to start with blended learning in her classroom. She was already on her way, thinking about opportunities for students to control the pace, access different materials, and co-author goals for learning. But she was concerned about how to "make it work" for all her levels of learners. I shared with her the advice I've heard blended learning experts share repeatedly:

Start with a video.

Videos don't have to be big, fancy things to be of immense value. My first 'success' with blended learning came not from a fancy playlist, but from the feedback from my students that they LOVED having the assignment explained via video (as in this example). My special learners loved that they --and their parents and paraeducators -- could rewatch it as many times as needed, my absent learners didn't have to wait for me to be free to give them the explanation, and my ready learners loved that they didn't have to wait for classmates to ask 5,000,000 questions before they could get started.

Despite that, it has taken me a long time to embrace video. It is intimidating to watch YouTube teachers and producers like TED-Ed, Crash Course, and Math & Learning Videos for Kids create amazing content with great make-up, lighting, music, animation, etc. I didn't think I measured up. I thought it would take hours (as opposed to the 6 minutes it actually takes to record & post a 3 minute video).

But the positive feedback about "those little videos" reviewing directions kept coming. The positive feedback came from a variety of learners, including GHS students, graduate students, and teachers who are more than capable of reading directions. How could those little videos make such a big difference?

Why little videos make a big difference.

This all made sense as I read Chapter 5 of Dr. Catlin R. Tucker's new book Balance with Blended Learning: Partner with Your Students to Reimagine Learning and Reclaim Your Life. As we posted in "Who's doing the work?", the TLI department has been this book together, and we love Chapter 5, entitled, "Flip Learning With Videos." At the end of Chapter 5, Tucker asks the question, "How can video help teachers to create more time and space to work directly with students?" 

Tucker shares that when she first started teaching, she spent much of her time explaining directions, providing instruction, and repeating information in the front of the room. But as she shifted her practice to recording a video for planned explanations, she saw the value, both in terms of supporting students and class time saved:

"teachers who rely exclusively on whole-group, teacher-led instruction may still spend large chunks of class time presenting information in front of the room. Using video can allow teachers to spend less time talking at students and more time working with them" (57)

Additionally, there is a ton of research about how short videos benefit student cognition. Recording an explanation while using a mouse tool to highlight important directions on a screen, helps learners process the content in their working memory (Brame 2015). Multimedia accesses different parts of the brain and strengthens retention of information. And a lot of research (such as this study) also shows that students are more engaged with video when it is THEIR instructor sharing the information.

Just do it!

The TLI department is happy to help teachers apply new learning about video as part of instruction, but if you aren't ready for one of us in your room, then just get started! We all have premium access to Screencastify, which allows us to edit (if needed) and save videos to Google Drive for easy sharing.

Sarah D.A. has made videos to help you get started in 10 minutes or less! Screencastify Video 1 shows you how to record. Screencastify Video 2 shows you how to post this video to a Google Classroom (or you click the blue button to "Get Sharable Link" and add to writing like I am here).

Just make a video! Record yourself giving instructions and share with your students. You'll be surprised how much of a difference it makes.

-Jessica Gillespie