The flipped classroom makes the best use of both preparation and in-class time to maximise student engagement and success. Could the pre-lecture video be the tool to maximise engagement with the face-to-face lecture in the age of recorded classes?
Preparation has always been a key part of the learning process: technology just makes it both potentially more effective for more learners and easier to track. Colleagues across the institution and beyond are finding that structured preparation, whether through scaffold d reading lists or short video lessons, dramatically increases student engagement. As a consequence, it also seems to be key for ensuring attendance at face-to-face classes in an age where content and information can be obtained in so many other ways.
Put simply – facilitating engagement with your material before class means that you can have deeper interactions in class and make best use of that time. Teachers following the flipped class model report improved engagement and enjoyment, by both students and teachers.
Kaltura is a user-friendly video delivery system, akin to YouTube, providing high quality streamed content within the closed learning management system (LMS / Blackboard). As an education tool, the key aspects of the 2016 version are screencasting and embedding of multiple choice questions. It allows easy, desktop creation of screencast video lessons with embedded multiple choice questions. It is thus ideal for creating preparation material for flipped classes: it enables teachers (and potentially students) to easily produce full video lessons or resources directly and quickly from a desktop or even from a phone.
This means that slide presentations can be easily converted to interactive and effective video lessons on a desktop from existing PowerPoint slides. Editing and uploading to the LMS does not require additional software. Multiple choice questions can be embedded in any part of the video lesson, so that students are motivated to complete the lesson as they receive feedback on their comprehension and understanding and are set up to maximise the benefits of attending class.
Providing students with engaging and interactive preparation resources such as Kaltura has never been easier. Further information and support is available on the LMS, via the Educational Innovation helpdesk and through the Educational Innovation group on Yammer.
What is your experience of this tool or others in engaging students with material before class? How do you then change the face-to-face experience to maximise its potential for learning? Share your ideas and experiences!
