Do you find yourself repeating yourself?

Students in FE tend to struggle engaging with the materials you are delivering. This is especially true if you are teaching how to use software.

A typical class....
You stand at the front of the class demonstrating a new technique on the Smartboard. How successful this will be depends on what type of learner you have got:-

• the one who sits watching everything you do, absorbs like a sponge, and then imitates every step perfectly
• the student that watches and wants to copy exactly what you do as you do it, of course the student sitting at the pc which involves necks turning at least 90 degrees towards the Smartboard do miss critical steps as they are slower.
• the note taker that then refers to their notes to repeat the steps, gets lost whilst making notes.
• the "I know I'll remember it, oops what was that next step"
• or can you do that again please, I missed the first bit.

Of course, there is also the knowledge and skills of each student at the start of the class, some are complete beginners, others have some knowledge, plus there are bound to be a couple of clever experienced users.

How do you ensure that all students progress and grow at the right speed.
If you teach from the front, you tend to aim at the mid level students. Those that are beginners can then struggle and want you to slow down, those with experience get bored and can get disruptive so disengage as they want you to speed up. This encourages disengagement across the majority of the class.

Differentiation is very wide in my FE classes and I have developed a method of ensuring each student can progress at their pace.

Blending the learning using video tutorials
My solution is to screencast the materials using recording software. I teach 4 different groups of students the same unit, so a little preparation time pays off, the students have the materials whenever they need them, I spend my time working 1-2-1 with students in the classroom helping them with their needs rather than standing at the front. Using these videos allows students to pause and copy, repeat me, slow me down, work in/out of class.
Of course there are those that classically say "can't you just show me", the answer "yes, watch that video".

Which software to use to screencast?
There are online sites such as Screen cast-o-matic which allow you to record the screen, this is great to record your Assignment briefings, theory and also talk over your Powerpoint presentations.
I needed to zoom in on the mouse in my videos, wanted to add questions to my videos, that students have to get right to continue and I wanted to add annotations over the videos, so I invested in my own copy of Camtasia (Education license). The student achievement has increased through this method of delivery and their progress has been higher.

Tips

1. Always test record and check this before going further.
2. Make each video no more than 5 minutes in length. 
3. Clearly identify what is included in each one (I list this on Moodle when adding the video). 
4. Add some hidden information that you can test on later, this ensures all students will watch them.
5. Save them in mp4 format (then they are viewable on tablets, phones and web)
6. Find a good noise cancelling headset with microphone. I must admit to loving my wireless Logitech headset.
7. Don't worry about perfection in your recordings, my students like the natural relaxed sound, the "oops", wrong words (corrected) and noises from the kitchen when the kettle boils. They refer to these recordings as "warts and all", they know it's me.
8. I also tend to record at home, sat on the sofa with my laptop before the family wake up, relaxed with my cup of coffee. This comes across in the videos as being between me and the student, not the class and this makes the students feel relaxed.
9. If using Camtasia. Do all the screen capturing, then come back and edit later. It doesn't matter how noisy it is when you edit.

For students that have very poor Internet connections at home, you can easily copy the videos onto memory sticks or write to CDs, they can then take them home.

There is also an additional benefit of this method, next year, your course rolls forward and the videos are already there, you can add in extra, re-record if necessary, but lots of the hardwork has been done already.

Start with a couple of videos, pick something that the students tend to struggle to understand. Perhaps video your assignment briefings or some homework. What do you spend the most time repeating, start with that!

Enjoy the process, don't be afraid to ask your students for feedback, you are doing this to help them, so make sure they are happy with what you have created.

Time for you to get Blending.

How do you use video tutorials? Can you share any further tips and tricks?