Using videos in class

Hello colleagues, I love using short videos in class especially to focus on enhancing learners' listening skills.  After viewing a video in class, I always draw upon the transcript through a variety of activities to emphasize vocabulary -- including idioms, grammar and pronunciation.

What are your favorite video resources? How do you prepare learners for watching a video? What after-viewing activities do you include in your lessons?

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, English Language Acquisition Group

Comments

I also use video in class. Sometimes when I need something that is specific to the activities we're working on in class, I create a video for my class and put QR codes on their worksheets so they can reference it later for practice. It's very easy to record a video and upload to YouTube for free. Plus, I can always reuse the video again as many times as needed. To my surprise, others find my videos and likely use them as well. 

Thank you, Jose, for sharing that. Can I ask what program you use to record the videos? I used to use Screencastify but I am looking for something new. Screencastify allows you to upload directly to YouTube but requires a subscription for videos longer than 5 minutes. I have the paid version but my subscription is ending. I love the idea of putting the QR codes on their worksheets!

Hi Lynn. So, with my mac I use Quicktime to record video on my computer and use a program called Blackhole to record the audio straight from the computer. For Windows, I use the OBS studio (which you can download for free). It's build for streamers, but you can record yourself with whatever is on your screen and your audio as well. But honestly, if I'm recording a video for specific lesson, I sometimes use iMovie (mac) or Adobe Premiere Pro (which I admit is meant as a professional video editing software and will run your machine ragged if you don't have enough memory). Davinci Resolve is a good program. It's free and works with just about anything, but it's confusing to use and you have to watch a ton of YouTube videos to figure how to work it. To be honest, you're best bet is to use Canva online video editor or sometimes I just use my iPhone and record myself going over the lesson raw. It can be as big (or small) a production as you want it to be.

Thanks for sharing this, Lynn. I have used Screencast-O-Matic in the past (now ScreenPal), and found it super easy. I uploaded my videos to the Learning Management System (i.e., Canvas, Blackboard, Schoology) we were using at the time with ease. 

Would love to hear from others on recording videos-- including from teachers who have learners create their own videos. 

Cheers, Susan

I've only made desktop recordings of myself and my slides for my students. When I had access to an institutional subscription to Screencastify, I used that and, yes, it uploaded to Google Classroom (our learning management system). I used ScreenPal on my own for a bit. But now, for my class run by a community-based organization, which doesn't have an LMS or institutional subscriptions to things like Screencastify, and now that I'm using Linux as my operating system, I do my screen recordings using vokoscreenNG, then upload them to my YouTube channel, and then share the link to the video in our class WhatsApp group.

I, too, would like to hear what folks are using so students can create their own videos. At the end of last semester I saw that Screencastify was coming out with that ability, so that students could submit a video assignment. 

I learned around the same time about Vocaroo for recording audio files.

Is anyone having their students just do voice notes or videos in WhatsApp?

What I didn't like about Screencastify was that it ran as a Chrome plug-in, so I had to use Chrome (normally I used Firefox).

---Amy West

Hello Jose, Thanks for telling us about making your own videos for class which is a great idea. You say that others have found your videos useful, too. Might you be willing to share a link to your videos with us here?

Cheers, Susan

Susan, 

I also love using videos in class, but one issue that I've come up against is that not every video has CCs or a transcript. It takes so much extra time to create one myself. This is common with workplace-focused videos or "realia" in the form of commercial and community videos. 

Do you have any suggestions for software that can assist with transcript creation that is free?

Hi, Erin and Susan!

One tool that I have used (especially useful for shorter videos) is the speech-to-text feature on my phone. My steps go something like this:

  • Open a note (or a doc, or anywhere to capture text).
  • Choose speech-to-text (instead of typing).
  • Play the video within "earshot" of the phone; with any luck, this will capture a fairly accurate version of the audio.
  • Send the note/doc to my computer (via Airdrop or email, by saving to a cloud location, etc.)
  • Open the text in a document on my computer; proofread, edit, and format as needed.

Inelegant? Yes. But free...? Also yes!

Would love to hear/read what other solutions people have tried. :)

Hi Erin, I have only chosen videos for class that do have transcripts available, but if one really wants to use something that does not have a transcript, that is a real problem. You are so right that creating a transcript yourself takes an enormous amount of time! I'm hoping someone will share a tool that can assist with transcript creation.

Cheers, Susan

Canva is also a nice tool for recording videos. You can create in video mode or create a presentation and record yourself talking over the presentation. I recently worked with a colleague to read a book aloud and it turned out really nicely -- we introduced vocabulary, practiced pronunciation, and finally read the story.

Hi Tara, I love the idea of teachers reading texts aloud and creating videos (or even audio files) for learners to view or listen to over and over.  It's great that you also featured vocabulary and pronunciation in your video.

Cheers, Susan