Reuse of previously recorded presentations for 2021–22
It’s summer 2021. You’re starting to think about preparing your course units for the 2021–22 academic year. You spent a lot of time and effort last year preparing asynchronous learning materials and you want to re-use them this year.
This short guide explains how you can edit and reuse your previously recorded videos for the new academic year to save you time and effort when preparing your content.
Review
The first step is to set some time aside to review your recorded material. It might be worth at this stage to make a list of all the videos in your course unit in a spreadsheet e.g. Reuse of previously recorded presentations for 2021–22. So what are the things you need to review for?
Review for length
Did you know that research shows the optimal viewing time for a video is somewhere between 6 and 9 minutes? Additionally Jisc’s Student digital experience insights survey 2020/21 reveals that lectures that are too long without sufficient breaks can cause difficulty in concentration, fatigue and mental health concerns.
- How long is your video? If your video is longer than 9 minutes, consider whether you can chunk it into more than 1 video.
- How many concepts are covered in 1 video? If more than one concept is presented in your video, consider chunking it into smaller segments to present 1 key concept per video.
Review for currency
- Is the content of your video still current?
- Are elements of your video still current?
- Are there only bits you want to reuse? Think about what is likely to change or not each year.
Review for suitability
- Did the content work as a video? Consider whether the content would work better in another format (reading, discussion etc.)
- Did you get student feedback on your videos? If any videos generated a lot of student feedback during the year (good or bad), review the video to ensure that it is fit for purpose. Why not get a student partner to review a selection of videos on your course unit to get more feedback?
Jisc’s Student digital experience insights survey 2020/21 highlights that students highly value video content as they can replay recordings to help them understand a concept or to catch up on missed sessions. Recordings allow students to manage the pace (slow down/speed up) and facilitate note-taking.
Review for accessibility
Does your video have subtitles? Does your video have a transcript? If not, upload your videos to the Video Portal, and this will be automatically done for you. Always remember to check captions and transcripts for accuracy.
Review for availability
When reviewing your videos, make sure that the links still work to video content and that video content isn’t hidden. This is especially important if you have linked to video content that isn’t yours as the link may be broken, removed etc.
Adapt
You’ve reviewed your videos in your course unit. You have made a note of which ones you are happy with and which ones you need to adapt. So how do you go about this?
Editing your own videos
- To edit your videos using basic trimming you can use the Video Portal web editor or for more in-depth editing you can use ShotCut. For more details, see Editing Video by the FBMH Elearning team.
Enhancing your video content
Why not consider adding some interactivity to your videos? For example, Edpuzzle is a free to use web tool that enables you to transform videos into an active learning environment. You can use your own videos, or videos that you have found from another source, like YouTube or Khan Academy.
Edpuzzle gives you the tools to crop the videos down to just the clips you want the students to watch, to add your own audio commentary and notes and also to slip in some questions for the students to answer — a great way to encourage some deeper thinking and to check how they are engaging with the subject (note that you and your students will need an Edpuzzle account if you want to see their answers).
New recordings
Sometimes, it might just seem easier to record some of your material again. If this is the case, why not take a look at this short blog post for A practical guide to…chunking your lectures using existing lecture slides with reusability in mind.
- For a package that allows you more flexibility when creating video materials, the FBMH Elearning team recommend OBS (Open Broadcaster Software). See Advanced (OBS) for more details.
Further help and resources
The FBMH Elearning team has an excellent Video Resources guide that has Training and Guides and Resources for you to work through at your own pace. They include:
- How to record a Zoom meeting
- How to upload to the Video Portal
- How to embed into Blackboard from the Video Portal
- How to embed into Blackboard from the Video Portal with content releasing only on specific dates
- Recording Powerpoint video lectures
- Use Zoom auto-captioning for editable captions/transcript
- Generate automatic closed captions on the Video Portal
- Recording separate audio tracks for each participant (local recordings only)
- University Brand Guidelines
- Embedding a YouTube video in Blackboard
They also offer Live Drop In Help for any questions you may have after working through the online material.
