Using Videos to Transform Learning

Posted by Linda Ashida

Over the course the school year, the ITF / DTC team has supported colleagues, and learned from them, about a variety of innovative uses of video to transform learning with their students.  This post will share highlights from several teachers.

Advanced Strength and Conditioning (PE 866) - Mike Radakovitz

Although Mike does not currently teach a 1:1 pilot class, but since the majority of his students have iPads, he has taken advantage of the technology to improve student progress with their lifts in PE 866. Mike asks his students to use their iPads to record their peers when they do their lifts. After practicing the lifts, and for the summative assessment, the students upload the videos to an assigned Media Album in Schoology.  From the Media Album, all students in the class, and the teacher, have access to the videos. 

From there, the students are asked to use a rubric to complete a self-assessment and a peer-assessment. Mike builds coaching skills into the peer assessments.  He asks each peer assessor to articulate: the criteria for a quality lift; what the peer did well; what the peer needs to improve; and, specific steps to make the needed improvement.  Students are much more engaged in the learning process.

French classes - Kirsten Fletcher

Language teachers can all probably remember spending the better part of an entire week for students to do presentations in front of class to assess their speaking skills.  With 1:1 technology however, teachers can streamline the process, save instructional time and improve feedback! One way to have students to create video presentations and, just as Mike did, have them upload the videos to a Media Album in Schoology.

Kirsten recently did this with her French 2 students. Students created video presentation on a Francophone country using the apps Educreations or ShowMe.  They uploaded their videos to an assigned Media Album in Schoology, and then they were asked do a self-assessment of their own video, and to watch the presentations of three other students and offer feedback aligned to the speaking rubric.  Having all of the videos curated in one Media Album creates a class portfolio of student work that Kirsten can use in a variety of ways.  She can highlight examples of quality work for future students and she can use the videos to facilitate individual student progress conferences.

Orchestra - Maura Brown

1:1 technology also streamlines and improves the assessment process for Maura.  Instead of meeting one-to-one with every student for a playing test, or having the entire class listen while individual play, she has her students use YouTube Capture to video record each other for their playing tests.  That way students can self-assess, peer-assess, revise their work, and submit their summative playing tests to Maura via email. She developed clear how-to guides for using YouTube Capture, along with guides that explain the assessment process.  You can see the resources she created on this Collab Lab Page

Do you have examples to share?  Please comment below.  Would you like to try some of these ideas in your own classes? If so, please come see us in the Collab Lab!  We would love to brainstorm ideas with you!