Lectures

Your options here are pre-recorded or live lectures. Choose pre-recorded for larger and/or more international groups (in different time zones). Choose live lectures to increase student engagement and interaction. This also helps you and your students to stay connected throughout the course.

Also, we recommend that you use your first lecture to explain to students what you expect (e.g. Zoom etiquette for students), show them around, and walk them through the online course. Or record an introduction video on this, which you can refer back to. See our “Getting Started” tips here.

PRE-RECORDED LECTURE

If you choose to go for pre-recorded lectures, you have two options: 1) if you have a previously recorded web-lecture, turn them into segments, or 2) you can record a new lecture. Aim for a maximum of 15-minutes per video and 45 minutes of total content to replace a 2-hour lecture. Here’s how to do it.

PRE-RECORDED WEB-LECTURE

1. Check if the technical quality of your web-lecture is high enough (think of audio and visual quality, like do you move out of sight, are students’ questions repeated, is the whiteboard readable, etc.). If the technical quality is sufficient, continue to step 2. Otherwise, record a new lecture (see below).
2. Identify the segments (not the entire lecture!) in your web-lecture that you want students to watch. Write down the start time and end time. If possible, break down your web-lecture into segments of 10 to 15 minutes based on (sub)topics.
3. Go to the web-lecture link-generator. Copy and paste the link to your web-lecture in the link-generator. For each segment, add the start time and end time and generate the link. Copy the generated link.
4. Past the link on Canvas and adjust the settings (e.g., make them available at a set time each week).

PRE-RECORDED NEW LECTURE

1. Record your slideshow in PowerPoint or Canvas (Kaltura Capture).
2. Upload the links or videos to Canvas for viewing and adjust the settings (e.g., make them available at a set time each week).

NEXT IN CANVAS

1. For each video, label with topic name instead of only numbering the videos. This helps students find relevant material when they want to re-watch a video.
2. Add clear instructions for your students. For example, indicate when students should watch it, add a question, what to look for and/or and what they should be able to do or know afterwards. This way you activate your students while they watch your videos.
3. Provide a Discussion Board for students to comment on the videos. Add a probe question or ask students to come up with a content-related question to get the discussion started. Consider awarding a bonus point for forum contributions and/or upvotes.
4. To keep your students connected and engaged, answer their questions in some manner; Check back on the Discussion Board regularly and reply to students’ questions in the Discussion Board, in a live Canvas chat session or in a short video before the next lecture.

LIVE LECTURE

1. Schedule a Zoom meeting in Canvas for 120 min.
2. Aim for a total of 90-min. presentation (content) time. To make this manageable for all, split the presentation into three blocks of 30 min. with 10-min. breaks in-between.
3. To interact with your students you can use Zoom polls and chat for questions.

Prerecorded Lectures: With larger audiences, more students might encounter technical problems, which prevent them from (completely) following live lectures. In those cases, pre-recorded lectures are the way to go. We advise you not to copy-paste weblectures as they are, since this has been a source of complaints by students. Therefore we recommend to check the quality first and then select segments, based on subtopics. In addition, when you add viewing instructions you encourage your students to watch the videos in a ‘learning mode’. By adding a Discussion Board, you also leave room for questions and answers. Furthermore, it provides you with feedback on what to address further. A Discussion Board does need some encouragement for your students to participate. For example with an assignment to post or upvote, with your responses to their questions and by showing that you’re there from time to time. If you want to increase interaction and connection with your students from a distance, check the level up tips.

Prerecorded or Live Sessions: Attending online sessions, whether pre-recorded or live, takes up a lot of the participants’ energy, including your own. You want your students to be in a ‘learning mode’ (active processing) instead of a ‘watching tv mode’ (passive processing). Therefore, your live sessions are shorter and with more breaks in between than in an offline setting. The same goes for watching recorded videos. Shorter videos allows your students to process the content and view each video with enough headspace. The shorter the videos, the more video content students will actually watch. Plus, the longer the videos, the larger the file size, the upload time and playback time. At the same time, let’s be pragmatic too, sometimes things take a bit longer to explain and some segments will be longer than others. Don’t let that ruin your day.