This presentation covers the top 7 ways that adding video to online courses can enhance the student experience. This is a presentation that I give regularly at schools and online learning conferences. Find out more about my work at www.OnlineTeacherYOUniversity.com

1. 7 Ways Video can Enhance the
Student Experience
Dr. Frank O’Neill
Frank@OnlineTeacherYOUniversity.com
GrowGrayMatter on Twitter and Linkedin
OnlineTeacherYOUniversity on Facebook and YouTube
www.OnlineTeacherYOUniversity.com

2. All images in the presentation are from Pixabay. No attribution is required
www.pixabay.com

3. First, Why Video?
To meet (and hopefully exceed) students expectations:
• Today’s students expect a more interactive, engaging experience; one that
helps them connect with you and their fellow classmates
• Bring your textbook to life
• Whether you’re teaching an online course or using digital learning content
to enhance your face-to-face class, video is a crucial component to keep
students immersed in the subject matter and connected to you as their
guide
• Creating lecture material loaded with visuals will help your students follow
along with your content as easily as if they were with you in the classroom

4. First, Why Video?
Increased engagement:
• Video lecture material can help your students engage in the content
you are presenting without you physically being there
• Some video tools (Camtasia, Edpuzzle) allow you to include quizzes
that students take while viewing video lectures. This helps students
apply what they’re learning and test their knowledge, plus it allows
instructors to assess student performance
• If a student is confused by a concept, they can pause the video and
post a question for their instructor. This creates interaction between
the student and instructor, making the online lecture content a two-
way conversation

5. First, Why Video?
To help meet the needs of students that
would prefer a traditional F2F course:
• Some students are only taking online
classes because they have to. They want
the actual F2F lecture experience
• Some students are terrified of online
classes, but if you give them enough
resources they will quickly realize that
they can do it. If you point them to the
textbook and say get learning they will not

6. First, Why Video?
Increase Recruitment, Retention and
Completion:
• Only 36 percent of full-time students
complete their bachelor’s degree on time
• Attract non-traditional students that want
extra resources
• Attract students from around the globe
• Keep students in school that have schedule
changes, etc, that force them to move to
online courses

7. First, Why Video?
Build instructor-student relationships:
• Effective lecture capture gives instructors the
opportunity to build relationships with their
students, despite the fact that they are
teaching online courses
• The use of quick, personalized videos gives
students a more humanized online course
experience
• Even though courses are conducted online,
instructors and students can still get to know
each other on a personal level

8. First, Why Video?
Share your video library across your classes:
• Provide easy access to recorded prerequisite or supplemental
material
• In some cases, students taking one class might benefit from reviewing
lectures from a prerequisite or remedial class

9. First, Why Video?
Future-proof yourself for a digital learning environment:
• In-class instruction isn’t going away anytime soon, creating online
resources for students is becoming a must for higher education
institutions
• The tech train isn’t stopping anytime soon
• By 2019, experts predict that at least 50% of all classes will be
delivered online

10. 1. Personalize your digital learning presence
• When you’re teaching exclusively online, you need to make an extra
effort to connect with your students
• Make a quick welcome video to personally launch your course, so
students can get acquainted with you
• Syllabus screencast and/or course shell walkthrough

11. 1. Personalize your digital learning presence
• You can introduce each unit, or the week’s topic, to give students a
head’s up about what you expect, and to lay the foundation
• Video to-do list for the week with an estimate of how long you expect
the student in the course each week to keep them on track
• Motivation Monday videos
• Unit or Test reviews
• End of the course farewell video

12. 2. Virtual Tours
• Invite students to tour the course
with you and check out the tools
they’ll use on a (hopefully) daily basis
• Course shell, MyLab, digital lab
manuals, external websites, RPnow…
• These video demos also help them
gain more self-confidence and
increases their odds of success in
your course

13. 3. Teach hands-on skills
• Some things are best shown in person
• If show or tell are options, it is almost always better to show
• Task video demos highlight every step in the process
• Show students the right and wrong way to perform the task and
consequences of doing so
• Science labs, practical applications in nursing, medicine, culinary,
electronics, and more
• What would your students go to YouTube to look for?

14. 4. Build a valuable study resource
• Teach content. That is the fun part 
• Content Review Videos
• Record F2F lectures
• Chapter overviews
• Lecture recordings help students study for
exams, so they can go back and re-watch
lessons from the beginning of the semester
• Especially when there is a lot of content to
cover, this is a priceless way to refresh
learning

15. 5. Talk through assignment grading
• Instead of writing down or typing out
feedback, talk through your comments in
a quick video
• You can point out exactly what you mean
more quickly than writing it out
longhand, and students will love being
able to hear you personally explain the
feedback

16. 6. Guest lectures and Interviews
• Record guests that come to your F2F classes
• My students know how much I care about the content, but I have never
created a drug to fight antibiotic resistance, developed a safer way to
harvest bone marrow, or fought the war against hunger from the frontlines
• Invite people like this into your class at every opportunity

17. 7. Get students in on the act
• Have them create videos to
explain topic understanding,
make in-depth visual projects,
and record assignments
• They’ll love being able to express
themselves with more depth than
text alone, and they can
efficiently capture group projects

18. Where do I begin?
• Does it have to be video?
• Do I have to make all of the videos I
use?
• Do I have to be on camera?

19. Where do I begin?
Start Small
• Start small and incorporate video
into one lesson. See how students
respond and constantly ask for
feedback to see what your students
want to see
• If a student has a question about
your course or your content, try to
find a way to create something that
will answer that question in the
future. Screencast tutorial, content
video, review video, etc. Build your
library by letting the students tell
you what content needs made

20. HOW DOES THIS TRANSLATE TO YOUR F2F COURSES?
• How doesn’t it?
• Flip a lesson
• Teach when you’re absent
• Better availability
• Keep students in school