Tips for Recording a Good Lecture (Part 1)
I’ve always found it challenging to record videos for remote teaching. I get worried about whether or not I’m making sense. I miss the real-time feedback of a conversation. I feel limited by sitting in my chair while talking about something which excites me.
Still, lectures – or really, short videos – are a frequent part of any remote course. They’re not the only way to explain the course material to students, but they are essential, especially if you need to help students understand your ideas about a reading or a topic. I think about them as an interpretative device, interpreting for students the material that I’ve assigned in the readings by showing them what’s important or how the ideas or concepts relate to one another.
If you’ve decided that lectures (sometimes called instructional videos in the Module 1 materials) are key for your course, then keep some of these guidelines in mind
Keep them short.
The research varies a bit on this issue. Some studies suggest that videos should be no longer than 6 minutes; some suggest a limit of 10; some suggest that the complicated ideas in academic study will sometimes stretch those limits. But the point is always the same; students are more likely to watch if they are videos are shorter. That might seem strange to some of us. After all, we ask students to come to class for at least an hour at a time (and sometimes as long as three). But there are more distractions, when watching a video in your space – and shorter videos are more likely to engage students.
Amplify your energy.
A lot of us can feel uncomfortable in front of a camera for a whole host of reasons. One thing I always have found is that cameras seem to reduce the energy I typically show when I lecture. Even when I think I’m being enthusiastic, when I watch back a video I just recorded, I don’t see that enthusiasm coming back. So, go ahead and send that energy through the camera.
Allow yourself to make mistakes.
There is some suggestion that students will be more likely to be engaged with informal videos, rather than polished or professional ones. Don’t feel the need to edit all of your mistakes; speak as naturally as possible – informed, energetic, with the occasional misstep that you can correct along the way. If a pet or a family member interrupts briefly during your recording of a lecture, don’t panic. Your students are facing similar challenges, and if anything those interruptions serve to humanize you and remind everyone that we’re all facing the same kinds of challenges.
Connect rather than perform.
Michael Wesch talks a lot about this idea in his helpful series about recording videos for students. He suggests that instructors should focus on connecting with students, rather than performing.
I think about it this way. Stage actors sometimes talk about needing to project to the back of the room, so that even the people sitting there can hear them and, better yet, be moved by their performance. Studio actors (for television or film) sometimes talk about the nuance of their performance – their need, not to project, but to connect with the camera. The pauses, the facial expressions, the modulations in voice matter a bit more here.
I think about the difference between stage acting and studio acting as the same difference between lecturing in a large hall and recording a video.
Check out these recording tips.
I’m guessing a few instructors have a professional-level recording set-up at home; for the rest of us there are a few things to do with lighting and sound. I’ve found the tips on Wirecutter to particularly helpful; they have a good video on lighting, for example.
Also check out eCampus’s open access guide for online teaching. It’s got a lot of great info, including some helpful demonstrations of different kinds of recordings.
Sources
Darby, Flower and James M. Lang. Small Teaching Online. Jossey-Bass, 2020.
Nilson, Linda and Ludwika Goodson. Online Teaching at Its Best. Jossey-Bass, 2018.
“ACUE’s Online Teaching Toolkit,” 2020.
Written by: Joel Baetz
Edited by: Katrina Keefer
Last Updated: 19 August 2020