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44 Techniques and teaching functions that exploit video’s strengths

explicit staging is extra, over and above the normal recording preparation, and hence requires greater expenditure of time and effort.

Here are some examples.

setting up a complex experiment, e.g. a carefully controlled spray of water under special lighting conditions to demonstrate a rainbow that is in the form of a complete circle

in a safety training video, a series of staged accidents. In face-to face safety training, it would be impractical for a trainer to stage all the hazardous situations that employees should watch out for and to enact all the ensuing accidents (and to restage everything for each cohort of trainees). Another point is that most accidents so recorded on video would not really have happened – video editing tricks would be used to make the fabricated accidents look realistic – so video is the only way to demonstrate most

accidents realistically and forcefully and yet with complete safety.

• dramatized enactment (actors role-playing) of a relationship between an authoritative manager and a difficult employee. It might be imagined that a more natural performance could be achieved from a real manager and employee. However, most people cannot demonstrate their natural behaviour in front of cameras – they look more artificial than professional actors playing the same role.

In a 75 sec video clip from a statistics video, random error and systematic error are illustrated with two contestants playing with two sets of darts. The white set is biased (it drifts to the right), giving a systematic error. The dark set is well balanced. Both players aim at the bull’s eye. One player is poor, contributing additional error with both sets of darts, called random error. (The poor player’s darts spread out much more than the good player’s.) See Figure 1.20a, b, c, d.

This sequence was highly staged, probably needing many takes before achieving the desired placing of the darts. Also, both players were good players in reality, but contrived to throw the darts precisely as they did, one pretending to play badly and both aiming to the right with the alleged biased dark darts.

A multimedia package on this topic could well include considerable text, in order to present data for the learner to practise on. However, introducing video into the package enlivens it considerably

ÎThis clip also illustrates category 1.5, illustrating, as explained in Chapter 1.

An 80 sec clip shows the fitting of the striking plate of a Mortice lock to a door-jamb. This was plainly staged in a studio, using careful lighting and

Video that adds experiential value 45

specialist equipment to achieve the essential big close up shots. See Figures 1.22a, b, c.

ÎThis clip also illustrates categories 1.6, condensing time and 1.9, demonstrate a physical skill and 2.3, inaccessible viewpoints, as explained in chapter 1 and earlier in this chapter.

A video shows how different people have individual styles of learning. See Figure 2.7a. Two people try to assemble a stool by following printed instructions. One decides to fill in what he believes to be a missing step in the instructions. Another does not bother to follow the instructions carefully because he finds this boring. The events are staged, although the individual behaviours are spontaneous.

ÎPart of this clip also illustrates category 2.6, fast motion, as explained earlier in this chapter (Figure 2.7b).

Concluding note: video is indispensable for many experiential provisions

Video is indispensable for many experiential provisions under the above categories, although this has been disputed by some. For example, Laurillard (1993: 114) argues that experiential roles of video are just ‘logistical, delivery roles … whereas given enough resources, the students would engage in these experiences directly’. However, there will never be enough resources to take all students to farflung locations in helicopters or bathyspheres, or to restage the events for each new cohort of students, let alone to supply them with telephoto eyes, microscope eyes, heat-resistant eyes (e.g. for close-up shots of molten metal) or slow/fast motion vision. Besides, many such field trips would take several days, whereas video can condense time and employ many other facilitating techniques.

Some such (virtual) experiences would need to be followed up by real life (e.g. lab sessions), but the vicarious video experiences would provide valuable grounding/priming.

Activities

1For each of the above categories, think about your specialist subject or your current project. Consider whether any of the video techniques would benefit any of the learning tasks in your subject/project.

2 Could a different medium (maybe a cheaper one) provide as much benefit? 3 Could a different medium provide more benefit?

C h a p t e r 3

Video that adds nurturing value

D o m a i n 3 o f Ta b l e 0 . 1 ; n u r t u r i n g m o t i v a t i o n s , f e e l i n g s

There are many nurturing functions for which video can play a distinctive role. This is because the rich symbol system of video provides substantial realism.

In all seven nurturing categories of Tables 0.1, 3.1 to 3.7, the principal intention is that the affective influences (of motivations and feelings) should endure into the future rather than being transitory influences on the student.

Caveat 1 . Transitory affective influences, not included in domain 3, that help students learn from the video

Affective changes that are only transitory can nevertheless be valuable if they help students to learn from the video.

One example is to alleviate tedium and re-engage the viewer, by switching between media. That is, in a multiple-media learning package, an inattentive viewer might be re-engaged by switching media, especially from a static to a dynamic medium, e.g. to a moving video image of some real life. Staying too long with a single medium, even video, can result in the warm bath syndrome, in which the learner’s attention is submersed; that is, the viewer gets passively immersed, without paying much attention.

Other examples are when video entertains, fascinates, delights or amuses. Entertainment is certainly not inimical to learning, nor does it necessitate superficial coverage of the subject. For example, detailed narrative exploration can bring out the intrinsic fascination of a subject, which is a powerful aid to learning, precisely because it is so entertaining. In any case, the occasional lighter, entertaining item can re-engage viewers’ attention.

Humour can also be a powerful learning tool. Both entertainment and humour are pleasant and memorable, hence can be powerful for getting a message across and for the learning to endure (whether the message is motivational or cognitive). An important ingredient in humour is the pacing. This ingredient can be enhanced by creative editing. It can also be diminished by a video editor without a sense of rhythm.

Video that adds nurturing value 47

There is a danger with entertainment and humour – the technique could swamp the message! If humour is overdone, the viewers could be entranced to such an extent that they remember the humour but fail to learn the message. They might even learn the wrong message: for example, if the video satirizes the wrong way to do it, this might be so memorable that the subsequent correct way gets forgotten.

Caveat 2 . Some long - term affective influences can also have transitory effects

Although the principal intention of the seven categories below is to engender sustained changes in students, lasting into the future, three of the categories might also incorporate an element of transitory change that helps students learn from the video. These are

3.1, stimulate appetite to learn; e.g. (in a literacy video) to learn to read in the future, but maybe also (in any video) to learn the specific topic on the video that they are watching now

3.4, alleviate isolation; feeling less lonely is beneficial for students’ future well-being, but maybe it also helps them to learn the specific topic on the video that they are watching now

3.7, authenticate academic abstractions by showing their use in solving reallife problems; this would answer the long-term question of what is the point of all this theory. But answering that question can also have the short-term effect of persuading students to attend and thereby to learn the theory itself, which is the topic of the video that they are watching now; generally, any technique that enhances the relevance of the topic motivates attention.

The nurturing categories (affective influences) are divided into two subdomains, one active (motivational, 3.1 to 3.3) the other passive (engendering feelings, appreciations and attitudes, 3.4 to 3.7).

3 . 1 . Stimulate appetite to learn

Here are some ways of stimulating a student’s appetite to learn about a specific topic, sometime in the future.

by showing the progress of a beginner, before and after each stage of learning: adult literacy campaigns on TV could use this technique (and others below) in order to stimulate the appetite to learn reading and writing

for learning work skills, such as typing, make an analogy with a recreational skill such as juggling or tap-dancing

by demonstrating the negative consequences of resting on one’s laurels

by revealing the real-life fascination of the subject (not merely dressing up the subject with an entertaining style of video), e.g. the concept of a

48 Techniques and teaching functions that exploit video’s strengths

dominance hierarchy in an animal group will be made more fascinating if the analogy with human behaviour is emphasized

by exposing learners to a truly inspirational teacher and/or to a famous personality such as a teacher (e.g. BBC Schools TV used the first British female astronaut, Helen Sharman, as a presenter for a science series; Channel 4 Schools used the successful British athlete, Kelly Holmes, as a presenter in a mathematics series)

by exposing learners to VIPs and their work, e.g. a week in the life of a US Congresswoman (in a course about US politics)

by exposing learners to a VIP who is also an inspirational teacher. For example, in a video designed to encourage 14-year-olds to appreciate science (Figure 3.1), Richard Feyneman, a Nobel Laureate, radiates enthusiasm when describing the catastrophe of combustion. The effect is heightened by interspersing Feyneman with evocative shots of the phenomena he describes.

ÎThis clip also illustrates category 3.5, change attitudes/appreciations, later in this chapter.

3 . 2 . Galvanize, spur into action

Galvanize viewers to get up and do something, e.g. to filter and boil their water following a health campaign on TV (or a multimedia health campaign for community leaders).

Galvanize a workforce to cast off their passivity: by showing examples of workers who have taken control of their careers by stretching their abilities, taking initiatives, learning new skills.

Figure 3.1 Richard Feyneman, a charismatic teacher (EBS)

Video that adds nurturing value 49

3 . 3 . Motivate use of a strategy by showing its success

Endorse an exam technique such as ‘first read the whole paper through carefully’ or, in a mathematics exam, ‘jot down what you know about the problem, e.g. what equations do you know that link acceleration, velocity, distance and duration?’

In a video following four 16-year-old students through their GCSE exam preparation, the most successful student, Tom, explains his strict adherence to his own revision timetable.

Encourage lateral thinking for solving problems, e.g. solving a brain teaser, where nine dots are positioned in a square array and the task is: ‘join up the nine dots with four straight lines without taking the pencil off the paper, or retracing your path’. The standard solution is to start with a horizontal line, left to right through the top three dots (Figure 3.2a), but then to think laterally by extending this line past the boundary of the square and then starting the second line diagonally down and left so as to draw through two more dots (Figure 3.2b). And so on, as in Figure 3.2c.

(A)

(B)

(C)

Figure 3.2 (A) Start of the solution to join up the dots with four straight lines, (B) extend the first line past the three dots, then diagonally down/left, (C) complete by drawing upwards then diagonally down/right

50 Techniques and teaching functions that exploit video’s strengths

This last example literally illustrates thinking outside the box (a common metaphor for lateral thinking), meaning, think outside the boundaries that seem to circumscribe your problem – think of deviations and detours, however outrageous. Incidentally, you don’t need as many as four pencil lines to solve the problem. There is a solution using a single line. Think about it laterally. One answer is in section 3.7.

3 . 4 . Alleviate isolation of the distant learner

• By showing the teacher/presenter

Note that the other categories involve imaginative exploitation of video’s vast range of presentational attributes, which usually necessitate the speaker being out of vision. In fact the term head and shoulders is often used to deride videos that show the presenter in vision, classifying this as static and unimaginative. Nevertheless, the occasional sight of a human presenter (not necessarily in all programmes of a series) can serve to humanize the medium.

• By showing other students: their study problems and solutions

3 . 5 . Change attitudes or appreciations, engender empathy

It is stressful for employees to accommodate change so they are likely to resist it, but they might be encouraged instead to welcome it as refreshing, stimulating, creative – if shown real people who have experienced these positive reactions.

Another example is a video designed to encourage 14-year-olds to appreciate science. Richard Feyneman, a Nobel Laureate, radiates enthusiasm when describing the catastrophe of combustion (he even jokingly ascribes human emotions to the atoms involved). See Figure 3.1.

ÎThis clip also illustrates category 3.1, stimulate appetite to learn. See above.

To persuade teenagers that physics is not dry and unexciting, a video uses a format that is fast-moving, with frequent cutting, composite shots, and with additional graphics for peripheral stimulation. In addition, the physicists describing their work should be trendy, e.g. in their leisure time they play guitar, go rock-climbing, go to discos, use a WAP phone.

Mind you, a flamboyant, gaudy style may induce fashion fatigue, hence a short shelf life. Consider this anecdote: I showed the video to a 14-year-old boy, who remarked that it was just like videos they showed at school, the implication being: you can’t fool me, this is just school work. In addition to this syndrome of fashion fatigue, it could be that the real fascination of the subject matter, portrayed well by the video, gets ignored if it is immersed in gaudiness, thus defeating the object of the gaudiness.

Video that adds nurturing value 51

Engender empathy in people who appraise staff by enacting (on video) an appraisal interview in which the appraiser is painfully unsympathetic and comparing this with a more sympathetic appraiser.

Promote empathy for bullied staff by enacting a scene where an authoritative manager berates an employee.

Impart a real feeling for the predicament of those in government by showing the stress involved in a week in the life of a US Congresswoman or UK Minister.

A video for training bereavement counsellors creates empathy for bereaved interviewees by showing recordings of real counselling sessions in which the interviewee breaks down emotionally. The indices of such a breakdown are sometimes subtle. They include body posture, facial expression, tone of voice, pace of speech. See Figure 1.30.

ÎThis clip also illustrates categories 1.9, demonstration of skill, as explained in Chapter 1, and 2.7, human interaction as explained in Chapter 2.

In a health education video, change attitudes towards hygiene by presenting and interviewing people who have changed attitudes following a family illness or death due to polluted water.

A video for UK schoolchildren compares the life of teenagers in Britain and Ghana; one aim of the comparison is to shake the complacency that Britain is best. The video shows that life in Ghana is slow-moving, self-sufficient, with little choice of travel, food, resources or accommodation. On the other hand Britain is fast-moving, industrial, with little choice regarding traffic, noise, pollution, overcrowding, junk food, threatened environment.

3 . 6 . Reassure, encourage self - confidence

A video may encourage self-confidence, thereby enhancing readiness to learn by showing other people who’ve managed badly at first but finally prevailed, such as past students for whom the syllabus eventually clicked.

A video clip could reassure workers of their ability to deal with change, with the commentary ‘we tend to underestimate just how good we are at dealing with change’, accompanied by many images of non-threatening change that viewers may have experienced in their everyday lives.

In a one-minute clip, part of a video concerning taking examinations, an examiner convincingly explains that exams never have trick questions – on the contrary, that all questions are refined repeatedly to be unambiguous.

3 . 7 . Authenticate academic abstractions

This is done by showing their application to solving real problems and is related to the cognitive value 1.5, illustration, which helps understanding. Similarly, showing the application of abstract concepts is likely to help in their understanding. However, a stronger, more direct influence of showing such application is

52 Techniques and teaching functions that exploit video’s strengths

affective. That is, when a video demonstrates that a concept can be applied to solving a real problem, this has the affective consequence of giving authenticity to the concept. The viewer now appreciates the point of all this theory. Here are some examples:

Use a geometric theorem to design a telescope or a searchlight. For example, an astronomical telescope has parabolic and hyperbolic mirrors that are positioned so that together they focus light from a distant object into the eyepiece of the telescope. This invention relies on the following geometric theorem.

From any point on a hyperbola, a line drawn through a focus of the hyperbola makes the same angle with the hyperbola as a second line from that point drawn through the second focus. Ditto for a parabola.

Use a quadratic equation to determine the shape of International Paper Size, i.e. paper sizes A1, A2, A3, A4, . . . All of these are the same shape and each one can be obtained by cutting the previous size in half. (The shape turns out to be the ratio, 1 to the square root of 2.)

Authenticate the concept of lateral thinking. (This example has already been illustrated with the brain teaser about drawing a pencil line through nine dots

– under section 3.3, promote a strategy.)

A word of warning

Regarding all the categories of Chapters 1 to 3 there is a need for professional quality. When all the above is said and done, the video styles and techniques have to be produced well in order to be effective. So the question of appropriate media/technology is twofold:

1For each teaching/learning function, select the most appropriate medium/ technology – the one whose attributes best suit the teaching/learning

function.

2Design optimum instructional methods to exploit the particular capabilities of each medium/technology.

This book addresses both questions. Regarding question 1, Chapters 1, 2 and 3 have dealt with 27 teaching/learning categories for which video can add value compared to other media, i.e. for which video is the most appropriate medium. Chapter 4 addresses question 1 for media other than video. Regarding question 2,

The brain teaser set at the end of section 3.3 was, Draw through nine dots with a single pencil line. One answer is: fold the paper to position all nine dots on top of one another, then the paper can be pierced with the pencil so that it makes a mark on all nine.

Video that adds nurturing value 53

Chapters 5 and 6 give a substantial treatment of pedagogic design principles for educational video.

A c t i v i t i e s

1For each of the above categories, think about your specialist subject or your current project. Consider whether any of the video techniques would benefit any of the learning tasks in your subject/project.

2 Could a different medium (maybe a cheaper one) provide as much benefit? 3 Could a different medium provide more benefit?