I think the H5P tool can potentially be a very useful tool, but more so for upper middle school grades and depending on the students in the class. I personally don’t mind teaching pretty much any grade in the future, (but maybe not kindergarten) so I could see myself using this in the classroom in the future. My only concern is that any students who have trouble paying attention to mainly informative videos would not pay attention and then just guess when the questions appear. I say this speaking from experience. I have to really concentrate and make myself pay attention as I struggle with informative or educational videos. I find myself getting easily distracted and then before I know it the video is half over and I haven’t heard anything that was said.
If I were to use the H5P tool in my classroom and wanted to keep all students engaged I would do a couple to things to ensure this. I think an important one would be keeping the videos on the shorter side and making sure there isn’t too much time in between questions. Especially since you can see at what time a question will appear in the video, so some students might just stop listening until it is closer to the question.
I do think using this tool to make review videos for subjects like science or social studies would be very fun for the students, and they could even make their own to share with classmates as a form of showing what they have learned. This would also be an effective tool for studying for a test, but I don’t think I will have many tests in my future classroom. Another option would be to have students make a video with a select amount of questions at the end of every unit in a subject like science, and then it would be a good overview of what they learned throughout the year in that subject.
Multimedia learning theory can help us make more effective instructional videos and tutorials by keeping us informed on what works well and what doesn’t when creating them. For example I find that many university professors will do things like have a text and an image on a PowerPoint, or repeat the same information two times like reading exactly what is written on a PowerPoint. As was pointed out this leads to cognitive overload and is not an effective learning strategy. I feel this is important for future educators to know as it is common for some people to teach the way they were taught especially if they weren’t taught that it is not an effective strategy for everyone. It is important that we remain informed on effective strategies for teaching especially when it comes to things like multimedia learning theories.
emma
February 3, 2022 — 2:30 pm
Hello Lucy,
You made some great points about the dangers of DIS-engaging learners through videos. I like that you spoke from experience; having an “inside view” gave you some insightful ideas for how to avoid this from happening.
I agree that, having been exposed to those principles of multi-media learning, I’m now seeing breeches of it everywhere… including in my own presentations past. Then again, Kasey stated that she preferred to have a visual/auditory reinforcement, and I must confess, I at least watch films with the subtitles turned on, even when they are in English. As the video lecturer pointed out, it varies–which makes it hard to come up with an effective approach.
You speak of M5P videos as being a good source of review before a test, but are doubtful that there would be a need for that in your classroom. I wonder if you would consider the making of a video itself to be the test (specifically, a product-based assessment). You touch on that in the next sentence, but it doesn’t need to be M5P-enhanced. Students could use A/V editing to produce all sorts of products, and this could also serve as an assessment of communications skills and the like, as well as of core knowledge.
kstockli
February 6, 2022 — 12:08 pm
Hi Lucy,
That’s funny that you did Pinterest for you screencast video because I did the same thing. It’s interesting though we did the same website but our tutorials were different which speaks the multiple ways you can use Pinterest.
When it comes to multimedia learning it seems like everyone has a different combination of audio, visuals, and text that works for them. I think that speaks to teachers needing to be adaptable, especially in the earlier years when students have not learnt what works for their own learning yet.
I think H5P tools are a great asset to your teacher toolbox but like you said they work better for some things than others. Having students make their own H5P videos seems like a great idea to engage them in learning.
-Kasey