Video Introductions and Your Course

Taking an online course can be intimidating and the environment can seem cold and impersonal.  Students can feel that they are on their own navigating a morass of information where the solutions to their questions is difficult to find. Ironically, this also can apply to a traditional face-to-face course.

One way of breaking the ice is to use short introduction videos.  A brief video can introduce you to your students as well as possibly sell the course to others. Clever authors can make the video both introduce the instructor and sell the students on taking the course. This will allow you to have an introduction video that can also be used as a promotional video for students deciding on which courses to take.

Why use an introduction video?  Studies show that students more positively about their instructor and participate approximately 20% with online content.   Even adding a photo and a video improves students’ perceptions of the instructor and the class (Russo & Campbell, 2004).  From a practical perspective the increase on your instructor evaluations offers a pragmatic reason to add video introductions. However, the video introductions help students perceive a relationship between themselves and the instructor and which students have identified as having a direct impact on their success (Jones, Naugle & Kolloff, 2008).

Is Video Hard?

There are several easy ways to create video.  One of the simplest is to just use your phone or web camera on our laptop computer.   You may notice that this is not as simple as it sounds.  Pointing a video camera at someone and shooting does not make a successful video.  Like everything in life there is a little work.  Also like everything in life, knowing successful heuristics can help you accomplish great feats in a significantly decreased amount of time.

Besides using video from a video camera, there are several web and mobile tools that allow you to create slick animations and slideshows that can be converted into video.  Add a voice over and you can have a great show.

There are several video creation web resources out there.  With technological advances, there are now great mobile apps that can offer impressive video editing.  For example, iMovie is only $4.99 and it can convert your phone or iPad into a virtual editing studio.

Feel Free to take a look at some of the videos in the playlist above.  Most were made with affordable and simple web tools.  Two were made with professional tools. Can you tell which ones?

How do I create a good introduction?

Understanding of a few key rules and process can easily get you on your way to producing excellent video introductions.  Ironically, not following these rules can also make some dreadful attempts.   One of the best things to do if you are at a college is to contact a specialists, such as your instructional designer.  They can easily get you going.

Understand that video is successful is short.  About 48% of people viewing will stop after 1 minute.  So make sure that the video is succinct, engaging and to the point.
Second, make the script first.  Rehearse a little and work on good audio.  The video will follow.

Below is a sample script.

References

Dulaney, E. (2013). Does the Credibility of the Presenter Influence Acceptance of Content in the Classroom. American International Journal of Social Science, 2(4), 14-20.

Jones, P., Naugle, K., & Kolloff, M. (2008). Teacher presence: Using introductory videos in hybrid and online courses. Learning Solutions. Retrieved on March 26, 2014 from learningsolutionsmag.com

Russo, T. C., & Campbell, S. W. (2004). Perceptions of mediated presence in an asynchronous online course: Interplay of communication behaviors and medium. Distance Education, 25(2), 215 — 232.

Widmeyer, W. N. & Loy, J. W. (1988). When you're hot, you're hot! Warm-cold effects in first impressions of persons and teaching effectiveness. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(1), 118-121.