I enjoyed reading this research. I felt as though it was relevant to what is happening in online learning. As addressed, accountability appears to be an area of concern for online learners. I like the research about the use multimedia in the online classes. In an effort to better improve this journal writing, I would like to hear about which online platforms (i.e., Blackboard, Loudcloud, E-college, etc.) work best for the use of multimedia or do they function primarily the same?

Dr. Wanda Fernandopulle

For the authors,

I think this article is well written and extremely informative as a means to increase student engagement and interaction. I do believe that in the courses I have taught so far, media has increased student participation and interaction more in my own classes beyond the normal text-based modality.

I like that you have exemplar quotes from student feedback that demonstrates your points. Qualitative perceptions, while difficult to quantify, do lend substantive credence to your conclusions. I think a short section on media types might also be beneficial to practitioners. And, yes, some of the suggestions of conducting weekly feedback media to strengthen engagement, might be labor intensive, I believe it would create a more robust online modality.

Dr. Stephen Jester

Since I use video similar to what you presented, I wanted to read this article.  Although I had come up with my ideas on my own, I think this article could inspire others.  Some concerns I have include the lack of a definition of video.  On page 8 you note "hear" so it lends one to think that it is only audio.  Are they to be videos of the professor speaking?  I am comfortable with that concept, but I know several who like to teach on-line so people don't have to see them.  Another concern I have includes the issues with Title IX.  Access and ADA issues are at the top of many administrator's concerns currently.  There are several rules one needs to follow when publishing videos.

A few studies have shown the amount of one time stays engaged is significant with student satisfaction.  The quality of the engagement may or may not be as significant.  Therefore, I think we should be cautious with our usage of videos.

Thank you for your comments. I think we may add something about the types of media used in the class.

For me, I utilize Screen-cast-omatic in order to show the syllabus, assignment details, and give a voice to the instructor (mine, of course). I always do a voice over based on PPTs, or other written material, and I make the videos optional, in order to stay aligned with ADA and other accessibility requirements. Because my videos are uploaded to YouTube, captioning is always an option for students as well. 

Additionally, the videos must be posted as "unlisted" in order to avoid copyright laws or infringements on university intellectual property. That way, only students who are given the link can view these videos and they are not searchable in any way.

Thank you for reading the article and for your comments. Let me know if you have further questions.

Kimber

Kimberly,

I enjoyed the content of the article. I will try to take what I have done with exemplars and posted announcements and try to put it in video format. I am willing to try it, but if the preparation time far exceeds  the increase in student involvement, then I will have to rethink it. The highest feedback given by students in the end of course feedback is that they gained new knowledge in the courses I have taught. I embedded comments in the paper so I am adding it as an attachment.

Barbara Lee, Ed.D.

Dear authors,

Embedding links to videos are great resources for students in an online modality. I think the study could be expanded. For instance, in the section titled: Student Feedback: Could you clarify the number of enrolled students in  that class or classes and the number of students who provided comments about the video? That data analysis could provide a realistic picture of the video’s effective use by students. Do you need a list of the student comments added as an Appendix to collaborate results?

May I suggest the following sections? Abstract, Discussion (limitations and implications).

Overall, your study contributes and is written in easy understood language that an 8^th grade student can comprehend. Nice work.

Dr. Lee,

Thank you for the comments within the paper. I enjoyed hearing your perspective!

I have been teaching online at GCU for the past 7 years but have only been full-time faculty for the past two and a half years. I currently have a course load of seven courses and approximately 150 students. Contrary to what some may believe, creating these videos is quite a time saver for me. When I find myself using the same comments over and over or answering the same questions time and again, I create a video; short and sweet often does the trick and I have found that students react quite positively. They read so much in classes online, that they really do enjoy hearing a friendly voice explain something while demonstrating it. Other full-time faculty have found that providing a short video about an essay, rather than marking up an essay extensively, takes less time and provides a greater return.

The video lessons the one student was discussing were just my syllabus overviews, which talked the students through the requirements for the week and prepared for them success.

I recommend just giving it a try; you might find it is a true time saver!

Thanks so much for your thoughtful and thorough feedback!

Kimber

I enjoyed reading another colleagues viewpoints on online education. I agree with the purpose of the article, how to engage online students. Some of the information presented as evidence lacked support from scholarly research. The preference to on-ground learning and that on-ground is better than online took away from the topic, student engagement. I would like to hear more about supporting evidence that a video enhances engagement. Will one video achieve this or if we have too many videos in a course does video become a bore like PowerPoint.

Thank you, 

Dr. Jones 

Hi Kimber - Great post. The use of media has really provided some flexibility in terms of delivery. I really like the idea of using video to go over the course syllabus. This is a great way to provide clarity about the syllabus.

Thanks Kimber for your response. I cannot imagine manipulating seven classes with the amount of time it takes to grade the assignments in the education courses.  I have prepared an opening video for the first week. It took quite a bit of time to get it perfected before beginning to tape it.  I will see how it works and go from there. I have only so much time to dedicate to this part-time job. My family and church takes up their fair share of my time. I also need vacation time and fun with my friends. I am open to trying new things because I am committed to life-long learning; however, it has to make a difference in the quality of learning. Many of my students are not "milleniums" so I have to balance the strategies used.

Thanks. I will keep you posted about the success or failure as I gently move into more technology. It must serve a purpose greater than what has been very effective based on student comments.

Regards,

Barbara Lee, Ed.D.

Hello,

I really like the suggestions provided here for using videos in the classroom.  I think this article is well-written and the content is useful for online instructors as well as traditional instructors. The suggestions for the use of video tutorials as part of the embedded feedback sounds effective and interactive.  I think both online and traditional instructors could use this strategy when grading essays.  This article has inspired me to create a "video bank" to address common errors and provide students with strong feedback.

Thanks,

Shelley Evans, Ph.D.

I really appreciated the overview.  I have used Zoom as an introductory webinar for the first week of class.

I agree with the above suggestions, it would be helpful to include which media is recommneded and what have been most successful.

Helen Fox-McCloy RN MSN

Greetings and what a great concept and paper.

You load is "wow"-so I can see how this helps.  I have a program called "Spartan Clips" that is also a time saver (I am a professor at Rio Hondo College and my load is 5 classes with between 30-40 students with an option of two overloads).  The program is very reasonable and they offer a version that you can put on a flash drive (http://m8software.com/clipboards/spartan/spartan.htm).  

I will email the APA stuff to you.

Well done and best wishes.

Dave

Jeff and Kimber:

You address a number of salient points about the online experience, and effectively address strategies to mitigate the isolation and disconnectedness often experienced in an online modality. The research you provided supports the use of videos created for asynchronous viewing. I would be curious to know if you have reviewed any research on the use of synchronous video in an otherwise asynchronous online classroom. With such solid support for asynchronous video to enhance the motivation of the learner, it would seem to follow that synchronous video may evoke a deeper relationship between the faculty member and their students.  

Regards,

Eric Peterson, MBA

Hi Jeff and Kimberly,

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your article and appreciate the research you have done on this subject. [The student testimonials were an encouragement to anyone attempting to employ your suggestions in their online classes!] I have a few questions that I think the answers to would enhance your article. You pointed out that the inclusion of instructor created videos creates an environment that encourages greater levels of student participation, that students interact more with each other, and that students demonstrate a higher level of analysis in course materials (my paraphrase). Were these results derived from a review of classrooms in which the instructor was (1) highly engaged, (2) partially engaged, or (3) minimally engaged? In other words, if an instructor is highly engaged in the online classroom, and develops and injects information into the online classroom that is presented in written form, will her or his students benefit as do those in which the instructor is partially engaged and does not develop and inject additional information in the written form by implementing your suggestions?  (I hope that question came across as intended.) In developing video lectures or presentation, what difficulties should an instructor expect to encounter and are there easy ways to overcome this difficulties? Are positive results derived from pointing links to writing videos in student feedback (such as the youtube videos available at owl), or does the information need to be instructor developed to be most effective?

I am in no any way discounting the value of what you have presented; I have used instructor created video lectures and power points and have received positive student feedback. Your article encourages and challenges me to continue to use these modalities in my online classrooms. In the mini lectures I have developed and uploaded into the classroom I have had a lot of difficulty getting the proper lighting and imagine that other instructors will experience the same problems when trying to develop video lectures. Acknowledging this difficulty and providing a link to suggested fixes would enhance your article. 

Mark suggested that you include a list of the types of medias an instructor could easily use, which I find an excellent suggestion. I would also offer that you include an appendix that lists the websites that an instructor could use with little of no personal cost in implementing your excellent ideas.

I appreciate this article and believe your research will enhance the online classroom and student learning.

Blessings,

Ron Steadman

Hi Authors:

Great ideas provided in this paper. Do you recommend combining both “the Syllabus” & “The Welcome” videos in one video, or do you say this might become lengthy? Also, how do you feel about replacing welcome calls that we do at the beginning of each online class with the “Welcome video”?

Many thanks in advance,

Dr. Saleh