Video, Pedagogy, and Kaltura (oh my!) – Fall 2021 Newsletter 4

By October 14, 2021April 5th, 2024Smeal Academy Newsletter

Fall 2021 Resilience – Newsletter 4

Video has become more and more a part of our lives, from visiting family in distant places to education and entertainment. In this newsletter, we’ll take a look at how student learning can benefit from this powerful medium. We’ll look at survey data and best practices to help hone your video skills and we’ll also review Penn State tools available to help craft your instruction.

Once videos are recorded in Zoom, they’re automatically sent to Kaltura–Penn State’s Media Management Platform. Many of you are already aware of this because after you finish recording a lecture through Zoom, you receive an email from Kaltura saying that a recording is available to view on their platform.

After accessing a video directly on Kaltura’s site, you can edit many aspects of the video, such as the title, description, and length. You also can share the recording through a URL link or embed the video directly into your Canvas course(s). We’ll go over how to do all of this and more in our live session on October 15th at 9:00.

Helpful Links Related to Educational Video Strategies:

Current News

Upcoming Live Sessions

  • How to enhance pedagogy through video and integrate video into Penn State’s learning systems.This session will discuss numerous ways to enhance pedagogy through video and best practices to manage your video library and Canvas integration.Join us October 15, from 9 to 10 a.m. via Zoom.
  • Smeal Academy Session: Learning Analytics Tricks and TreatsCome trick or treating with the eLDIG team and collect some creative basic learning analytics treats to inform and guide our teaching and learning efforts. We will have several doors to knock on from the Canvas house to the Zoom family…. and we may even check out what the Top Hat home is giving out this year. You never know what tricks might be up our costume sleeves or what haunted houses we’ll need to avoid as we wander through the analytics neighborhood. Come and join the fun as we collect some trick or treat loot (hopefully, there’ll be at least one or two full-sized candy bars)! Costumes are optional!Join us Tuesday, October 26 from 12 to 1 p.m. via Zoom.

NOTE:  Recordings and resources from previous sessions can be found on our SmealTLT Website.

Tips of the Week

  • Tip #1:  Set up thresholds in Starfish
    To make Starfish reporting easier, be sure to set up your grading thresholds in Starfish (and your gradebook and grading scheme in Canvas). Check out this Knowledge Base article for instructions. Students have indicated that Starfish feedback helps them better understand how they’re doing in their classes, and it also supports advisors as they guide their advisees.
  • Tip #2:  Aim to keep your instructional videos no more than 5-7 minutes long.
    According to Techsmith, 52% of viewers prefer instructional and informational videos that are between 3-6 minutes in length. When the eLDIG team reviews Kaltura video analytics for Smeal courses, this preference is reflected in student video completion rates – the longer the video, the less the students watch. They also tend to watch the beginning, middle and end of the videos, so be sure to use these points to convey key information.

Resources

Helpful Websites

Website

Check out the eLDIG website for more resources and support.

Contact Us

Email us at: course-support@smeal.psu.edu or fill out our Remote Teaching Support form.