Tips for Using Video

Consider including short videos to enhance and humanize your course.  These can be curated from other sources (see Finding Video) or you can create your own. 

Uses for video:

  • Introduce yourself and your course.  Include a brief welcome video on your Canvas Home or syllabus to show you're human and are enthusiastic about the course.
  • Weekly overview.  Use video for weekly introductions that orient students to topics and help establish relevance. 
  • Video postcards.  Sometimes a quick hello from your backyard can help students connect to you and to the class. 
  • Feedback. Canvas lets you record video right from SpeedGrader.  This is a nice way to encourage students who may be struggling.
  • Online lectures. 
    • Consider narrating your PowerPoint slides to help explain those bullet points.
    • Enhance your pages or slides with short videos.  Start with challenging topics. 
    • If you have a webcam or phone, you can record videos of you and upload them to Canvas or YouTube.  Canvas Rich Text Editor also lets you make videos within Canvas. 
    • You can also capture and narrate whatever is on your screen using your iPad or free tools like Screencast-O-Matic Links to an external site.

Tips

  1. Keep it Concise.  Many teachers say 5-10 minute clips work best, so consider breaking up longer lectures.
  2. Scaffold.  Tell students how to use the video.  (e.g. "Watch this for examples of drawing techniques.")
  3. Include learning activities.  Watching video tends to be passive, so follow up with something to get students active.  You could also embed the video with "pause and practice" instructions or use a tool like Playposit to add stopping points with graded questions or discussions. 
  4. Allow imperfection.  Don't worry too much about little mistakes.

More tips from @ONE:

Byte sized Canvas: 4 Ways to Make Sure Students Are Watching Your Videos Links to an external site.Byte sized Canvas: 4 Ways to Make Sure Students Are Watching Your Videos

Accessibility

When you require video for a course, it needs to be captioned so students with hearing issues can access the audio content.  3CMedia, YouTube, and Camtasia all include captioning tools. 3CMedia Links to an external site. provides free transcription/captioning for California community college teachers.