Give your students the opportunity to present their work and give feedback to each other through Zoom or discussion boards. Bringing student presentations online gives each students more time to give and receive thoughtful feedback.
The Challenge
Video Editing and Digital Design (DGMD E-35), taught by Professor Allyson Sherlock, is an introductory video post-production class. It touches on film editing theories and the software used to create video and animation projects (Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects).
Professor Sherlock’s class was a fully on-campus class that students were often placed on the waitlist for. To give more students an opportunity to take the course, Professor Sherlock now teaches via web conference for one semester a year. The course regularly has project screenings to give students the opportunities to showcase their work, get new ideas, and provide feedback. As Professor Sherlock moved from on-campus to online, creating a similar feeling of a film screening was an important aspect she wanted to keep in her course. The move to Zoom necessitated a shift in how the screenings were carried out.
The Approach
Instead of having students send her their video files for her to play over Screenshare (which turned out caused a significant lag in audio), Professor Sherlock would have students post their videos on Vimeo and post the link in the Zoom chat when it was their turn to screen the videos. Students would then click the link and watch on their own before turning to provide feedback. Students were encouraged to speak up or post in the chat any feedback, critiques, or compliments.
Professor Sherlock noted quieter students now had a platform (the chat) to give feedback or compliment their classmates without having attention focused on them. Time is often limited during the screenings, and the chat has provided a way for each student to get more feedback without compromising the pacing of the class.
Tech and Logistics Tips
DGMD E-35 used Zoom, DCE’s web conferencing tool, for the synchronous screenings. You can also have your students post their links to their work on a discussion board and ask students to provide feedback asynchronously.
This can work with presentations beyond produced video – for example, students can link to Google Slides or images.
If you don’t have enough time for every student to present in class, you can have some students sign up to record a screencast presentation and post it on a discussion board. Some students prefer it!