Internet Learning Volume 5, Number 1, Fall 2016/Winter 2017 | Page 54

Teach like a Video Journalist Thinks
• Very easy to understand. Clear.
• I found it easy but I would prefer the
edited [sic] to be done a bit slower.
and ...
Q14: Please give suggestions to your
tutor to improve the way video can be
used by next year’s students?
• More videos and less group sessions.
• The tutor can maybe make a video
on all stages of the dissertation
chapter such as, chapter 1, 2, and
• Allow the videos to be accessed by
other devices.
• Use a different platform to upload
videos to.
• Give more variety of video relevant
to the topic we focus on.
In general, the students gave very
positive feedback. However, they wanted
more variety and different methods
of delivery. Personal observation suggests
that time spent on feedback support
toward the end of the year was
reduced. The reason may be because
students find they can understand instructions
and have the ability to rerun
the videos. More time can be spent on
advice about flow of the argument. The
evidence exists in the videos for analysis.
The experience of the tutor was not
part of the research. However, the video
method felt like the tutor’s time was
saved.
Online video feedback saves tutor
time. Feedback videos are around 7
minutes long. A complete cycle video
production per student—planning review
points, making video, and sending
to student via file transfer software—
can take as little as 15 minutes.
The feedback comments are
about formal academic English writing
style and the flow of the argument. Students
are very accurate about the relevance
of their content. The main subject
of the tutor feedback is dealing with the
effects of the average student who uses
informal spoken English that hides the
main argument they wish to express.
Students write very long sentences. This
is because students attempt to complete
the argument string; A therefore B, because
of C, in one stream of multiple
verbs within one sentence. In addition,
students generally begin sentences with
prepositions. A preposition adds extra
complexity and confusion. The reader
has to search for the main subject—
usually in the middle of a four line sentence.
A third aspect of the problem is
that a sequence of sentences does not
have necessary cohesion: students do
not have the range of linking words,
which give the flow to an argument. Students
are limited in their vocabulary to
moreover, and furthermore. They do not
have access to signposts that sequence,
illustrate, contrast, or qualify and perhaps
that is why they use propositions.
Plans for the second year of research.
Online video support developments are
beginning right away in the 2016–17 academic
year. The first objective is to use
the dissertation proposal form to teach
standard English right at the beginning
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