Internet Learning Volume 5, Number 1, Fall 2016/Winter 2017 | Page 59

Internet Learning
cordings from a smartphone in teaching
sessions.
Think about time. Aim for the video
journalist’s timeframe of 2–3 minutes.
It may be a shock to the system as most
may be familiar with half hour or 1
hour lectures, but even 10 seconds is a
long time on video. Treat the lecture as a
story and assume the story starts as the
user clicks. Why bother with music and
flashy graphics in a long title sequence?
That is outdated. What grabs the viewer
first is a relevant key visual image and
short title in large type. Run the lecturer’s
voice underneath with key opening
sentences that reflect the title theme.
Because it only takes 4 seconds to recognize
the first visual, and 10 seconds
is the time viewers are reputed to wait
before they stop watching, it is worth
trying to make every second count.
Planning is therefore essential.
It may appear that everything on professional
TV happens with such ease
and has no relevance in an education
context. But the process of fitting key
information into a short time is a great
discipline and the lecturer can achieve
a great deal for students as a result of
sharpening these skills. Just click on
anything on YouTube to realize that
off-the-cuff gabbling is so wasteful of
time. Print out those blank six frames
per page sheets in PowerPoint as a storyboard
and plan your video. Time is
saved, while quality and precision rule.
Instead of having one long half
hour video, create five short ones, each
on a specific teaching point. Video output
can be achieved quickly. The learning
curve will be easier and corrections
can be made in the soundtrack in less
time. Mix and match elements from
video content in different combinations
as required each year. Build up banks of
videos for future use. Students win because
information arrives on their computer
screen in manageable chunks.
Clever students will whizz through, but
to help those who have more difficulty
is the real prize.
The discipline does require a
different way of thinking and a change
of attitude as the preparation and excitement
of making slides with great ideas
minutes before a teaching session ends.
Now those great ideas will have more
impact and appeal to a wider range of
student abilities, because each point has
been thought through, split up and different
ways found to visually make the
points clear and simple to understand.
Think visually. Show; do not tell. The
objective of using PowerPoint is to plan
your visual message too. A picture is
worth a thousand words and thinking
of ways to put an idea across with some
humor or a quirky theme that will stay
in the memory is a satisfying challenge.
Put your lecture keyword into Google
images for an illuminating visual approach
to any idea you have in mind.
Being a video journalist is a craft,
and not a theoretical or an intellectual
activity. It involves making a visual and
aural product that communicates ideas
effectively. The process is much the
same as plumbing. Metaphors are useful
in video journalism. The plumbing
example, as a visual aid for presenta-
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