I’ve completed the first three lectures for the history survey and divided them into five videos of 7-11 minutes each. This is a three-minute sampling of the lectures.
I posted the videos on YouTube as “unlisted” and sent the links to students. Tomorrow, class time is spent on elaboration and answering questions. I have no idea how many students will have watched the videos, or how they receive the presentation. But they should be handy when they study for the next exam. It took a while to make them, due mainly to doing retakes and tedious editing on iMovie. But I’m getting a hang of it.
A few observations:
- I heard say myself “right,” “all right,” and “you know” too often, and “hmm” and “ah”… Yikes!
- My lecture style is conversational and it is therefore a challenge not interacting with a live audience. To minimize the possibility of droning on and on, I focus on analyzing two or three primary sources in each video.
- Taking this approach means that I only show my face at the beginning, the end, and once or twice in between for a short time. Visually, students see mostly class materials.
- That said, it’s been fun putting on different clothes for each lecture, making different arrangements on the makeshift set, even holding a different piece of glassware each time.
- Who would have thought that editing those goofy dance videos is paying dividend? It’s cool, for example, to add to the screen a note or a point of emphasis, even a small correction to something I said earlier.
- Since I often show short documentary clips during lecture, it helps to have a large TV.
First Zoom class ever tomorrow. Here we go!
