influence was peer group influence. Student’s peers were not attending the lecture, and then oſten they would not either. Te second context area was the lack of organization of study time, and missed lectures due to this disorganization. Bos & Ruijters (1992) looked at absenteeism by studying the difference in student attendance by the class subject area. Tey found that job-oriented classes had a much higher proportion of absent students than those of other core area classes.
Te main question becomes, what can we do to better keep the absent student on track and on time with information presented and studied in school while they are not present.
iMpLEMENTiNg RECoRDED LESSoNS One way educators can have an impact on helping students that are absent is by implementing the use of recorded lessons and presentations in the classroom. While this is certainly not a new idea, the availability of the needed hardware, soſtware, and access to these lessons now makes this option possible for more classrooms than ever before. Te use of technology has become an integrated part of education. Colorado State University (2010) encouraged IT instructors to use audio or video podcasting of lectures, along with posting of lecture notes and other discussion guides, to use tools such as Camtasia Studio as a strategy to help absent students obtain the material they miss. Tey emphasized this was even more important during the recent H1N1 virus outbreak.
“The main question becomes, what can we do to better keep the absent student on track and on time with information presented and studied in school while they are not present. “
Doyle (2008) points out that the development of portable and online lessons of material presented in class would allow students access course materials at a student’s own pace and if online access is available, on their own schedule. Te development of these portable and online lessons of material presented in class would allow students access course materials at a student’s own pace and if online access is available, on their own schedule. Absentee students or slow learners would no longer feel further behind by their loss due to absence, or lack of understanding.
Regardless of the subgroup, reasons needed for remediation or absenteeism, the accessibility of educational materials in an online format, can improve learning, reduce disparity among students, and enhance the educational experience for both students and educators.
gETTiNg STARTED There are as many ways to record and give students access to lessons as there are reasons students miss your class. Here are two common methods of recording material presented on the computer by using screen capture software for lesson presentation and making this information available to students.
MACULJOURNAL |
Remember that many software packages allow you to record your webcam while recording the screen. So you may use this software as a mini-recording studio using any attached camera. Recording lessons and information given in class is also beneficial for a student to review and gain multiple exposures to a lesson.
The first option is to pre-record the lesson, and use it as a presentation to the entire class if desired. This option also works well to pre-record instructions when the teacher is absent from the classroom. There are certainly advantages of doing this. By pre-recording your lesson, it gives you the best opportunity to record exactly what you want to present with the highest video and audio quality with the fewest distractions. Your entire focus can be on getting the lesson recorded successfully. It also gives you an opportunity to do multiple takes of a section and edit parts together to get the final recording right. If you choose to also use a webcam to record yourself and use parts of that in the lesson, you have much more control of lighting and camera setup than you do with a classroom full of students.
One of the largest impact areas might be the audio quality and vocal tone
that you can obtain by pre-recording. You may use a much more conversational tone by pre-recording rather than using a “teacher’s voice” while having a microphone nearby. Pre- recording usually makes editing the video (if needed) less time consuming. The more video you can record in a way that is ready to be used directly can be a big time saver. Pre-recording also allows you to move around the room to help those students that need more help than others.
Some of the disadvantages of pre-recording are the need to find the time to record the lesson, anticipate possible areas where questions may occur and answer those questions so students can complete the lesson video. If you have the available time, pre- recording is usually the best choice.
There will be times when pre-recording will not be an option. With the use of a webcam, even non-computer presentations may be recorded and saved for future viewing. Certainly any instruction that involves direct interaction with the computer can easily be recorded with screen recording software and edited to provide a very usable product. When recording a ‘live’ presentation, it will be necessary to use the pause control to stop recording when giving students time to work on a section, during interruptions, etc. A good rule of thumb comes from shooting video, and that is ‘shoot to edit’. The closer the original looks like your final product, the less time it will take while editing.
Winter 2010/11
|
25
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36