Help students process, retain, and retrieve content from their working and long-term memory. Online lectures (narrated PowerPoints, videos, recorded classroom lectures) can be effective Pre-Class Assignments (PCAs) if they follow the guidelines below. Fill out an Assistance Request Form for more support.
Adapted from Brame, C.J. (2015). Effective educational videos.
Manage Cognitive Load
- Connect content to learning objectives.
- Build on prior knowledge.
- Segment (chunk) content into logical parts.
- Weed out information that does not contribute to the learning objectives.
- Use signaling to highlight important concepts.
- Use both the audio/verbal channel and visual/pictorial channel to convey new information.
Maximize Student Engagement
- Keep it short – 6 to 9 minutes – if possible.
- Use a friendly, conversational style.
- Use visual elements that complement content (illustrations, charts, images, etc.).
- Hook attention with emotional content (patient or personal stories).
- Direct student attention with movement (annotations, arrows, shapes).
Promote Active Learning
- Embed questions throughout to help students process information.
- Provide guiding questions for students to answer while viewing.
- Boost higher-order thinking skills with scenarios and reflections.
- Connect content to prior or upcoming sessions.
- Use polling tools.
Make It Easy To Use
- Note estimated completion time on each video to help students plan.
- Give students control to navigate through the lecture (speeding it up, pausing, replay).
- Use descriptive titles and headers to label and organize.
- Provide captions/transcripts for accessibility.
- Confirm any external links work and lecture files can be easily downloaded (if permitted).