Using Video to Improve Learner-Instructor Relationships

Overview

When it comes to in-person classes, there are many very natural ways that the instructor can build relationships with their learners. You can decorate your classroom, greet students at the door, and make small talk based on current events. Even seeing them around the building or campus is an opportunity to be friendly and make connections. These sorts of interactions are challenging to have in an online course, but some efforts can be made to bridge the gap, and I aim to talk about using video content (beyond lectures) to do so. I come to this conversation with my own experience as an educator and instructional designer, looking at and working on many courses where I have seen some of the best of what can be done, as well as reasons for offering some advice. 

Before I go any further, I want to quell any fears or hesitations that might be creeping into your head. Some of you might be getting sweaty palms at the thought of recording yourself without professional videographers, and putting that video into your course. Maybe you're worried that you don’t have professional video equipment, or that you don’t have a lot or any experience editing videos, or a number of other things that might cause you to shy you away from this idea. So, I want to get across one of the big ideas behind all of this - you do not need to be making Oscar-worthy short films in order to make meaningful and effective video content for your students. Very casual and unprofessionally lit video work recorded just through your phone or laptop can still communicate to learners that you are a human being, and you care about their learning experience. You will see in the examples I made, that I might stumble over a word or two, and I have more “ummms” and “uhhhhs” than would be considered perfect, but I still can show care and effort when I am not a trained performer. We want learners to have the opportunity to see their instructor beyond the one photo on the “meet the instructor” page. Even if the instructor is very present in many other ways (thoughtful feedback, responsive communication, etc.) - a lack of a human face communicating with them can make a course feel, well, less human. Throughout the rest of this article, I am going to focus on the Why, Where, and How of making more video content for your online course. 

Example(s)

Welcome Video

Announcements

Module Introductions

Feedback

Instructions

Getting right into it - Why should you be putting more types of video content into your course? You may have practiced, heard about, or read about some of these ideas, but I would bet there are some fresh ideas in here as well.  

• The D2L Brightspace Student Survey that was completed in 2024 revealed that “focus group participants desired that instructors utilize more multimedia content like videos to supplement written materials in online learning spaces”. With one participant in the study saying
  • “I appreciate some of the classes I have taken where the instructors utilized  videos to explain their intent thoroughly for important assignments within the class … My brain gets overloaded with so much information that the mini videos of the intent and how the assignment will be graded really helps my brain to be fully engaged.”
• Effective video content can appeal to both visual and auditory learners. This does not mean replacing the meaningful articles you have depended on for years, but it can be a supplement to it. Video can be a great platform for summarizing, discussing, or bringing in visual elements that relate to those great written works.
• Bring the real world into the classroom. Most instructors I interact with are thinking about their classes all of the time! We have all been out in the world and seen things that remind us of the content we are teaching in our classes - put it in a video! Even a 30 second video that shows students that you care enough about the material to make connections with it in your day-to-day life can have quite the impact.
• Video can be effective at showing that you are human. In an online course, learners often feel disconnected from their instructor. This dissipates if you are showing you and your world more often. I am not saying you need to have a video diary that tells students intimate aspects of your life, but just showing that you have a life that at least somewhat exists outside the role of being an instructor can make you feel more real and human to your learners.
• Video allows for advanced visual experiences. You can show complicated concepts and processes slowed down, sped up, and from different perspectives with the given video tools that allow students to pause, rewind, and rewatch. In many cases, this can be more educationally effective than showing something live and in person. 

Next, I want to discuss the “where”. In a typical online course, where does it make the most sense to include more video? Well, I want to focus on four specific places - (1) A welcome video, (2) Announcements, (3) Module Introductions, and (4) Feedback. 

1. A welcome video can serve a lot of purposes. Since we are talking about online courses, this may be a video best made along with sharing your screen. Show your students around. Click around the site so they know where to find course basics like syllabi, assignments, explain how modules are organized, and more. Don’t be afraid to share a bit of yourself in this video. If you have a pet or children, let them pop on camera for a second. It is a wonderful opportunity to just be welcoming. Sometimes a course just goes right to the first assignment. Imagine an in-person course like that - you walk in, get no welcome from the instructor, but there is just an assignment on the board and a due date. How would that make you feel as a learner? Not that we always need to be comparing what we are doing in online courses to in-person courses, but it doesn’t hurt as a thought experiment to consider it.
2. Announcements are perhaps the place where it makes the most sense to be very casual. You still want to make sure your content is clear and accessible, but I think it is also a place where you can very effectively record “off-set”. Record some in your backyard, or at a nearby park. Record on campus if you can because some students may not get there often, if at all. Record in a place that makes a connection to content in the course. This is one of the great opportunities to bring elements from the real world into this virtual space. You can cover the traditional announcement where you are reminding learners about due dates, or other class requirements, but delivering that content in new ways and from different settings can be a welcome bit of variety in a course that helps learners feel the progress of one week to the next.
3. When it comes to Module Introductions, adding a video can bring a little life to a page that can easily feel overwhelming. The dense collection of learning outcomes, required readings, and assignments can be delivered with a friendly face in addition to the typical text only approach. I see this as a great space to bring in knowledge from past semesters. If there is a reading or assignment that learners in the past have often gotten “stuck” on in whatever way, you can make a quick comment on that and offer some advice, or even just highlighting that “this is a difficult part of the course” can be a somewhat calming message for worried students.
4. Meaningful feedback is one of the most important things any instructor, online or in-person, can do for their students. This can be done well with just text, but I want you to think about if there are cases where you could or should do it with video. With many of the tools we have access to, it can be just as easy to record a spoken answer as it is to type something up. This can give you the opportunity to address students by their name and help them feel seen as an individual. You can also share your screen so that you can go over their work and point to strengths or where they might need some help. I am not saying to go from never doing this to doing this for every assignment. Just try to design one assignment where you can commit to providing video feedback. Now you have at least one place where a student knows that you are talking to them personally and taking a vested interest in their learning journey. If it goes well, and you enjoyed it, maybe you could do that more the next semester. 

Finally, let’s cover the how of this whole concept. I just want to cover a bit more about some program options and accessibility considerations. 

• Editing is not always necessary, but it can be helpful. For your announcement and feedback videos, you likely won’t need this, but for your welcome and module overview videos, you might want to clean them up and even add some things that can get your message across and even be a little bit fun. We are lucky enough that the tools for this have come a long way in how intuitive and user friendly they can be. Here at the University of Arizona, given all of the tools at our disposal, Adobe Express is likely the easiest to use. It is very capable for cutting things out, joining clips together, and adding things like music, text overlays, and more. If you want to get more technical, you can use Adobe Premiere, which offers the aforementioned capabilities of Express, but a lot more things like video and sound filters, green screen capabilities, speed control, and much much more. Our Adobe team has put together many wonderful self-guided tutorials for these programs and more. Take some time to play with these tools, and have yourself some fun adding music you like and other little easter eggs that tell students a bit about who you are.
• In making your videos, it is valuable to consider all types of learners, including any that might have difficulty hearing, or any that simply absorb information more easily when they can use captions with their video content. So, have a plan for how you are going to make sure your video has captions or a transcript of what is being said in your videos. The DRC has developed a resource for advice and options.
• Consider looking ahead. For some of your videos, it might make sense to update them every term or at least every year. For others, especially if you are going to be putting in the effort to edit and put on all of the bells and whistles, consider what the video should capture to make sure it is reusable for a few years. Also, if some of your videos have the same basic setup and structure, it might be helpful to record a bunch of them right in a row to save time. This can help how you approach the work you are doing.

Notes from the Expert

Just like trying anything new, it can take some time till you are super comfortable with it. So, if this feels a bit awkward at first, congratulations, you are a human being. I personally have made a decent amount of video content in different contexts, and I can still feel a bit nervous when the camera is pointed at me. You do not need to treat this article like a checklist and do everything all at once. Try one or two concepts and see where it gets you. You can also learn a ton by just going for it - hit record and see what happens. If you can get used to talking to a classroom full of students, you can get used to talking to a camera. You don’t have to give perfect speeches and performances. Stumbling over a word or three is simply natural and can just be one more thing showing your learners that you are a human being.

On the technical side of things, if you would like some additional pointers regarding equipment and setup, our Digital Learning Studio team has prepared some great tips and tricks for remote video setup. 

If you are ever feeling stuck for inspiration, check out what others are doing. Talk about your ideas with a colleague. Perhaps you can even help each other out with the planning or filming. You can even consider content that is being made outside of academia and what is (or isn’t) successful about it. Social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube do house a lot of vapid or even problematic content, but there are also users making very effective and educational video content that might provide you with more than a few ideas. 

Potential Limitations

• Some instructors may not have equipment that they feel comfortable using to record for a course. They may want to look into borrowing equipment from the library.
• For many legitimate reasons, an instructor might not feel comfortable putting themselves front and center for video content. They can still record a lot of useful content where they are not visually featured. Their voice and message can still build a powerful connection with learners. 

References:

University Center for Assessment, Teaching, & Technology. (2024) D2L Brightspace Student Survey. University of Arizona.