According to the
Western tradition of flipped learning, the pre-class study resource for
students is usually in the form of a video, though in reality, other types of
material (e.g., a PPT, an article, a podcast episode) can also be used. The
purpose of the pre-class video is to present the main concepts of the upcoming
live lesson. Experts in flipped learning unanimously assert that such videos should
not be too lengthy. Some of them even suggest a maximum length of 7 to 8
minutes. In case it is not possible to include all the teaching content in a
video of this length, the alternative should be to break the whole presentation
down into more than one video, instead of continuing with the original one.
One reason for the
experts advocating shorter rather than longer videos has to do with human
beings’ attention span. Another reason that has been put forward – and this is
an interesting one – is that it forces teachers to be concise with their
presentation of the lesson content.
I have been producing
my own videos for my flipped classes at the university, and I have learnt from
my experience that being concise may not be as easy as we think. On many
occasions in the past, when I had finished recording a video which I had thought
was below 7 minutes and then when I checked the duration of the product, I was
in for a surprise. Although I had reminded myself to be concise while planning
and recording the video, the resulting creation often lasted much longer.
This is an interesting
phenomenon. Perhaps as teachers, when we present the lesson content in a live
lesson, we often insert questions, jokes, discourse markers when we develop our
talk. And very often, we repeat our main points, develop our arguments, or cite
examples. Of course, that makes perfect sense in a live lesson. But when we
have to crystallize our lesson content down to a few minutes and leave out all
the supplementary discourse, we are simply not used to doing that.
So, in a way, producing
pre-class videos for the flipped classroom may turn out to be a useful training
opportunity for us teachers to be concise with our presentation which, after
all, is a desirable speech habit. Who likes to listen to a speaker who keeps rambling
on?
In case we are
concerned that if our pre-class video is too concise then students will lose
interest, take note that our psychological readiness for viewing an
instructional video is different from that when we attend a live presentation. When
we view an instructional video, we tune in quicker, and are more focused and
more eager to listen for the information that we are after. In fact, I have
found that when I’m viewing a Youtube video in order to get some information, I
often just skip along. As to the pre-class videos we produce for our students,
if they miss something, or if there is something they don’t understanding at
first viewing, they can always view the video again. So the implication for us
is: Don’t be afraid to be concise.
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