Using Video in an Elementary French Class

Teacher: Brian Donovan:

Course: Elementary French I.

As part of a Summer Innovation Project, Brian Donovan created instructional support videos using Jing for his blended format Elementary French class. Below is Brian’s reflection on the project:

Describe your project

My idea was to create materials students could use at home, so they didn’t need to be in the classroom all four days.  The materials had to be as effective as class time teaching would be for them, though, so the use of instructional videos simulated lessons I would give them in person.  The “Repeat after me” videos I gave them helped them work on their speaking without the distraction of other students in the classroom, and the recording exercises they did for me were in place of being put on the spot in class to “perform.”  They wouldn’t have me correcting them as they spoke, but they could listen to the recordings and repeat as many times as they needed to get the sounds.  I told them to email questions if they had any, and I would get back to them as quickly as possible.  On online days, I made sure to check emails regularly, and I held a lot of office time in case anyone needed to come in for help.

How was your teaching and/or student learning impacted?

One positive part of this method is that each student can move at his or her own pace with the online day’s materials, and the students can work on things when they’re at their best, not when we have class time.  I think it makes them more apt to put effort into the class time when we’re together.  Not being in the classroom the entire time gave me more time to work on the materials, so that was a plus.  I was also near a computer, and I could email them back if they had questions or problems.

How did you measure the impact?

Luckily, I could tell how things were working out when the students performed in class.  I could tell if they spent time with the material on their own and got in practice—especially from the recordings they made for me.  With small classes, it was easy for me to follow each student’s progress.

Reflection / How did it go?

What went well?

Over all, I think the students enjoyed the split class time/online time.  Some of my online instruction videos went along a bit fast, as I only had 5 minutes of recording time for each video.  Rather than do part A and part B, I kept the video to 5 minutes, just covering the basics.  I had their “attention spans” in mind, as well…

What would you do differently?

I didn’t have as much planning time as I had originally set aside, so next time I’ll spend more time on making sure I have even more materials for those students who need/want more than just the basic lesson and exercises.  For example, instead of just providing a lesson video, a “repeat after me” video, written exercises and a recording, I could also create supplemental lesson videos with extra practice; perhaps look at the material in different ways.  One other thing I’d like to try would be making myself available for video conferencing, in case the student needed some help but didn’t want to drive in to meet me at my office.

Tags: Blended, Brian_Donovan, French, Jing

This entry was posted on Monday, August 8th, 2011 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Blended, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.