Since instructional videos are a mainstay of online courses, I’m working on one. The process has raised some important questions:
- What are my desired outcomes?
- Is video the best way to address them?
- Are there already videos addressing them?
- Does my particular concept suit the subject matter?
- Can I meet accessibility standards?
The accessibility question alerts us to the participation barriers faced by some scholars (Association of College & Research Libraries, 2016, Scholarship as Conversation section, Knowledge Practices subsection). Formatting the video and the transcript in a certain way has real implications (ACRL, 2016, Information Creation as a Process section, Knowledge Practices subsection). That said, accessibility benefits all users.
Overall these questions raise the larger question of why I’m creating a video in the first place. Callahan (2013) cautions us not to let the technology drive what we do in our teaching (p. 161). The Information Creation as a Process frame also speaks of matching the product to the information need (ACRL, 2016, Dispositions subsection).
References
Association of College & Research Libraries. (2016). Framework for information literacy for higher education. Retrieved from ACRL website: http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
Callahan, V. (2013). Toward networked feminist scholarship: Mindful media, participatory learning, and distributed authorship in the digital economy. Cinema Journal, 53(1), 156-163. Retrieved from https://www.cmstudies.org/page/cinema_journal
Image Credit: The Shot, photo by Jakob Owens, retrieved from unsplash.com