Holding Students Accountable through the Use of Video-based Assignments

Are you fed up with watching your students do as little as possible to get through your classes? Do the majority of your students study just enough to skim the surface in a content-based discussion (in-class or online)? What if I told you there was a way to ensure that they would deeply immerse themselves in content to the point that they knew the material inside and out?

Video-based assignments with peer review require that students demonstrate an ability to converse about subject-matter beyond general ideas. Through the act of putting themselves on display for their peers and their professors, a motivation to impress transpires naturally. Here are a few quotes from students on how their YouSeeU activities, ranging from Question & Answer (like an oral pop-quiz) to Video Presentations affected their study habits:

• “This course has a lot of us doing things which makes it so that it’s a practiced habit.”
• “I had to really engage in the content in order to give a useful explanation. I had to be really accountable.”
• “I had to prepare more. I knew I was going to be asked a question and if I didn’t come prepared, I wouldn’t know how to answer it.”

If you would like to learn more about how to employ video to raise the level of scholarship in your course, or if you would like to sample some YouSeeU activities for yourself, please contact Christie Dillon.