Video in the classroom has been a go-to resource for as long as I can remember.   It is one of the most common teaching methods used today.  There are several reasons to use video in the classroom.  Video creates a better understanding of the material, helps stimulate thinking and students become more engaged and enthusiastic.

Here are 6 Steps to follow when incorporating videos into your classroom.

Preparation

Have a purpose for showing the video.  Does it address the learning objectives?  Does it support your content? It is also important to be familiar with the content of the videos.  Always watch videos before you show them to your class.  Consider how the videos will support the topic and if all the content is appropriate for your lesson. 

Planning

Plan on when and where to incorporate the video into your lesson.  Simply make a note in your lesson plan when you want to show a video.  In the past, videos were longer, and we generally just played the entire video in one sitting.  In today’s classroom, it isn’t effective to just have a video play for 30 – 45 minutes. 

Students have shorter attention spans. We need to break up the content and show it in shorter segments.  DVD’s make this easier as they are typically created with shorter segments and can be easily navigated through to find a specific clip.  We don’t have to sit there and fast forward anymore.  Show only relevant content throughout the lesson to bring your lesson to life. 

Before Showing

Let the students know what to expect from the video.  Tell them the reason for watching the video.  What is the value they will receive in watching?  Teach students to actively watch a video by giving them key points to watch for.   Educators, we must set that up.  We can’t just push play, we must give them a reason to pay attention.  Be sure to eliminate all possible distractions and make sure all students can see and hear the video.

During Showing

Playing a video in class doesn’t give us an opportunity to run and do other things.  Stay in the classroom and watch with the students.   

Watch your students during the video.  If they seem distracted or uninterested, pause the video and ask relevant questions and re-engage them to the content.  Remember this generation watches a lot of videos on YouTube and Social Media. If the video is longer than 10 minutes, pause and ask relevant questions.    It is ok to pause and explain something or ask questions. Add your perspective on what they are seeing, ask them what they are seeing.

Because students learn in a variety of ways, consider turning on the closed caption to help with engagement. 

After Showing

After watching the video, always follow up with a series of questions to reinforce learning. Review the key points as they relate to your content.  You could do this in a variety of ways. 

• Conduct a discussion with the entire class. 
• Break them into small groups and give each group a series of questions to answer. 
• Have them get with a partner and share what they learned from the video.  
•  If the video is a technical procedure, have students demonstrate the same procedure as soon after viewing as possible.

After class, don’t forget to return the DVD to the appropriate storage so the next educator can access when needed.

Second Viewing

Allow students to watch the video a second time whenever possible.   Make the video available in the student salon for students to watch during their downtime to further comprehension.   You could also have the video playing in the classroom the next morning while students are coming into class. This allows the students to see the video again while waiting for class to start.

These days, relevant videos that support our content can be found everywhere.  YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, Ted Talks and virtually every industry website.  There is amazing content everywhere that we can bring into our classrooms.  The challenge is, that finding the content takes time.  We must search through endless videos, review the videos, identify where they fit into our content and then remember where we found the videos.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of bringing video sources to support your class.  I am also a big believer in using the video content that was designed to support the textbook. 

Did you know that Milady has a large library of video support that is available to you?

We have DVD Series available for all the core textbooks, including Cosmetology, Barbering, Esthetics and Nail Technology, as well as a variety of other topics.

Want to know the best part?  DVD series are currently on sale!  Right now, you can save 50% on all Milady DVD’s. 

Offer expires March 28, 2019.

Contact your account manager for more information.