We’ve always used videos in education as a resource. Perhaps a short clip we will watch together at the beginning of a lesson to look at infamous geographical events, kooky science experiments, or even a clip of a film while reading a classic novel or play.

Most of us will sit and watch some form of video or film in our spare time, so why not use them for learning? Be it through television, YouTube, iPlayer, DVD, or dare we say *if there are any left, anywhere* VHS. Some of you will recall the ‘good old days’ of playing a VHS for your class, waiting a few minutes for it to rewind while you explain connotations, and even pausing the video here and there to keep the attention of your class with the occasional ‘shhhh’ and ‘psst – be quiet’. Though it’s nice to reminisce on the past, video has come a long way since then, and so has teaching and learning.

Handing over creative control.

Why limit your pupils to watching videos when you can encourage them to get creative and create their very own? You might find that you have the next Stephen Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock or Sofia Coppola in your registration group. Even if this isn’t the case, you will be able to fully involve and absorb your student’s attention by setting them a fun and enjoyable task that also explores educational topics or at least develops skills. If you work with younger children, ask your pupils to use a webcam to film a video diary explaining their week having learnt about any particular topic, or even just what they’ve learnt that very same day. This will be a wonderful resource to later use as feedback, and to share with parents.

For older pupils, you may want to ask them to create a video diary as a fictional character from a play or novel that they’ve been reading in class. If you’re studying mini-beasts with your KS2 class, ask them to use a smartphone to film as many bugs and creatures as they can possibly find in the school yard, yes a little icky if you’re not into bugs, but fun none the less. If you’re looking for a more challenging task for your KS3 pupils, ask them to use video recorders to create short films on life at your school that you’ll be able to use later on for next year’s intake. Whatever the task, you’ll soon find that giving your pupils creative control over their learning encourages the want to learn, and is very much worth the risk.

Using video as evidence of practical learning.

In addition to this, video recording has also now proved a useful resource for schools who engage in a lot of practical activity. If you’re planning on leading or prompting discussion in class, about what you’ve been teaching them this term, then take a video recorder along and film the discussion to record any ideas, points, opinions and feedback that they have. You can use this later on to show parents, helping them to become more in tune with their child’s learning development, and also to keep for ‘evidence’ in the run up to Ofsted meetings. As with taking photographs of students, you may find that you are likely to require permission slips from parents to allow them to be filmed in class. If you’re not sure, it’s a good idea to speak with a colleague from the senior leadership team about this in advance.

Using Videos to encourage flipped learning.

Now for the exciting stuff, using videos to encourage flipped learning. Flipped learning is a phrase we hear a lot, but it can often prove difficult how to actually put this phrase into practice. If you’re looking for ways in which to do this, the video could be your humble starting point. The first thing to note if videos are a new addition to your teaching practices is that they work extremely well in allowing people to understand complex topics. Secondly, in allowing pupils to learn at home, you are allowing them to learn at their own pace. There is no more ‘one size fits all’. As a simple trial for using videos to encourage flipped learning, find a video that is suitable for your pupils. This could be a video by Khan Academy explaining long division, it could be a video by Howcast on how to use pronouns, or perhaps it’s a clip from the BBC on the Vikings?

There are a wide range of video resources available online, just remember to only send your pupils videos from a trusted source that you have pre-vetted. If you’ve found a video on a social networking platform that you think would suit your class, it’s worth embedding it first into a secure platform – such as your schools learning platform. If you can’t find a video out there that is suitable, then the video you end up using may be one that you have created yourself using screen grab software. The beauty is that your pupils will be able to watch the videos over and over (and over) until they begin to understand.

In addition to videos, it’s a good idea to also allow your pupils some extra resources to help promote the analytical thinking skills that the videos will encourage. Once you’ve given your pupils time to watch these at home (or during break time if they do not have the resources at home) then it will be time to get working in class. Start discussing and exploring those long divisions, pronouns, or stories on Vikings – but where you can, try to let your pupils take the lead. You may be surprised at how quickly your pupils will jump to take ownership of their learning. This will also allow you to gage how many of your pupils have understood the topic, and how effective your task has proved.

If you’d like to give videos a go, then look no further as we’ve put together a bank of resources that will help you get the ball rolling. All you need to do, is choose a lesson plan from under our Useful Resources, and surprise your pupils with an assignement that they won’t want to miss out on.

If you are using a learning platform powered by Learning Possibilities, then you will already have secure video libraries available to you for use. For more information on this, please feel free to contact our Help Desk by calling or emailing support@og5.c92.myftpupload.com