Microlectures

A microlecture is a brief video or audio recording, or multimedia presentation covering a single concept or topic. Originating as 60-second lectures, they have since expanded to include clear, concise descriptions of a single topic or idea in under 6 minutes. These lectures can be used in online, blended, or face-to-face contexts (see 7 Things You Should Know About Microlectures: https://library.educause.edu/resources/2012/11/7-things-you-should-know-about-microlectures).

Microlectures have several benefits and can raise the awareness and curiosity of students by:

  • Introducing a learning topic and its objectives with personal touch.

  • Providing learners with a brief overview of key concepts.

  • Demonstrating a single problem-solving procedure.

  • Explaining the step-by-step instructions needed to complete a summative assignment.

Watch this microlecture to learn more about the benefits of microlectures (see what I did there?)


Microlectures align with the cognitive psychology concept of chunking, or the capacity of human’s working memory to process or manipulate information.

A great primer on microlectures, with examples and resources can be found here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1niiDNQFKCpZ9QhzV9CYFEnNfU-YExlPPyW6CoayJLgU/edit?usp=sharing It was developed by the California Virtual Campus Online Education Initiative On slide 9 they discuss how to create a quick whiteboard video with Screencast-o-matic + OneNote + a paper tablet. If you recorded your lectures this Fall or Spring and want to extract clips that can be used as microlectures.

Additional Resources

Supporting Online Discussions

One of the greatest challenges for faculty is that students often come to class not having completed assigned readings. This makes it difficult for them to participate in discussion, and it may also make it difficult for them to follow the material you have planned for the day/week.

Synchronous or Face-to-face: Spend 5 minutes at the end of class going over key points in the readings you are asking students to do for the next class period. This type of advance organizer will enable them to place what you are asking them to read in a more meaningful and comprehensible context. Spend 5-10 minutes at the beginning of class having students discuss (in pairs or in small groups) two or three quick questions about the readings. Students can assist one another in clarifying the readings, or bring their collective confusion, if any, to you. You may want to have students turn in notes (or a Google Doc) from their discussions, or something similar, as evidence that they had something to contribute to the conversation.

Asynchronous: Without the cues of co-presence in the classroom, it is more important than ever to direct students’ attention before they read, watch, or listen to something. These concrete experiences are the foundation of an effective learning cycle. It is useful to explain the purpose of the experience or give specific guidance on what things students should be paying special attention to or looking for. Students report greater engagement with readings when they are given specific sections or pages to focus on and a purpose for the reading. Tips about how experts in your discipline read an article, a primary source, etc. are also useful (Middendorf & Shopkow, 2017). (A brief example of this from history can be found here.)

Specific strategies include:

Anticipation Guides: Before viewing a lecture or starting a reading, students can be asked to take a minute or two to generate an anticipation guide (Major et al., 2016). Based on the previous content, the main topics, and keywords, each student generates their own list of questions they expect to be able to answer at the end. This can be completed as a mini assignment in Canvas where students generate 3-5 questions before viewing a lecture and submit the answers to their questions after viewing. A video introduction can provide an overview and explain how the activity will help students practice thinking like an expert.

Guided Notes with a Twist: Basic guided notes are outlines or lecture slides with missing words or content that students complete during a lecture (Major et al., 2016). A modified version focuses students’ efforts on higher-order thinking. The shared document includes the lecture agenda, key definitions, and spaces for note taking, plus targeted questions that ask students to apply, compare and contrast, elaborate, or make connections (Golas, 2018). These questions provide great moments to pause a lecture when students’ cognitive load may be reached and switch to different cognitive processes that reinforce their understanding (Harrington & Zakrajsek, 2017).

For pre-recorded lectures, students can pause the lecture to answer the question in their notes or the questions can serve as a discussion forum activity between recorded mini lectures. Students have been shown to be particularly engaged with these notes when they are the same kinds of questions asked on quizzes, major assignments, or exams. Tools such as TopHat, and Kaltura can be used to integrate questions within the lectures and record student responses.

Teaching With Microsoft Teams

Last week, I had the opportunity to work with a class that used Microsoft Teams to manage a group project. Students were divided into 14 groups or (channels) of 5. After establishing group norms, students are given the freedom to complete the group assignment synchronously or asynchronously, depending on their schedules. When they used the video conference features, the instructor was able to see who attended and for how long, if they met within the channel. Students also had the capacity to add the instructor to meetings (if needed; based on availability). All files that were needed for the project were hosted in OneDrive but had a “physical” representation within Teams that students were able to access without leaving the interface. Teams allowed for screen and file sharing, chatting, and Word markups. The course did not create the assignment in Teams, but it is possible to do so, as well as create a rubric within Teams, and import them into Canvas.

While this sounds like an advertisement for Teams, it isn’t. My goal is to let you know (or remind you of) alternatives you can use if you are looking for technological teaching tools that are a better match your pedagogical style than what you are currently using.

There are many free, short tutorials from Microsoft https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/microsoft-teams-video-training-4f108e54-240b-4351-8084-b1089f0d21d7, and as always, I am happy to help you with you with teaching and learning

Create a classroom culture of inquiry and mistake-making

Adapted from codetribe.

It’s great if you can answer student questions, but you’re not always going to have the answer, and that is okay. Share with students the reality that the disciplines taught within Luddy are vast, where no one knows everything. Developing software and addressing big questions related to the ethical use of technology is not about having the answers, but about cultivating the ability to figure things out using your resources: your classmates, the internet, the libraries, and your instructor.

Encourage students to follow a personal empowerment protocol to figure things out when they have a question. Similar to, “ask three, then me,” (C3B4Me)

this protocol encourages students to…

  • Ask a peer

  • Google it / Look it up at the library

  • Ask the instructor

This protocol both helps students become independent problem-solvers, and also helps ensure the instructor isn’t bombarded with questions.

Finally, normalize errors and mistake-making.  Every time you compile your code in front of the class, announce that you’re going to check for any errors, which are just a normal part of a programmer’s life. Whenever you get an error or when a student sheepishly confesses that they have 20 compiler errors, remark on how totally normal that is.

Go the extra step and get excited when a student says they have 20 errors, or even better, a “fatal error”! Model being unfazed by errors and in fact seeing errors as an opportunity to learn new things. As a teacher, helping students debug IS an opportunity for you to learn more about how to be a better teacher and anticipate a wider range of student errors!

When you model this attitude, students will follow suit. As a result, they will be less likely to get discouraged by 20 compiler errors and learn to celebrate them with you as a representation of all the things the class has learned.

Office Hours: Approaches to improve student engagement

Explain WHAT office hours are for, not just when
In The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students, Anthony Abraham Jack argues that “office hours” is a classed term and one of many ill-defined yet consequential activities for undergraduates. The expectation that students attend office hours often goes unsaid and feeds into what Jack calls a “hidden curriculum” that further places low-income students at a disadvantage. Jack recommends faculty explain what office hours are, not just when you hold them. “I remember feeling apprehensive about communicating with faculty as a first-generation student. For a long time, I thought office hours was reserved for academic crisis rather than ordinary course-related inquiries. I recommend a more expansive definition of office hours that reframes the time as a student-centered resource and takes a holistic approach to teaching”. – Consider renaming office hours to “student hours” or another student friendly term.
 
Be Consist
Be consistent with when and how you’ll hold your virtual office hours. Have the link to your office hours listed on your syllabus, on your office door, in your LMS, at the end of your PowerPoint slides or other lecture tools each week and remind students of the link in your weekly announcements.  Keep the hours consistent.  Just as you hold your class at the same time and day each week, do the same with your office hours. For students learning how to self-regulate, this type of structure helps with student efficacy in planning for success.
 
Use A Scheduler that will allow students to make appointments
If possible, have an easy way for students to sign up for a specific time to meet with you; you could try sharing a Google Calendar appointment link. I strongly recommend using Canvas’s scheduler 

The more opportunities students have to see when you are available, the more likely they are to jump on and join. One final note: if you have some flexibility, consider asking your students when they would prefer you be available to help them outside of class. Once students have a stake in selecting your office hours, they’re more likely to take advantage of those times.
 
Consider Incentivizing attendance.

​Give students an incentive to come. Students are more likely to attend virtual office hours if you’re doing something they enjoy and value.

  • ​​Use office hours to play games with the course content, and then give away small prizes to the “winners” like a point of extra credit, or a voucher for something they value. Examples include: “turning in one assignment up to 24 hours late with no penalty”

  • You can also utilize digital quizzing tool like Top Hat where students can deeply engage with digital content like videos, pictures and web links, but my students also love traditional games, like bingo using key terms or concepts.

  • Tools like Free Bingo Cards can allow you to create the cards, and then distribute these electronically to anyone that attends the office hours. During the game, students hear questions such as, “What word describes the technique where a function calls itself?” Students would have to know the answer is “recursion,” then see if they have it on their bingo card.

  • Let students use their books and notes during these games so they’re actively engaging in the content. Then, ask a student who had the correct answer on their bingo card to share the answer and provide an example to the other students.

These types of games can not only be fun to students for exam reviews, they’re great formative assessment activities to see where your students are with the course content.
 
Make it relevant.
Use Google alerts to identify possible real-life examples of what is taking place in the class or find an accessible research article to discuss. Once or twice during the semester, select an interesting and relevant article and provide a link to the students telling them this article will be the focus of your office hours. Record these discussions for students who cannot attend in person so they can watch later if they choose.
 
Use live coding
Rather than using slides, instructors can create programs in front of their learners (this tip comes from this great article:https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006023 and has a bit more detail as to why it works).
 
Provide study ideas
There are many strategies that can be used for any class, but some subjects have specific strategies that work particularly well for that class. Provide tips about ways students might consider studying or taking notes for your class.

Get Feedback
Ask students about their classroom experience. Students are poised to evaluate your pedagogical practices better than anyone else. Let’s say a student is seeking clarification on a confusing term. You can follow up by asking what, if anything, would have better clarified the term in class. It’s likely that they will comment on the pace of lecture, which provides you with priceless feedback for improving lecture comprehension (e.g., slowing down, repeating main ideas, introducing fewer terms per class, or making more time for discussion).
 
Foster connections
Lastly, and this is a big one, be proactive during your office hours to reach out to students and engage.

  • ​Lead by asking how a student is doing instead of waiting for them to pose a question.

  • Did a student answer a question in class in an exceptionally insightful way? Send the student an email acknowledging the great contribution made during the class discussion.

  • Did a student miss class? Send an email telling them their absence was felt and remind them the lecture was recorded and is available in the LMS (if applicable). – The attendance tools in Canvas might help with this task https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Basics-Guide/What-is-the-Roll-Call-Attendance-Tool/ta-p/59

  • Do you have an athlete/performer/musician that recently had an event? Send them a note of congratulations and recognition.

  • Is it almost time for registration? Send students individual reminder emails via Canvas and tell them about a course they have to look forward to next semester.

  • Is there a big paper coming up? Send a note to a student who struggled with the first paper and ask if they’d like to schedule a time to discuss their concept.

  • Finally, use this time to reach out to students and ask them to “help” you during the next synchronous class session by having an example ready to share when you discuss a specific topic or describe a concept in their own words. This builds engagement during the synchronous session, as well as creates a connection with the student