What do students love about the videos in Professor Mikhelson's course?

Ilya Mikhelson, associate professor of instruction in Electrical and Computer Engineering and winner of the “Best Use of Lecture Video” category, is modest about the extensive library of videos he’s built for his students. Of his early days recording, he says, “It wasn’t great quality video or anything, but it didn’t really seem to matter. The content is more valuable than the production value, especially for education.”

Students in his class have access to a range of videos, including lectures, longer explanatory videos about key concepts, and short, targeted videos about specific problems. In their nominations for the Canvas Hall of Fame, the students emphasized how easy it was to access his recorded lectures at any time and the breadth of recordings available to them.

Sound like something you want to try? Take Ilya’s advice: just do it. Don’t be overly concerned with the recording quality, just make the videos and post them.

“Students will watch, especially if it’s a sticking point for class. Maybe there’s a particularly hard homework problem and you post a parallel version of it so they can see how you would approach solving it. They’ll be very grateful to have resources like this that they can refer back to.”

Professor Mikhelson’s advice for building a student video library can be condensed into three big ideas:

1. Just Press Record
2. Get Comfortable with Casual
3. Mind the Gaps

Just Press Record

Recording classroom lectures allow students to focus on the difficult parts of the lecture. “People will rewatch parts of the video multiple times and sometimes even slow down the playback to 75% speed just to gain all the information.” Professor Mikhelson’s outlook is that “if it benefits even one person, it’s worth it.”

Not sure how recording will affect attendance in your class? Read this summary of some of the most frequently asked questions about lecture recording and some of the research on the topic.

Resources to Get Started

• Schedule a 1:1 classroom a/v equipment orientation.
• Request automatic recording of your lecture.

Attend a group classroom a/v equipment orientation

Get Comfortable with Casual

Making videos that are valuable to your students doesn’t require expensive equipment. A laptop or computer with a webcam, Zoom, and a headset with a built-in mic is all you need to make short, high-quality videos.

You can target a recent assignment or exam, clarify a difficult concept from a lecture, or even introduce yourself at the start of the quarter.