Recommended by the IDO TSU team
One of the success factors in the implementation of the educational program within the framework of the project "Employment Promotion" was competent planning and the establishment of a successful balance between synchronous and asynchronous work with students. The lecture format is optimal for the presentation of the material, but working with an adult audience has its own specifics. In particular, within the framework of this project, students of the PPK are waiting, first of all, for practice-oriented classes with the opportunity to analyze specific cases and ask questions. However, the number of hours that many programs are limited to does not leave much time for practice. Therefore, it seems quite logical to give the audience the opportunity to get acquainted with theoretical material independently (asynchronous format of work), and at a synchronous lesson to analyze cases, answer questions, give assignments on the theory passed.
Today in our section we want to tell you that TSU has excellent conditions for creating video materials for the project programs. We met with Daria Maslova, director of the Center for the Development and Maintenance of Online Courses, to motivate teachers to actively use the opportunities of Jalinga studios.
- Teachers are people who work professionally with the audience, but, most often, they do it "live", even if it is an online format. At the same time, recording a video; seems to be quite difficult. There is an opinion that this requires special skills, many consider themselves simply "neideogenic". How would you comment on this?
- We have a very well-built system of working with teachers. We take the visualization of content and the preparation of the lecturer very seriously. We work with everyone, any specialist from our university can take the opportunity to record their classes. If a person is an expert in his field, we will try our best to convey without loss of quality everything that happens in his classes "live".
- Does it happen that a person comes to you with the installation "probably, I won't succeed", and in the end remains satisfied with the result?
- In most cases, this is exactly what happens. Of course, most of us have no experience of cinematic filming. But multimedia designers work with the teachers, accompanying him throughout the filming process. They show everything, tell, support not only technically, but also psychologically: they can calm you down, even cook a hot tea with raspberries. We are well aware that the skills of behavior in the frame appear and develop only with experience. We even have such an unspoken rule: if we record a whole series of lectures, as a rule, after recording the last one, we rewrite the first one. The teacher begins to feel comfortable in front of the camera for about 4-5 lectures and sees the difference between the first and last video himself.
- How many parts should a traditional one-and-a-half-hour lecture be divided into when recording?
- This is a very correct question. We really break up such lectures, because it is extremely difficult and unproductive to watch and listen to long material online. The brain turns off at about the sixth minute, and according to the canons of the online course, it is customary to divide the material into six-, seven-minute blocks. A video lecture is very different from a "live" face-to-face one in that the information in it should be even more structured and concentrated. Everything should be clear, on the shelves. This year we started recording content for online master's courses and came to the division of plots into 15-minute episodes. We do the same with materials for courses in the project "Employment Promotion". Accordingly, if we are talking about an hour and a half lecture, we recommend splitting it into six parts of 15 minutes each. I repeat, these six parts should be very clear and meaningful. In the initial lecture, you need to isolate six logical blocks so that each video has its own drama - the beginning, middle and end.
- What should the teacher have ready when he comes to your studio?
- We create educational content in Jalinga studios. The teacher can use a glass board and a special digital marker for notes that will be shown in the frame. You can bring a presentation and scroll through it in a frame with comments. We recommend preparing a presentation for each fifteen-minute block. At the beginning of each presentation, it is necessary to indicate what will be told in the lecture, what main goals and objectives are presented to the audience. Then comes the main part - the presentation of the material, and at the end the results are summed up, the key conclusions are formulated. Based on such a presentation, it is quite easy for the teacher to narrate. He sees it, can flip through the slides and explain them. There is also a teleprompter in the studio, you need to make some supporting theses on it. Of course, the more detailed the text is written, the easier it is to record a video. When preparing lectures for the project "Employment Promotion", it is possible not to write texts in such detail that they are more "lively". But there must be supporting theses, they help to remember the material and adhere to the plan.
- In any case, the teacher will not be able to behave like a professional presenter. He may be distracted a little by some example, think for a couple of seconds, not even find the right word right away. How normal do all these inaccuracies inherent in communicating with the audience live look in the frame?
- If the teacher is burning with his subject, he himself is interested in what he is talking about, he remembers live examples along the way, then it looks good and natural. The main thing is to teach the teacher to perceive the camera as his listener, to address it directly. There is one dangerous point here: all good teachers like to talk so much that twenty minutes can turn into three and a half hours. There is even such a joke: "How long can you prepare a report for 7 minutes? - In three days. - And for three hours? - It's even now!". Speaking briefly is also a matter of training. If there is such a risk, it is better to prepare a more detailed text for the teleprompter.
- Many teachers have vision problems as a result of constant work at the computer. Could this be an obstacle?
- There is no need to be afraid of this. You can make a giant font on the teleprompter and adjust the speed of text movement. The person who accompanies the teacher adjusts the technique to his manner of speaking, and the problem is completely removed.
- How many people are present on the set? After all, some people are comfortable enough to give a lecture for a whole stream in the audience, but when a couple of people in a closed space listens attentively and looks at you, and even the recording goes on, confidence disappears!
- Our studios are quite small and, as a rule, there is a teacher and a multimedia designer in the studio.
- That is, can you imagine that you are talking to one person and telling him your material?
- I would recommend presenting your interlocutor with a camera so that the lecturer looks exactly into the lens. In one studio, we even put such a toy Winnie-the-Pooh on camera and ask the teachers to tell the material to him. Then the impression is created on the recording that the lecturer is looking into the eyes of his audience.
- Are there any format options? For example, is it possible to bring some student with you who will listen and ask questions? Add, so to speak, drama.
- It's poorly directed. Everyone either has to be great actors, or they will feel uncomfortable, clamped down, look a little awkward on the record. It all depends on the content. Sometimes, in mass open online courses, we use staged videos with the invitation of students, staged scenes, filming in different locations. We have a format of field filming and special equipment for them to diversify educational content. It can sometimes take a whole working day to shoot one 7-minute fragment, and two more for editing. You need to understand how appropriate it is. If our task is, nevertheless, just to convey information, then, of course, we offer the lecturer a shooting in the studio with a presentation. It requires less effort and time.
- It takes, for example, three hours per person to record a 15-minute lecture. And the other one, who will worry more, stutter and stop, apparently takes more time. Question: How long are you willing to work with a less prepared lecturer so that he "relaxes and starts having fun"?
- We have about an hour for each fifteen-minute segment. We never record two teachers one after the other, without a long break. If someone comes to record even one or two 15-minute lectures, we leave half a day to shoot. For example, today the shooting was delayed — we counted on one hour, but recorded everything in only three! We invest a lot of time, because we understand that the teacher does not immediately enter a certain state of flow. The footage is processed by a multimedia designer, he cuts out all the reservations, uncomfortable moments, and creates a full-fledged video from good fragments.
- Do I need to go to the salon before shooting, do special makeup?
If you want to perpetuate yourself in a beautiful way, then you can. Without overkill, of course. But we had authors of online courses who felt comfortable in their usual state. Often charisma combined with expertise work in the frame better than expensive makeup.
- How can the presentation be presented in the frame?
- Presentations can be shown in several formats. A standard presentation to the right or left of the lecturer, which you can scroll through. It occupies two-thirds of the screen, the lecturer - one-third. It looks good and readable both on the computer screen and on the phone screen.
In addition to a static presentation with pictures, there are several additional functions, for example, to open a website: certain slides with links to pages of Internet resources are added to the presentation. You can scroll through them in real time, open different sections.
It is possible to build a 3D model that can be rotated by explaining. It is possible to move some elements on the board, for example, puzzle pieces. The functionality of the board in the Jalinga studio can be found on YouTube. But you need to understand that for this you need to prepare very well, think everything over in advance, draw, come to rehearse, and this will be a rather laborious process. But if you want to, then yes. There are such opportunities.
- How much does it take on average to process the recorded video? Let's say I need a ready-made video with my six fifteen-minute blocks in a month. Is it possible to do such a job in this time?
- If the teacher has everything prepared, there is a text and a presentation, then a 15-minute lecture takes about one working day. This does not mean that our specialist will process only this video all day. The fact is that we have the same people go to shoot with teachers in the studio, then they mount the material. They can't work on one project all day. But we can attract additional resources to shoot a video for the "Employment Promotion" project. Therefore, in principle, it is possible to unsubscribe six blocks for an hour and a half lecture in one day and have them ready in a couple of days.
- What steps do I need to take to get to your studio for recording?
- First, we need to be informed about this. We are often told: "Give us your schedule, we will make an appointment at a convenient time." Unfortunately, we do not have the opportunity to lay out the schedule in advance, because several processes are running in parallel in the studio. We are working on videos for the Master's degree, for other programs, and the schedule changes weekly. Therefore, everything is planned individually, you can send an application for the organization of filming to the address da_maslova@ido.tsu.ru. We will discuss everything individually with you and set the days.
Once again, I invite you to join us at the Jalinga Studio. It seems to me that such an experience will be both useful and interesting, and the finished material can be used not only within the framework of the Employment Promotion project, but also when working with students.
Video about working in the Jalinga studio
