Education videos: Five ways to use them well

1. Choose your video resources wisely. The selection of educational video resources available is astronomical. Pick any subject area and you are sure to find a plethora of video content accessible, ranging from home videos on YouTube to professional programmes on many sites. Therefore, it is vital to spend time prior to the lecture watching a range of educational videos/clips, in order to find the one that best fits its intended purpose.  
2. The ethical issue. There are a huge amount of educational video resources available to download on the internet. However, it is important as educators that we instil in our students a respect for other people’s property. We spend time warning students about the ethical implications of plagiarism, so it is imperative that we make sure that we reference where the video resource and educational clips have come from, just as we would reference a book or journal. Remember that a number of videos available online have copyright restrictions placed on them. It is vital that you check these out before downloading them and showing them to your students. 
3. Spend time introducing the video resource. It is imperative to spend time introducing the educational video resource/clip before the viewing. Introduce students to some of the key topics that will be discussed in the resource and highlight the areas that you want to draw their attention. This way they will be focused on the relevant information when watching the video.  
4. Keep it short. There has been a lot of research conducted that has shown that the average attention span lasts anywhere from 7 – 15 minutes. Therefore, it is a good idea to show the educational video in short-bursts (clips), rather than screening an entire film in one go. This allows time to be spent on both the introduction of the topic (prior to the viewing) and the dissemination of the key points (post-viewing). You will find that by taking one or two short sequences you can actually cover more ground, in more depth, than by showing the whole programme without a break. The video resources should be used to illustrate the points that you are making, in a similar way that you would use a photograph.
5. Make students work while they watch. It is a good idea to set some questions so that students are engaged when they are watching the educational clips and are not simply passively viewing.