- SUBJECT: Using videos and videodisks interactively
- DATE: 3/97
-
-
- I'm exploring the use of educational videos to introduce laboratory
- periods, particularly those dealing with human anatomy and physiology.
The
- difficulty is the right technique to get students to pay attention
to the
- videos.
-
- One approach is to provide a series of questions for the students to
- answer, based on the video. If you're using videos as introductory
- material, I'd be interested in your approach.
-
- From: Lane Lester <llester@athens.net>
-
-
- I also give the students questions at the beginning of the video. This
- really helps their concentration and I find that they also remember
other
- things and not just those pertaining to the questions. The students
really
- like the videos, especially if it is followed by a lab as this seems
to
- really hit all learning styles
- .
- Dr. A.I. Morrison-Shetlar
- Biology Department
- Georgia Southern University
- Statesboro GA 30460
- (912) 681 0309
-
-
- I have been using videodisks for about 12 years in General Biology
- and Human Anatomy and Human Physiology. I have also found that it is
- best to show short clips of appropriate material and use the step
- and scan buttons to move the material afterwards during my own
- commentary. I rarely show a full length video in any class because
- of the attention concerns already mentioned. I will however pick the
- best from several videodisks and sometimes show parts from two
- videodisks during the same class if necessary.
-
- We now own videodisks from Optical Data on general biology, the
- field trip series, and the Human Body in addition to the videodisk
- which came with the text. We also have 3 editions of Slice of Life
- (for Anatomy) and an excellent Histology disk from Image PSL with
- barcodes for all images. None of these replaces the microscope or
- cadaver, etc. but is valuable in class and for students out of clas.
-
- Herbert W. House, Jr. Internet: househ@numen.Elon.edu
- 2270 Campus Box Phone: (910) 584-2294
- Elon College, N. C. 27244 Fax: (910) 538-2643
-
-
-
- Herbert W. House wrote:
- >I don't use video as such, but have used the Narco(International
- >Biomedical) physiotapes as lab openers and closers. I use the same
- >question format you describe and it works great.
-
- What is a physiotape?
-
- >I am curious though as to which videotapes you are using and how
well you
- >like them.
-
- I'm certainly no expert on what's available, having only just started
- exploring this usage. I'm mostly dependent on the catalogs that come
- across my desk and reviews from NABT.
-
- One set that I really like is "Alien Empire," a 3-tape series
on the
- insects that was broadcast on TV. After I saw the broadcast I lost
no time
- ordering the tapes. It does a fantastic job of combining entertainment
- with education, using every video technique available. I am hoping
to use
- this series as a kick-off for some organism-level investigations with
- insects, but that's still on the back burner.
-
- I've purchased two tapes from the National Geographic Human Body Series,
- "Muscular and Skeletal Systems," and "Our Immune System."
One small, but
- nice, touch in the first is the use of college, rather than high school,
- students for the human interest. I'm pleased with these two tapes,
and if
- student response is good, I'll add to the collection.
-
- Lane
- ----
- Lane Lester / <mailto:llester@athens.net> / Athens, Georgia USA
-
-
- Lane and the list: Lane has asked a very important question. More
- and more I feel the need to edit the video. Often the video has
- "stuff" which does not really apply to my situation. In some
cases I am
- loading the video to hard disk and editing it to fit my needs, often
- reducing it by half or more. Or I give the video to our media services
and
- they edit it video to video. So I use a second generation copy in this
case.
-
- I have also noticed something else which is curious to me. I have
- had the recent opportunity of viewing videos in classes which have
- nothing to do with biology. In almost all cases, students begin to
lose their
- concentration about 25 minutes into the commercial video ( I have
- seen the same thing in biology classes). These are well constructed
- videos. I am beginning to think it might be good to break the video
about
- 20 minutes into it, and ask some questions and then go back to the
- video for more content.
-
- Blystone in Texas
-
- > Robert V. Blystone, Ph.D.
- > rblyston@trinity.edu
- >
- > Department of Biology
- > Trinity University
- > 715 Stadium Drive
- > San Antonio, Texas 78212
- > 210.736-7243 FAX 210/736-7229
-
-
- Bob Blystone's message is a good summary of why many people use
- laserdiscs. As prices come down and users learn how to take
- advantage of player capabilities, use will grow. It's going to
- be a while before VHS and laserdisc get replaced by CD-ROM and
- DVD because teachers have learned that VHS and laserdiscs still
- work after more than a decade of use, but the computer products
- of the same vintage are now obsolete.
-
- The complaint I've heard about laserdiscs is that the clips are
- often too short and not worth the effort it takes to play them.
- My own feeling is that once you learn how to use the clips
- interactively, i.e. to get the students to observe and think
- about what they're seeing, they work really well. Unfortunately,
- I haven't found many people that have learned to use them
- interactively. Most people are still in the passive TV watching
- mode. If the subject of interest is complex and zips past the
- viewer in a few seconds in one viewing, it's difficult to learn
- much from it. Repeating the observation in slow motion with new
- questions from students, stepping through difficult parts, or
- studying a single frame in detail really helps students
- understand better. Have other lasrdisc users come to the same
- conclusions? Finally, the quality of laserdisc images is far
- better than computer video and VHS if you have a big screen to
- project it on and properly adjusted equipment. It's like the
- difference between wide field and regular eyepieces on a
- microscope!
-
- Don Igelsrud
- deigelsr@acs.ucalgary.ca
-
-
- >Repeating the observation in slow motion with new questions from
students,
- >stepping through >difficult parts, or studying a single frame
in detail
- >really helps students understand better. >Have other lasrdisc
users come
- >to the same conclusions? Finally, the quality of laserdisc >images
is far
- >better than computer video and VHS if you have a big screen to
project it
- >on and >properly adjusted equipment. It's like the difference
between wide
- >field and regular eyepieces >on a microscope!
-
- Don, I use a short clip (30 sec) clip of mating behavior of sticklebacks
to
- illustrate behavior in my zoology class. I show it to the students
the
- first time at full speed and then give them a couple minutes to write
a
- description of what they saw. Then I have them compare their observations
- with their lab partner to see what they may have missed. Then I ask
a
- couple questions about what they were looking for, and how they might
- refine their descriptions. Then I show it again at normal speed and
ask
- them to add details to their description. Again, they compare their
- descriptions with a different lab partner. Next, we view the video
at 1/2
- speed so that they can pick out more details. Confer with another
partner.
- View at 1/2 speed again, and confer with another partner again. I
then ask
- for a volunteer to read their discription and the whole class then
adds
- details to the description. Finally we play the video a final time
to see
- if anything was missed, or could be described in better detail. Once
we
- even found that someone described something that was not on the video!
- That got us into a discussion of how different observers see different
- things. We also discuss how to word descriptions so that we do not
infer
- behaviors by the way we describe them, or give the organisms human
- characteristics. This all leads up to a trip to the zoo where the
students
- get to choose an organism to watch and describe heir behavior.
-
- I agree that the quality of videodisk images is superior to other sources.
- I haven't tried projecting onto a big screen, but the classroom that
I
- teach zoology in will have that capability next fall when I teach it
again.
- I can't wait.
-
- Terry Davin
- Biology and Allied Health
- Penn Valley Community College
- Kansas City MO 64111
- davin@kcmetro.cc.mo.us
- http://www.kcmetro.cc.mo.us/pennvalley/biology/DAVIN/DAVIN.html
- (816) 759-4236 (PHONE)
- (816) 759-4553 (FAX)
-
-
- Terry Davin wrote:
- > I use a short clip (30 sec) clip of mating behavior of sticklebacks
- > to illustrate behavior in my zoology class. I show it to the
- > students the first time at full speed and then give them a couple
- > minutes to write a
- > description of what they saw.
-
- I've done something similar for Animal Behavior. I show the students
- clips from _The Trials of Life_ with the sound turned OFF. I ask them
- then to write a description of what they've seen without the benefit
- of David Attenborough's wonderful intonations. Next, we watch the clip
- again but WITH the narration audible. It's fascinating how the
- perception of the images differs when the students are being TOLD
- what's happening and why it's interesting, as opposed to having to
- decipher it themselves.
-
- I recall this procedure being especially effective with a segment
- showing chimpanzees chasing, trapping, and killing colobus
- monkeys for food. Few of the students realized the degree to
- which the chimps were displaying coordinated hunting behavior
- when that aspect was not pointed out to them. For most students,
- it came as a great surprise to learn that non-human animals
- were CAPABLE of such a thing ... so the students were not
- 'primed' to include that aspect as part of their descriptions.
- This process does a good job of alerting students to biases
- investigators may be 'guilty' of when observing and measuring
- behavior (especially), though such biases are not unique to
- behavioral study.
-
- --
- Robert L. Curry
- Assistant Professor of Biology
- Biology Department
- 800 Lancaster Avenue
- Villanova University
- Villanova PA 19085 USA
-
- curry@ucis.vill.edu
- http://www.bio.vill.edu/HTML/FACULTY/Curry/Rc1.HTM
-
-
- You stated, "I haven't found many people that have learned to
use them
- [laserdisc clips] interactively. Most people are still in the passive
- TV watching mode. " The Voyager Company has produced the product,
- "The Voyager VideoStack " that allows you to place buttons
in your
- Hypercard stacks that will access the designated frames of a
- laserdisc. Of course, you will need to purchase a cable that will
- connect the computer to the laserdisc player. Voyager's address is
- 1351 Pacific Cost Hwy, Santa Monica, CA 90401 (310) 451-1383. I
- hope that all of this information is up to date; I purchased this
- software quite a few years ago.
-
-
- From: JERRY JOHNSON <JJOHNSON@wbc.edu>
-
-
-
- Hello!
- Laserdiscs are visually better than cds but the recent interactive
cds by
- Adams-Benjamin/Cummings print the background narration on the screen,
word
- for word. This is certainly a helpful addition I've not seen on
- laserdiscs.
- Bob
-
- rrs@bradley.bradley.edu
- Robert Rhea Stephens
- Biology Department