What makes a good screencast: The KSV method

Perhaps the largest repository of screencast lectures is found at the Khan Academy. The library of topics covered seems to be growing exponentially. What started as a site to teach mathematics has grown to something that provides insight into sociology, biology, economics, politics and more. The growth of the site is linked to the flow of resources into it from donors who recognize the great work it has accomplished within this type of content delivery.

The success of the Khan Academy is due to its success in presenting information. People would not be tuning into and returning to the site if they did not learn something from it. For us as screencasters, it is also important for us to learn from this success. To that extent view this video from Salman Khan about his screencasting technique.

Flipping the classroom

Delivering information and lectures on-line can open the opportunity to Flip the Classroom. This delivery mode requires students to complete material prior to attending the scheduled class, which is then used for practical work on tasks students have difficulty with. The idea is sound but there are pitfalls. Listen to Robert Talbert, whose five years of using the Flipped Classrom, has provided a wealth of experiences to share.

ID ing

It certainly seems like there is a lot more interest in the skill of instructional design these days.
creative commons licensed ( BY-NC-SA ) flickr photo shared by led-maha.weebly.com. Perhaps this interest comes from the increase in modes of learning that are available today. Particularly in the e-learning realm. People can choose anything from MOOC’s which may have 1,000’s of people in them and last a long time, to a micro-credential course that is completed individually and takes only hours, and everything in between.

The development of any of these courses, went through a design process, whether formal or not. Choices are made on: learning objectives; content, assessment, esthetic, and more. Instructional designers are involved at each step, sometimes as project manager, sometimes as hands-on developer.

In this space we’ll explore the ID role.