Creating an Instructional Video with Explain Everything App: My Learning Reflection

Howland, Jonassen & Marra (2012) stated that “One of the most productive ways to use video for teaching is to model specific performances (p. 228).” Furthermore, Howland et al. (2012) also mentioned that students can make their own self-reflective feedback by re-viewing their performance in the video made by themselves. I created an instructional video using Explain Everything application, which is a great way to combine images, texts, sounds and video in video.

First, I made my presentation slides using PowerPoint to give the written script including the explanations of the video content inserted. The inserted video was recorded when I was giving a private course for the two kids in the video. It was performed around my house yard in my home country, Indonesia. Explain Everything also allows us to mark each point being pronounced, read or explained by using a pen tool to underline or circle the related words or sentences and to give additional texts to make everything more clear. Related to what Howland et al. said above, the inserted conversation video was then shared with the kids through available devices so that they could view it as often as they wish and began to train their critical thinking skills by finding the strengths as well as weaknesses of their performance. By then, they would be willing to make improvements, which means they would continue learning even without my presence. Below is the video.

The theme of this instructional video is about informal greetings and farewells commonly used in American English daily conversations. The kids who performed were taking their elementary level in English learning, so it was their first practice to speak English. The conversation script and the language notes were taken from the PDF version of “Everyday Conversations: Learning American English” that can be downloaded freely on Google. The expected audience can be students of primary and secondary schools and everybody who needs such video for teaching and learning, even English teachers. To make everything more clear, I simply re-read the script and the language notes to explain a little bit more about the content, using the pen tool to underline or to write additional notes is also helpful. For students of English as a Foreign Language, the difference between how to write and how to pronounce the English words is always an issue and that is why it is important for me to pronounce each word shown.

The ability to speak is one of language skills that students must have. This instructional video can be a source of e-learning materials or an online course material especially for those who are beginners in studying English. Teachers of other subjects may also use the video as an example for making their own instructional video. English teachers can use the video as an example as well as an explanation before assigning students to create or to find English conversation scripts for a performance, which can also be videotaped. Students can also use it for a self-study at home. Finally, I realize that this instructional video is still far from being perfect and that is why constructive comments and suggestions are humbly expected.

Reference

Howland, J. L., Jonassen, D. H., & Marra, R. M. (2012). Meaningful learning with technology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.