I wonder if shorter videos would help. I know when I did video lectures, it helped immensely to speed them up anywhere from 1.2x to 2x, depending on the lecturer and the audio quality of the video.
Additionally, watching the video could be an assignment that counts towards a grade. Sure they could sign in, turn on the video, and walk away, but this at least provides additional motivation to do the first two steps, which may be all you need to overcome the activation energy for many students.
Additionally, threats of failure help - I had a course that was considered the filter - about 50% failed every semester. I think I was motivated by that statistic because it ended up being just about the easiest class I had. The motivation was less about not wanting to fail and more about showing excellence where common people fail.
My videos tend to be under 20 minutes long. I try to keep them focused and to the point. No fluff. I agree that generally, shorter is better.
Motivating them to watch is a problem for me. I'm philosophically opposed to giving points for something a well trained monkey could do. I can't bring myself to give points merely for pressing play on a video. I'm slowly coming around though.
My company makes videos along these lines as well. We have found a sweet spot between 5-10 minutes per video (the shorter the better). Even breaking a long video into smaller chunks can help.
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I wonder if shorter videos would help. I know when I did video lectures, it helped immensely to speed them up anywhere from 1.2x to 2x, depending on the lecturer and the audio quality of the video.
Additionally, watching the video could be an assignment that counts towards a grade. Sure they could sign in, turn on the video, and walk away, but this at least provides additional motivation to do the first two steps, which may be all you need to overcome the activation energy for many students.
Additionally, threats of failure help - I had a course that was considered the filter - about 50% failed every semester. I think I was motivated by that statistic because it ended up being just about the easiest class I had. The motivation was less about not wanting to fail and more about showing excellence where common people fail.
My videos tend to be under 20 minutes long. I try to keep them focused and to the point. No fluff. I agree that generally, shorter is better.
Motivating them to watch is a problem for me. I'm philosophically opposed to giving points for something a well trained monkey could do. I can't bring myself to give points merely for pressing play on a video. I'm slowly coming around though.
My company makes videos along these lines as well. We have found a sweet spot between 5-10 minutes per video (the shorter the better). Even breaking a long video into smaller chunks can help.