The use of video in the teaching and learning process has penetrated all educational levels. Therefore, the pedagogical use of video should be present in the various curricula of the different teacher training programs. However, in higher education, the vast majority of videos used as part
of university studies are lecture capture videos. According to a survey conducted by Kaltura in 2018, the traditional lecture or an online lecture recorded onto video has its value. Even though this makes sense; lecture capture videos are fairly easy to mass produce and while they are an asset for students, they shouldn’t be the main – or the only – model of video pedagogy given as an example for future teachers.
EDIT – Educational Video Challenge was created 2014 by Oulu University of Applied Sciences, Finland and the Pädagogische Hochschule Oberösterreich, Austria. Both teacher training schools wanted to start an ongoing cooperation that enabled teachers and students work on something tangible together – and at a fairly low cost. That’s how this online educational event was born. The organising teachers were able to run webinars and online workshops for all international participants and also provide local workshops linked to the event.
Starting with only two colleges, word soon got around and EDIT grew. Now 12 universities from 10 different countries are involved. Since 2017 the Media & Learning Association has been a valuable supporter of EDIT. Most of the participating students are from different teacher training programs (elementary -, subject – and vocational teachers) but it has been truly valuable for EDIT to have student participants from audiovisual and communications study programs and special needs education program.
The main goal of EDIT is to teach student teachers how to implement video into their teaching activity. During the event, only the basic skills are taught and the bar of creating videos is set low. The aim is not to create high-end commercial quality videos. The focus is on the educational value of video in the learning process. Hopefully, the participants will pass their experiences on to their own future students. EDIT has also “forced” the participating schools to discuss their own understanding of pedagogical practices around video. In many cases EDIT is creating new teaching approaches and studying a culture that hasn’t been a regular part of the curriculum in the past.
EDIT partners are organising a pre-conference workshop during the Media & Learning Association conference, in June 2019 in Leuven, Belgium. In the workshop participants will have a chance to join a short format “video hackathon” and discuss the challenges of assessing the pedagogical quality of a video.
To get a taste of EDIT videos you can check out the playlist of the 2018 and 2017 videos submitted by students.
To learn more about EDIT, please visit our website.
Author
Janne Länsitie
Senior Lecturer
E-learning Advisor
Oulu University of Applied Sciences
Finland
