Before I go on vacation next week, one of the things on my to-do list will be to create the training modules and schedule for my student staff this fall. In the past, a sample schedule would look something like this:
Day 1:
– Welcome and Introductions
– Icebreakers
– The Rondileau Campus Center Story *
– Break
– Lunch
– Customer Service Training *
– Area Breakouts (Managers, Office Assistants, Information Center, Print Shop, Auditorium, Media Teams)
– Digital Identity and Expectations *
– Dinner
The pieces with the * typically were associated with some sort of slide deck in PowerPoint, Keynote, or Prezi (depending on who was delivering the content) where students would sit for 45-75 minutes. This year, I am transferring all of this type of educational content to video.
Step 1: Create Pre and Post Tests
Before even thinking about creating the video, a step that many people forget to do is to create an assessment that can help measure the learning outcomes you set forth in your training plans. One way to do this through your University’s learning management system (LMS), like Blackboard or Moodle. You would need to be created an instructor on the LMS by your IT department, but once you have access, you would be using something that your students are already accustomed to. Another way to create these tests is to use online survey software like Qualtrics or Surveymonkey, particularly if your audiences are staff.
Step 2: Craft Your Presentation
While your content is important, how you deliver it is key, especially using video. Make sure your slides have rich images that help support your main points and text that is large enough to see on multiple types of screens. Remember, your audience maybe watching this on a mobile device 
If you need more help creating more dynamic slides, this video may help.
Step 3: Set Up Your Google Plus On-Air Hangout
Once your presentation slides are ready and you’ve practiced delivery a few times (to make sure you are comfortable with the content), log onto to Google Plus Hangouts and on the midway down the page, click “Start a Hangout On-Air” and follow the instructions. The main reason you use the “On Air” Hangouts versus the normal Google Hangout is that the “On Air” feature will automatically record your broadcast. Having done Student Affairs Live for the last year, it can be nerve racking at first, but once you get the hang of it, it is a lot of fun!
Once your “On Air” Google Plus Hangout is setup, click the “Broadcast Now” button, you will be live on air. If you want to share the link to your live hangout, there is a YouTube link at the top left corner of the Google Hangout window. After your initial introduction, you can “share your screen” and your presentation slides while you present on the content. Advancing through the slides is just as easy as you would in person.
Ten minutes after you end your live broadcast, Google Plus will transfer the video to your YouTube page for you to edit. The things you’ll want to do include:
- Giving the video a good title
– Setting the video to “Unlisted” so only those with the link can see it.
– Captioning the video. It may take more work, but its an important step towards our Student Affairs commitment to accessibility.
You will also want to upload your slides to Google Drive so the content can be shared along with the video in future communications. If you want to take this a step further, copy the Google Drive public link of your presentation file and create a Bit.ly shortened link, that you personalize to easily remember (e.g. http://bit.ly/bsusmweek13)
Give your students a deadline to watch the videos you create. After that deadline, send them your post-test and see what they have learned through the video content!
Implications:
- The post-test data can give insight on what content was most challenging for your staff and what subsequent videos or in-person training you’ll need to create in order to improve their knowledge base. It also provides rich learning outcomes data for your supervisors, which I’m sure they would be interested in!
– You may save significant time in your overall in-person training that can be reallocated towards more valuable team building exercises and hands-on training exercises.
– New and returning staff will have these videos and slides as on-demand learning content to watch when needed.
Other Uses of Video:
The use of video in trainings does not stop here:
1. Screen Capture: Using services like ScreenR, Jing, or Quicktime (for Mac Users) can help you record videos from your computer that can teach others a variety of skills, like How to Schedule Meeting Requests in Outlook. Once the videos are recorded, you can easily share them and embed them on websites to create your own tutorial library.
2. Recording All Your Staff Development Workshops: Consider recording all your in-house professional development sessions and make them available for staff on YouTube or on a University video repository system. It can be as simple as setting up a tripod and digital camera and pressing record or having someone with video skills come out and record the session and layer the slide deck over it. Here’s an example of a session I did for Bridgewater State last fall on “Presentations 2.0: Using Technology to Enhance Learning”
3. Live Stream Conferences From Your Campus: If you host an educational event, pursue the idea of live streaming some parts of the conference education (e.g. Opening or Closing Keynote, featured educational speakers, etc.) Of course, you’ll need to get permission from the presenters and those who are present to be on video, but doing this allows the members of your University community who can’t be present all day to at least hear part of the education that is being provided. Services like UStream and Google Plus are simple ways to get started. Today, people come to conferences to network both socially and professionally, not necessarily get the information. The Internet has made information available whenever we need it.
In 2013 (and beyond), each of our Student Affairs Divisions should have a YouTube library of the sessions we offer our staffs. Many of us are missing opportunities to educate our colleagues by not doing this. As we do more on our campuses, let’s make sure we don’t leave anyone out of the learning that should be taking place!
How do you incorporate video into your various training schedules? How can this change the way we approach providing training?
