The year is winding down.  As my students prepare for their final qualitative analysis investigation and prepare for their final exams, I am able to take some time to reflect a little on the year.  Here are some things that I have found by interviewing students (I am currently editing a video capturing student perspectives):

• All of the students said that they liked having the videos available as a resource, regardless of the amount of time spent utilizing them vs. written notes.  Some students watched the videos over and over, while others only watched it to complete the video guide in compliance with my homework policy.
• Many students asked that there be more videos (they conveniently did not ask for more video guides to accompany them..) that went further in depth.  I kept my videos pretty entry-level this year as far as content goes.  The critical thinking went down mostly in class.  I am thinking that next year, I will beef up the videos to REVIEW the application of content. I may choose to create a classification system for videos (lab videos, understanding videos, answer-key videos, review videos, etc).  I’m open to feedback. 
• Some students said that they enjoyed the videos that showed the interaction between myself and Mrs. Lozano.  However, for more math-based problems, they preferred to be able to see my work up close (as in the document camera videos). I have recently purchased a MacBook Pro and a Wacom writing tablet so I can do more videos like Melissa!  This summer will be a fun time for me to explore some more crafty digital editing, although I have a sinking suspicion I’m going to discontinue many of the videos I made this year.  Seriously, I’m not reinventing the wheel, but it feels like I work at a wheel factory some days.
• Some students said that they liked being able to write questions about the content in a specified section of their video guides, but that it wasn’t really possible for me to answer them all.  I am thinking of creating an online forum for students to post threads that I moderate.  I think this will allow for it to be interactive both before and after the class period the video is meant to prepare them for.  It will also help keep content rather organized and archived. I’m going to see if Weebly can host a forum rather than just a blog.  Does anyone know of another place I might look?
• Due to student feedback I am also considering including practice problems, mostly in word-problem form, at the end of the video guide.  This would necessitate posting answer keys so it may be more than I can chew, but it seems like a good practice.  There just wouldn’t be enough time to go over EVERYTHING in class.  Another option is to incorporate the problems into the videos and prompt students to pause the video and solve the problem and resume the video when they are ready to hear the explanation of the answer.  Clearly, the questions would have to be rather simple in design with this method. 

I have had some pretty wicked brainstorms about the use of audio files (without video) for next year.  This would not replace, but continue to supplement my in-class curriculum and video lessons.  Stay tuned, because my ideas are getting me totally excited and I think you will like my train of thought.  I’ll also be posting a blog about the use of the ShowMe App!  Thanks for reading!