If you're considering creating video content for your course, whether you plan to produce the videos yourself or enlist the services of media professionals, here are questions (and answers) to think about before you get started. There’s a distinction between formal, produced videos, and informal, just-in-time videos. Informal, just-in-time content is ideal for announcements, course updates, and lecture recaps. These videos are an effective way to engage your students, require little preparation, and are easily accomplished using your computer’s webcam. The focus of this post is formal video content produced by you alone,  in collaboration with your local support professionals, using  ATSS Academic Video Production (a no-fee service for academic course projects). Which course content is best for formal, produced video? If you are about to spend a lot of time and effort producing a video, it is recommended to: Focus on content you have taught before and are familiar with. Melis...

As the semester winds down, we tend to focus on the immediate task at hand, which is to prepare and submit grades . But, the end of the semester is an opportunity to look back on what you have learned teaching this semester, and, while it is fresh in your mind, look to future offerings. Some questions to ask yourself: What sparked excitement this semester for you and your students? What did not work as planned? What input from students will help you make the course better the next time you offer it? Thinking about these questions and documenting your thoughts now will help you prepare for an improved future iteration of the course. Gather student feedback Review the feedback that your students offer through the formal end-of-semester course evaluations. In addition, you could engage your students in order to get more informal feedback on questions that are important to you. Let students know that they can help improve the course and that you welcome their feedback. While you are still ...