Mustafa Jarrar presented lessons learned from recording and publishing eight of his online courses. He found that recording his lectures helped him improve his teaching materials and presentation. It also allowed students to watch lectures they missed or did not understand. Jarrar provided tips for effective recording, such as breaking lectures into short videos, adding titles and annotations, and working with students to help with equipment and uploading videos. Recording lectures benefited both professors and students by improving teaching quality and providing flexibility for students to learn.

1. Workshop on e-learning in Higher Education
Birzeit University, Palestine
1
Lessons Learned from
Class Recording & Publishing of
Eight Online Courses
6th December, 2014
Mustafa Jarrar
Sina Institute, Birzeit University, Palestine
mjarrar@birzeit.edu
http://sina.birzeit.edu

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There are an assortment of e-learning
methods. Here, I introduce and explain
one method, Class Recording

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My Online Courses
On Data/Knowledge/Language/Web Engineering
Web Data Management,
Knowledge Engineering
Advanced Artificial
Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence
Data and Process Modeling
Data Integration and Open
Information Systems
Ontology engineering and
Lexical Semantics
Discrete Mathematics
http://sina.birzeit.edu/student-corner/online-courses/
http://jarrar-courses.blogspot.com/2011/09/online-courses.html

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Remark before starting!
Palestinian students might be the most active (world wide)
on Internet!
Palestinian people love watching than reading!
(Political reasons) in many cases: Israelis prevent
Palestinian students from reaching classes.

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At the beginning
I was worried that people would see my jokes, my mistakes, my
weakness ….
… but I found people enjoyed these jokes and mistakes
People said this is what made my videos natural and
enjoyable.

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What is in it for me, the professor?
I started to record the Knowledge Engineering course, (which I
invented from scratch and have a passion for). Pleased with the
results, I then ended up recording 7 other courses.
Afterwards, I found that:
 Each course came to be my product/baby (a wonderful feeling)!
 Recording is a way to help my protect my teaching material.
 Easiest way to prepare a lecture = watch myself last year.
 Easiest way to improve my course = watch myself last year.
 Easiest way to write a text book = watch myself last year.

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What is in it for students?
Patterns of Usage:
When/Why students watch online lectures:
 To watch missed lectures.
 To watch before classes to prepare.
 Lookup things they don’t understand.
 Watch topics from prerequisite courses.
 External students use it as tutorials.
 Learn from lectures in the convenience of their own homes.
I tried to ask students to watch the lecture before coming, so that I
can go deeper in f2f classes, but they resisted, I don’t do this
anymore.

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What is in it for the University
Promotion for the University:
 Receiving emails daily from students worldwide: to thank,
follow, engage, etc.
 Many PhD students use video lectures as tutorials - little
in YouTube are made as courses.

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What is in it for the University
Class Recording Quality Assurance!
If I am aware that my lecture will be recorded, I’ll
exhibit:
 Better preparation in the topic.
 Better time management.
 Better preparation for the Teaching Scenario
 Better teaching material/slides.
 ... Among other things!
Typically, people watch others’ online courses, to learn and improve
their own lectures.

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Many other advantages!!!
Class Recording should be in the
education ecosystem

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How does this benefit the university?
Recommendation to bootstrap the culture:
Each department should start recording one of its courses
every semester. In one or two years, most courses will
also be recorded.

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Teaching Methods in Class Recording
Recording solve-on-board classes verses
illustration-oriented courses?
 Be innovative in the way you prepare slides!
In my Discrete Math course, questions are clearly written and
projected on the board, where I then write!

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Some Tips on Class Recording
 Give better titles/annotations to the videos.
 Brief idea of the topics at the beginning of the lecture.
 Short videos (10-15, or max 20 minutes) apiece.
 If students ask questions, try to repeat their questions aloud.
 Avoid excessively long discussions with students.
 Publish slides with the videos
 Give the slides to students to take notes on them before the
lecture.
 Bring your full energy when teaching!!

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Some Tips on Class Recording
 Don't cover the slides when teaching.
 Stay present in the screen all/most of the time.
 Look to the camera sometimes.
40%
 Video Format: Preferred file types to upload to YouTube are
Quicktime (.mov) and MPEG (.mp4)
 Aspect Ratio: Camera’s native aspect ratio without letter boxing
(example: 16:9 video for a 16:9 camera)
 Resolution: High Definition video at either 1280x720,
1920x1080, or higher. Video must be at least 1280x720 to be
designated high definition within YouTube.

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Issues from Equipment
Lights on face
Lighting problems
Much better
Quality is very important, but
perfection is not necessary!

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Work as a team with your students
Encourage best students (and train them) to help you:
 One to Install the equipment.
 One to operate the camera.
 One to upload videos
 …. But this not easy!
At the beginning student will try to avoid you, but they will come
to enjoy playing an active role.

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Facebook Groups for each Course
 All students are always online, quickly responses!
 Sharing external knowledge!
 Excellent way for discussion!
 Archive of the course activities!
 Students ask and reply to each other (less work for me)
…

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Feedback from Students
Keep asking students their opinion during the course!
Also, give a bonce question in exams

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e-Learning Methodologies
Stanford Model
Top professors
recording their
many courses
“Khan Academy” Model
Social-oriented: People
volunteer to record what
they know about anything!
Can we merge the two models and apply this within universities ?
 Encore to record classes and contribute to the teaching process!

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Finally
Nothing is Magic here!
Start gradually, don’t keep talking about it!
Involve Students in all aspects.
We need help from the Media Dept to improve recording!
x . BadOffLineProfessor(x)  BadOnLineProfessor(x)
To learn presentation skills in teaching, watch:

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