Welcome videos look engaging, but do they work?

We take for granted the need to introduce ourselves to a new cohort of students in a classroom, but what about welcoming them into an online space?

Research shows that videos can contribute to student engagement. In the School of Counselling, Daniel Moon, Edmunds Strazds and Ishrat Siddique decided to pilot introductory videos to test whether this applied to our real-world context and students.

During the 2017 summer school, our teachers introduced themselves via a short video. Afterwards, we asked students a series of questions to gauge the impact.

The questions and results are below:

Students were asked about the advantages and disadvantages. From the data collected it is hard to find any negative impacts from using an introductory video. One student felt it may not be necessary, but still liked the idea. Students reportedly found it easier to connect with their teacher, as you can see in some of the responses:

How wonderful to see that creating introductory videos – a small teaching strategy in the bigger picture – can have a real impact and make the class space feel more personal and supportive.

If you’d like to know more about the School of Counselling pilot, get in touch with Ishrat Siddique.

Feeling inspired? If you want to upload a video, check out the little guide to creating a great welcome video shared recently by Jon Hvaal. He offers tips for the recording process that are especially helpful for those who don’t easily improvise in front of the camera.