Believing I was to be in a PGcert class a week before I actually was due to be, I watched the video and did the reading as set re: Receiving Feedback a week early! I really DO need to get my head around this schedule! With 29 films now going into production for 116 students ... my headspace and time are devoted to my 'day job'. But we're getting there.
Each contact I have with PGCert has made me extremely reflective on my own practice, my sense of Self and my perception of my own practice. And this week's readings, viewing and session were no exception.
BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL
We teach on-camera video presentation on our course, to would be TV presenters, to filmmakers re having actors break the fourth wall, etc. It's sort of natural to the staff team. I suppose our constant living with cameras has helped us achieve a decent house style of online video lecturing. Watching the video of the barrister lady (sorry, my notes don't have her name) made me cringe, chuckle and puzzle in equal measure. As my notes relay: "All very 'you're new to this aren't you?' ... very Am-dram and children's TV presenter-ish. Cringeworthy. That's not to say I was dismissing it. I stuck with it, but as someone who's been 'on camera' in one way or another for a huge chunk of my adult life and intensely so this last year, it was I felt batting below par in terms of level of my own experience. But again, it did provoke (that word again!) reflection so in that sense was very useful. My notes sort of became a QandA between her comments and my own self-perception:-
She said we can be ... Obsessed with the screen, obsessed with ourselves. In that, she is quite right. It is supremely difficult not to be checking the tiny tile that contains you and definitely impossible not to be looking at the person at the other end ... the person / people you are in a call / meeting / session with. You have to look at the screen to see them and to read them. But it's about striking that balance between looking at the screen and looking at the people in the 'room' / meeting / call. My methodology of running sessions adds layers of tech complexity too. In order to monitor what it is I'm broadcasting as a class, to see what it is the students see, I always run a second computer, signed in as a guest. That way I can see if any tech issues arise that I can't see on my 'driving' screen, the one I'm working from. In a class, I am actually running three screens at once, each with vital visual info whereby, as my own tech support (as we all are) I can monitor everything. This does lead to a to of glancing away ... but I always let students know that is what I'm doing and why. I ran hybrid sessions in the first term of this year and due to the room we used, that gave me three separate eyelines to engage students sat directly in front of me, students in an alcove to my right and students out online, beaming in. With the camera strategically placed and set up up on a high stand at my eye level (I delivered all these sessions stood as I would any other live session), it was no hardship to include everyone. You just had to get used to looking at the blue dot in the equal measure you looked at everyone else. I made note that I feel both Lindsay and Rahul strike the perfect balance in their online teaching video skills ... their personalities come through really well and there's enough eye contact to make us feel included and comfortable.
The lady listed a long run of 'do's' ... all of which I feel I do do. Here's my reflections and responses to her list:-
Let personality in ... I do. As has become clear, my personality dominates and I find it comfortable and easy to project to ... thus 'through' the camera.
Don't worry about perfection ... I certainly did when we started online teaching. I wanted it to be as slick and aesthetic as any YouTube tutorial! That's the name of the game for our course! Film and TV. Filmic 'perfection' is always our aim. It was a dreadful first month realising that was never going to be, especially using the absolutely not fit for purpose Collaborate Ultra.
Be natural, the natural you ... Always! I find it nigh on impossible not to be.
Encourage interaction ... I get every session rolling with music playing as they enter, asking for them to raise their hands in acknowledgement, they can here me...a warm, open, informal style. I often comment how I feel like a hospital radio DJ when we do these bits, but it works on them and we've had lots of positive feedback. On our course we watch a lot of video, we ask lots of questions, we have live script readings, breakout rooms, screen sharing ... allsorts of interaction has developed over the last year (a year!).
Silence isn't necessarily bad ... This is one I find hard. I find it nigh on impossible not to acknowledge the silence. I always try to cajole students out of that silence. It's the same in a lecture theatre. If I'm getting silence ... I'll confront it with a comment about the tumbleweed moment ... and / or, I'll directly ask a student to answer; in order to get the ball rolling. It usually works, but not always. More successful in house than online, depending on the students in your class.
It's a performance ... yes it is! But hopefully not a cringeworthy fake as ---- one like this lady's!
You will find it awkward ... No. Never have. I'm more awkward with the tech issues I have to constantly battle with Collaborate.
She mentions pre-recording instead of going live. I absolutely insist on going live. This gives students a timetabled structure the same as coming into classes in the building. It brings a sense of community and the delivery feels spontaneous. We record ALL sessions for future viewing and find students who were in class do return and download them. And those who couldn't get in due to timezones etc, they watch. That said, it is notable that the majority of our timezone differentiated students do join us live, even though we've made it clear they are not obligated. They tell me they enjoy that sense of community and feeling that they're getting the teaching live, as it happens and can contribute live into the classroom discussions and activities.
Look them in the eye ... I do, but not weirdly and staring down like this lady!
Be true to yourself ... goes without saying.
Have an assistant ... what planet is she living on? Certainly not Planet UAL! Tech support in every online class???!!! Hmmmm... there's a dreamworld novelty.
All the things she lists - or rather, that I noted - I already do. I also advise and 'train' AL's on my team.
But my reflections (which are constant on this btw) are that my main weaknesses are my fear of the tech breakdowns - which are frequent, probably one per session, the embarrassment of using Clunky Ultra (as we BAFT team call Collaborate). My eye contact can drift the more relaxed I become - though it is worth noting that for around 80% of any session we are off camera, with powerpoints running, whiteboard, watching films via links to other platforms, etc ... and of course we must look at the people we are talking to to 'read' their contribution / body language / eyes / etc. My greatest weakness ... though this probably applies in general - is I have a tendency to get too relaxed and informal. Again, I cite my observation of Lindsay and Rahul. Excellent blend of informality, cordiality, warmth and teaching.
Comments