Content Captions

Description

Content captions contextualize the videos or other materials given in courseware and state what students can expect to learn from it. Guiding questions help to focus on the important aspects of the video, and further information for self-directed exploration can be motivating. You can also add important terms and research papers that are discussed in the video.

Note
Use cases

  • To introduce a new topic.
  • To summarize the most important topics in a micro lecture.
  • To tell students what they will learn in a video.
  • To activate prior knowledge needed for understanding the video.
  • To give recommendations as to where to brush up some prerequisites for understanding the material.
  • To provide extra information and further explanation of the topic / material.
  • To recap previous units and to transition to the next topic.

  • Courseware Text Block contains text of any length. You can integrate images, links and LaTeX.
  • Courseware Mnemonic Block allows you to highlight information. With a clear choice of colors and icons, you can give your learning content a recurring point of reference.

MIDI: These tips are also suitable for current teaching situations, but require a little more preparation.

Depends of the length and style of the presentation, but 5-10 minutes per text for a video is reasonable.

Always try to make sure that the micro lecture is the protagonist of the page, such that students do not overlook it due to a very long text/introduction. 1) Give a brief introduction to the topic, e.g. by using thought provoking questions or examples (drawing on what students already know). 2) Explain how a new topic relates to previous ideas (recap constantly most important ideas/ formulas).

Tipps

  • Does the following content/ video relate to information given previously in the lecture? If yes, you can paraphrase it or give a reminder (e.g. a formula or table) for the students - or if it was some time ago, you may link to the courseware section for a refresher.
  • Does the following content/ video mention something that has not been talked about in the lecture (but is a prerequisite)? If yes, you can briefly explain it and/ or link to an outside resource for students to look into it.
  • Are there analogies/ stories/ etc. that lead into the topic? Provide it!
  • Is there a guiding question that the students can answer/ should focus on when watching the video?

For the length of the texts two rules of thumb

  1. When you open the courseware page in your browser, the micro lecture should still cover most of the screen - therefore the text (including images and formulas) should be comparatively short.
  2. "Consider it as an introduction text, therefore additional explanations and prerequisites can be mentioned but the bulk of information on that page come from the micro lecture - which makes me prefer to link to other Coursware learning material or outside sources for explanations of prerequisites / reminders. For instance, by pointing out or asking about required knowledge and then offering a link to more info if the student (reading the intro text) couldn't answer it." (Sabrina Frohn, Educational Designer, OS-COSMOS).

  • Introduce the topic generally and minimize (but not completely take out) the subject-specific terms, unless you intend to couple that with a good explanation.
  • Analogies are also nice sometimes.

„[In online learning] Content captions make the courseware more appealing, and seem to help online students a lot when studying for organizing, focussing and staying motivated, probably because these texts with a few sentences compensate context that on-site students have."

(Lutter, Ly; Frohn, Sabrina A. & Cruz, Misha Gabrielle P. (2022). Förderung von Kursverständnis, Fokus, Organisation und Motivation bei internationalen Förderung von Kursverständnis, Fokus, Organisation und Motivation bei internationalen Online-Studierenden in asynchronen Lernsettings. In Bernhard Standl (Hrsg.), Digitale Lehre nachhaltig gestalten (Bd. 80). Münster, New York: Waxmann Verlag GmbH.)

Testimony

"Consider it as an introduction text, therefore additional explanations and prerequisites can be mentioned but the bulk of information on that page come from the micro lecture - which makes me prefer to link to other Coursware learning material or outside sources for explanations of prerequisites / reminders. For instance, by pointing out or asking about required knowledge and then offering a link to more info if the student (reading the intro text) couldn't answer it." (Sabrina Frohn, Educational Designer, OS-COSMOS).