Youtube Video:

Q1. What kind of interaction would the video require from your students? Does it force them to respond in some way (inherent)?

The video is inherently interactive, but it could be designed to be more interactive by teachers. The video is about professional communication skills, but it teaches people how to meditate, and how to control one’s breathes; it give students some time to pause the video and practice what the presenter (Adriana Girdler) says. 

The later half of the video teaches people how to write business emails, and this is the  part of the video that is not inherently interactive but could be designed to be more interactive.

Q2. In what way are they likely to respond to the video on their own, e.g. make notes, do an activity, think about the topic (learner-generated)?

They might respond to the video by taking notes and do some activities that the presenter recommend. The reason why I pick this video is because it is both instructive and interactive. There are lessons that students can learn from this video, methods of how to pay more attention to their body language and strategies of understanding others’ body language. In the video, the presenter said : “Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t.”  When I first watch this video, I feel enlightened and encouraged, so my emotion is responding to the video. I assume that students would also feel the same, because many people get nervous to speak in a business context because they fear that something could be wrong or they are not well-prepared. Focus on what they can do in order to make the situation better is really a good strategy. I am also taking notes when I watch this video, responding to it emotionally. 

On the other hand, the video gives some instructions on how to be more confident such as focus on our breathing patterns and how to meditate before a stressful event. I also tried some of these methods and I find them very useful. Thus, in this part of the video, students can respond to the video physically. 

Q3. What activity could you suggest that they do, after they have watched the video (designed)? What type of knowledge or skill would that activity help develop? What medium or technology would students use to do the activity?

As mentioned, the latter part of the video could be designed to be more interactive. For example, educator can use this part of the video and ask students to engage in a quick write activity. Use what they learn immediately. Give them a context to respond and write an email to, but only give them ten minutes. Then in the following class, the teacher can use scholarly articles or printed books to teach them the format of business emails, and how to be more professional in terms of their tone in writing and their writing style. Then the teacher can leave a homework which requires the student to revise their “quick write”, in this way, students can see their own improvements in the revise email. This process help students to be critical about their own writing, and it tests their ability to respond to a task in a quick manner. 

Q4. How would students get feedback on the activity that you set? What medium or technology would they and/or you use for getting and giving feedback on their activity?

Most students would know how they do after they compare their quick writes with their revised draft. In my opinion, self-assessment allows students to see their things: “Where”, “Why”, and “How”— 1. Where to change 2. Why I change 3. How to change. Educators can certainly tell students these things in the feedback, but that isn’t learner-focused, it’s teacher-focused— “I tell you where to change, I tell you why you needed to change, and I tell you how to change”. This kind of feedback is not going to help students in a long run, because students don’t have to agree with everything that their teachers say. They should have their own judgments, and what teachers can do is to help students go beyond what they find in the self-assessment: first, be a good listener and listen to how the students assess their own work, then provide professional feedback to their self-assessment by giving them more evidence either supporting their self-assessment or disapproving their assessment. Finally, the educator can ask students to write a final draft, incorporating their self-assessment and teacher’s assessment, then the educator can grade them based on how students improve from draft 1 to the final draft.Â