There are some skills that absolutely need to be shown, not told–and making a hands-on demonstration accessible and effective for a classful of students can be a real challenge. Below you will find a set of tips on how to manage your technical setup, and how to make the demonstration as effective as possible.
Table of contents
Preparing students
Making the demonstration more accessible
Document cameras
Faculty to-go kits
Multi-modal demonstrations
Making the demonstration an active learning experience
Preparing students
A demonstration can be far more effective if students know what they are looking out for. Consider preparing a study guide ahead of time with notes on what to expect, perhaps even with space for their own guided note-taking on the day. This can help prepare both you and them with a sense of which questions they will need answering, what they should be looking out for, and what possible pitfalls you want to train them to avoid.
Making the demonstration more accessible
Giving a demonstration at the front of the room can be a very effective teaching tool, but it is worth giving serious thought to how you will make the demonstration fully accessible for all of your students. Will students who have mobility difficulties, or are short in stature, or are simply a little reticent, be able to see everything you do? What about vision-impaired students, or remote participants? It is actually very possible, with some forethought, to come up with a demonstration setup that will promote accessibility for all students.
It can be relatively easy to craft a setup with a camera that will allow you to project or record a video feed, or to send it to an online platform like YouTube or Zoom. Showing the video in real time on an in-classroom wall display can make it easier for all students to see what is going on, and allow you to magnify the action and direct their attention effectively. Recording the video (directly, or by recording the Zoom meeting) can make it possible for students to look back at it later to recap or practice what they are learning, or for visually-impaired students to request audio description.
Document cameras
Most classrooms are equipped with document cameras, which are located somewhere on or near the podium and look a little like an overhead projector. These are simply mounted cameras that can send a feed of whatever they are pointed at to the podium, and so to a wall display that students can see. Some of these document cameras have limited positioning, while others are more versatile; it is worth experimenting with the document camera in your classroom to see which areas of the room it can capture. In some classrooms, you can also send this feed to Zoom (i.e. the document camera shows up as one of your camera options); otherwise you can often direct the in-room camera to pick up the wall display.
This article on ways to use a document camera in the art room from The Art of Education University suggests a set of practices which have broad applicability for different disciplines.
Some document cameras have a low frame rate or a lag, which can make fast-paced demonstrations less successful. In that case, you might consider directing an on-podium webcam toward the action, or checking out a Faculty To-Go Kit.
Faculty to-go kits
If you need positioning flexibility or a high-quality feed for your demonstration, you can borrow a Faculty To-Go Kit which includes a GoPro and a variety of mounting equipment, including a mini tripod, and a head and chest harness. You can join a Zoom meeting from the laptop included in the kit and send a feed to that meeting from the GoPro using a USB-C cable, and so can send that feed to a wall display and to any remote attendees. This can be helpful if you want to do a demonstration that requires you to move around. Reach out to us at edtech@pacificu.edu if you would be interested in borrowing one of these kits.
Multi-modal demonstrations
Narration can also be a way for you to promote accessibility, by conveying the important parts of the demonstration in multiple modes simultaneously. It can also serve to make the demonstration more effective by highlighting the things you most want them to notice, the pitfalls you want them to avoid, and training them to pay attention to what is happening in the way that an expert does.
Consider whether it might be possible to convey what happens in a demonstration in some other way to accompany it, such as a diagram or a set of instructions.
Making the demonstration an active learning experience
We all learn better when we are actively engaged and asking questions as we go. Focusing on making a demonstration an active learning experience can help to keep students more engaged, give them a richer experience, and give you valuable feedback about what they are understanding from it and what you need to help them to develop.
A simple way to do this is to ask questions of the students at key points during the demonstration, such as asking what they notice, or when students are reasonably well versed in the procedure, what they think you will do next.
–
Interested in thinking more about ways to make your demonstrations optimally effective? Reach out to us at edtech@pacificu.edu, and we can suggest more resources or schedule a one-on-one.
We are also always looking for more answers to this question, so if you have one that’s worked for you, please let us know!