Current Issue 4

Brieana Kelly                                                                                                                         6/24/19

Current Issue #4

Article: The Benefits of Video-Mediated Instruction (https://www.edutopia.org/article/benefits-video-mediated-instruction)

Author: Lauren Ellison & Kimberly Brdar

Source & publication date: Edutopia, May 17, 2019

This article is about how video lessons and instructional avatars can be used to create an educational experience that in inclusive for students with autism spectrum disorders. A specific focus is on VMI, or video-mediated instruction. This type of instruction is aimed at capitalizing on the visual processing strengths that students with autism spectrum disorders have. In this technological tool, video modeling is used, which is a method where students watch a video of other completing an activity so that they can imitate it.

The authors of this article work at a school where all of the students have some sort of special need. They used VMI to create a virtual science fair to create an “individualized, inclusive, and collaborative learning experience” for students instead of a traditional science fair, which would overwhelm the students’ sensory systems. Some techniques utilized in this virtual science fair were video modeling, video prompting, and point-of-view modeling, in creating lessons and labs. By using VMI, there are pauses so that students have the ability to take additional time to complete steps and Edpuzzle is also used to embed question-and-answer segments into the videos. This mode of instruction increases student motivation and their attentiveness, and allows for flexibility in the classroom.

At the end of the article, some of the advantages of VMI for students with special needs is discussed. One of these advantages is that it allows for social development in the classroom. For example, for students with social anxiety, this allows students to focus on a video and an avatar, instead of worrying about being attentive to an actual person. It also allows students to work collaboratively in a comfortable environment. With this type of instruction, it allows teachers to take on the role of providing assistance to students as they need it, which gives students the opportunity to be more active in their own learning.

            Video-Mediated Instruction seems like a great method to include in a classroom with special needs students. This is a great way to balance traditional teaching methods and the use of technology in the classroom. I think it is especially important that this technique allows students to focus more on the content and allows them to learn at their own pace, while getting immediate feedback with something like Edpuzzle.