What is Live Practical?
Social distancing will likely mean that any given practical session will need to take place multiple times due to smaller group sizes. While the actual practical activity may not be affected as a result of this change, the need to provide a consistent learning experience for an increased number of iterations of the activity means that pre-recording any introductory material and providing a quiz to test understanding can help make the process more practical and equitable. Pre-recording the introductory sections may also allow the practical sessions to be facilitated by more people to help spread the support workload across a larger number of staff.
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Supporting Technologies
- Panopto (Installing currently)
- Screencast-o-matic (to record videos) and Medial (to upload them to Blackboard)
- Video/smartphone camera
- Blackboard Tests
- Blackboard Discussions
Making it work
- Read the general teaching activity considerations for advice relevant to all approaches
- Record the introduction/demonstration and make it available to students in advance of their timetabled practical session
- Watch the recording afterwards to ensure that it shows all the important aspects with usable video and audio quality
- Ensure that the person facilitating understands the practical activity and can support students in their activities
- Offer students an opportunity to test their understanding of the practical, such as through a Blackboard Test or Discussion Board
Other useful links
- Practice-Based Activities (Herriot Watt University)
This model is part of Practice
Students developing practical skills through experimentation and experience.