Teaching Strategy

From Flipped Learning Links to an external site., Crystal Kirch's concept of Watch, Summarize and Questions (WSQ) is summarized. 

“WSQ” (pronounced “whisk”) is a simple idea, but like most ideas, the power of how it is used is in the details and application of it. Instructors can choose how to apply and leverage this as it works best in their classes, and evolve it over time to improve on it and adapt it to changing student and course needs.

Why WSQ? This is just one strategy to help you get students to watch and engage with videos. 

 

WSQ – Watch, Summarize, Questions 

  • Watch – The students watch the videos and are required to take notes. A variety of approaches can be used regarding what they are to do with those notes. You may want them turned in for credit or not. These notes not only help students construct and reinforce their learning, but they can play an important role in the next two steps, so keep that in mind. Also remember that most students may not have adequate note taking skills, so you may want to give them guidance. You may also want to consider using a Notes Outline that is pre-populated with some content, and having them complete it.
  • Summarize – Crystal says it well in her summary, so let's stick with that.

“Students have to write a summary of what they watched in the video. This is supposed to be completed immediately after watching to pretty much judge “Did you understand what you just watched?” I tell the students that their summary tells me if they understood the video or not. If I can’t make sense of their summary, then they probably didn’t understand it well enough because they couldn’t verbalize it. I tell them that if they can’t summarize it, they need to re-watch it because they didn’t get it.” What they are to do with these summaries is up to you, but I think that many instructors would agree that requiring them to post or hand them in and associating some part of their grading with them is essential to success.

  • Question – Finally, students are required to ask a question based on the material. You will be sure to get comments like “I don’t know what to ask”. It is important to emphasize that this is not optional and give them some guidance such as that provided by Crystal. She tells her students that the question “can be …
    1. A specific question about an example that was worked out and where they got confused
    2. A general question about the concept and something that was said or explained
    3. A question that could be asked and expected to be answered after watching the video. This may be a question you think your classmates might have, or just a good question you think I (the teacher) would ask and expect you to know."

You have to consider what sort of requirements to build around this question. You may intend to require the Summary and Question to be submitted in a Discussion Forum. Then you can start some days by opening class with with a discussion around some of these questions (as well as focusing on addressing any misunderstandings or confusion with the materials that might be evidenced by the summaries and questions). You may also associate a portion of the course grade (probably around 20%) with the completion of the Summaries and Questions, to really help reinforce their importance. Crystal starts her classes by having students discuss these questions in small groups, and other teachers have used the questions in other ways. If teaching fully online, the discussion may be continuous as students watch the video and post questions. 

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Example WSQ Video Lesson Form

Watch, Summarize, Question

Your Name:

Chapter Number/Topic:

 WSQ Tips:

 THE "W"

  1. Watch the video and take your own notes.
  2. Pause the video as necessary
  3. Notate the time on the video if there is something you might want to ask questions about or may want to watch again later.
  4. Include anything that you would typically notate as if you were watching the lecture live. 

   THE "S"

  1. Summarize what you watched.
  2. Summary should be a minimum of 4 sentences.
  3. Summary should contain at least 2 Key terms (underline these) that were used in the video.
  4. In some cases there may be questions or statements to help you work through the summary.

  THE "Q"

  1. Formulate a question relating to the video.  Questions should not be simple yes/no questions.
  2. Examples include:

 Questions that you have about the material; things that you didn’t quite get.

 Questions that someone else might have about the material.

 Quiz type questions that you could ask another student.

 Questions that I might ask that extend beyond the material in the video.

 

{Materials adapted from this professional learning site (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.}