For this month’s podcast recommendation, we suggest an episode entitled Course Trailers Revisited from the Teaching in Higher Education podcast. This podcast is hosted by Bonni Stachowiak, Dean of Teaching and Learning at Vanguard University. From the Teaching in Higher Education podcast website, “The podcast focuses on topics such as excellence in teaching, instructional design, open education, diversity and inclusion, productivity, creativity in teaching, educational technology, and blended learning.”
The episode we suggest for this month is a conversation between Bonni and Rob Parke, Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina. They discuss the idea of using a Course Trailer (similar to a movie trailer) to help promote the course to students for course registration. A course trailer uses multimedia to help students become better acquainted with the course. The course trailer gives students a preview of what they can expect to learn in the course while also providing the opportunity for them to get to know the instructor a bit. Often, the course trailer can answer the questions, “What is the significance of this course? Why is it being taught?”
Listen below to hear how Dr. Parke went from an email promoting his course to a video promoting his course, which increased enrollment.
A course trailer can serve as a great way to introduce students to your class prior to registration and also at the beginning of the class. There are many resources available to help create a video like this, including members of the CEI team. If you’d like to explore creating a course trailer to include in your class, schedule a consultation.
