Why Won't The Students Watch the Videos?

Does this sound familiar?

You spent all summer at workshops and conferences learning how to flip your classroom.  You spent a lot of time online getting advice about how best to do it.  You joined social networks and you participated in numerous Twitter conversations.  You even started making the videos and posting them to YouTube.  The experts say that the more engaging your class is, the less you’ll need to worry about non-participation.  You’re excited, you’re optimistic, on day 1 this year, you were ready for your flipped class…

The problem is- your students weren’t and the experts were full of crap.  Sure the students were excited about all of the technology at first- they even watched the first couple of videos and filled out some Google Forms.  However, now it is a month into school and you notice the number of views for your videos went from 100 to 27.

Yep.  The students are done with the honeymoon phase and have realized that no one is holding them accountable for watching the videos, no matter how important or engaging they may be.

Is there light at the end of the tunnel?  Yes.

How do we get students to do their homework?

Wait, what?  Homework?  Yes.  Teachers who flip sometimes forget that people in our field have been asking that same question for over 100 years now.   Troy Cockrum reminded me that teachers have never had a 100% homework completion rate.  He’s right, it’s silly to think that just because the type of homework changed means the all of the students will start doing their homework.  It helps to remember that some students will avoid homework at all costs no matter what.

Okay but what about the others, why aren’t they doing it?  I am positive that my homework completion rate has never been as low as 27% before.  My problem is two-fold.

1. I am an adult who understands intrinsic motivation- I complete things for the happy feeling it gives me.  I forget that my students are all about the grade.  It is almost as if they have only one thing in mind at all times at school- “How much is it worth?”  For teachers who have read Daniel Pink’s Drive, we fantasize about a world where there are no grades.  Students are in class because they want to be there- because they are motivated intrinsically.  I would like to believe that because I put my engaging and enlightening information in video form on YouTube, my students will rush to my channel and be granted the academic-bliss my videos will impart on them.  Nope.

2. Because my students only care about the grade, I must hold them accountable and give them 'credit' for watching the videos.  If I don’t, they will not watch them.  They have family obligations, are student-athletes, and/or have jobs and weekends to care about, not a video that doesn’t offer them any credit in class.  I am not currently holding them responsible.  They have figured it out.  Now I know exactly how many students are either intrinsically motivated or a bit slow to catch on.

Some Ideas:

• Pair the video questions that ask about the content. Google Classroom pairs with YouTube to integrate questions with YouTube videos. If you don't have access to that feature you can always use a Google Form.  It only takes about 10 minutes to scan responses, enter in a quick completion point, print the names and points, and then hand it to my student aide to record in my grade book.  Yes it’s a few steps and yes, it’ll be easier if you automatically carve 10 minutes in your routine to do this.  I’ve found that if I scan/grade scores when I first arrive at school in the morning, I am able to field questions and address them in class that day.

• As much as I idealize a paperless classroom, it hasn’t happened yet and maybe never will.  What does happen is that I’ll hand out a worksheet or assignment to be done in class and then ask them to write their comments for tonight’s video on the back.  This way I’m killing two birds with one stone- I am already going to have to grade the in-class assignment so glancing at the back isn’t going to be to much more to do.

• A quick quiz in class- either traditionally with paper or with an app that can do it for you. Again, you have to collect, grade, and record.  Or you spot-grade (go up and down quickly and stamp if correct) and have them collect a week or two’s worth and then have them compile the grades and hand in- overall grade on top.

• If you notice a student who is consistently not watching the video, a short pullout with him/her with a one-on-one discussion will usually work.  If it doesn’t a quick call home almost always will.

• This may be enabling (I call it a sanity pill): Create a QR code with a link directly to your video for students who didn’t do the homework to scan as soon as they walk through the door.  I make those students sit in a corner to watch it and allow them to rejoin the class only after I have questioned them about why they didn’t watch it.  Generally, they don’t like to answer to me more than once.

• One more thing to remember- if it is a video directly related to a common concept like quadratic formulas, the student might not be watching it because he/she already knows the material.  The question then becomes, do they really need to watch it?

• Allow students a few minutes at the end of class to start watching the video. They may continue to watch it on their way to the next class...

So what does my classroom look like?  Probably a lot like yours.  Now that it is a month into school, I will have a sit down with the students and again emphasize the importance of doing their homework.  No matter what though, I will always have a group of students who come to class and are put into the corner; students who’ve let down me and their groups because they couldn’t be bothered to do a quick homework assignment.