How to Encourage Students to Watch Your Lectures

(And make them more meaningful)

Have you ever watched a long online video—whether by choice or for work? Did you speed it up, skip around, or stop watching after a few minutes?

Students are the same. With multiple classes, jobs, and other responsibilities, they focus on what feels essential. If content isn’t meaningful, they won’t engage—or remember it.

While you can’t guarantee students will watch your carefully crafted videos, you can make them more engaging and relevant. Below are five strategies, many incorporating active learning, to make lectures more effective.

Lecture Discussion

Place your lecture video in a discussion. At several points throughout the video pause and have students post a reply in an initial discussion post. This gives them an opportunity to reflect on the content you are teaching and apply it. At the end, have them submit their post (with all their lecture responses) and then read and reply to at least two other students’ posts. Example below (click image to go to actual discussion).

Lecture Poll

Embed your lecture on a Canvas page. Below it embed several polls/questions that students must respond to throughout the lecture. A Canvas Survey can also be used. Post the results of the poll in the next week’s module or in an announcement when the module ends. Example of a Canvas Survey below (click image to go to actual survey).

Lecture Worksheet

Use a Canvas Quiz to create a “Worksheet” for students to fill out as they are watching the lecture. Example below (click image to go to the actual worksheet.

Lecture Quiz

Create low stakes quizzes for each of your lectures to ensure students are understanding the main points. You can allow students to take them multiple times to improve their grade. The point of the quiz is to review the main points of your lecture.

Make Lectures More Engaging

Enhancing your lectures can help keep students interested and encourage deeper learning. Consider incorporating the following strategies:

Share stories and real-world examples
Connect content to students' experiences when possible
Use meaningful images and minimize text on slides
Keep lectures concise or break them up with interactive activities