Good practice from the Talis Elevate community when using video content 

Keep it short: Yes, video can be great for making subject matter more digestable, but that doesn't mean if you use a 90min documentary, you're suddenly going to have thousands of annotations being made. We recommend keeping content short but targeted wherever possible. 

Show multiple perspectives: If you are using Talis Elevate to discuss a specific subject, why not show 2 pieces of content showing differing perspectives. We want our students to become critical thinkers, to do this they need to be cognisant of perspectives. 

Badge activity clearly: If you are going to use a 90min documentary, be clear what your expectations are. Are you looking for students to identify a specific point or area of discussion in the video? Tell your students. If you're planning to discuss the subject matter in a seminar your expectations for use in Talis Elevate may again, be very different. 

Don't overuse. You can have too much of a good thing. If you're going to use video content every week, fight the urge to upload loads of videos a week. 

Bridge theory and practice: Video can be hugely valuable as a mechanism to articulate subject matter, but an area we often struggle with is connecting theory to practice. Consider how you are going to use media content to build on this, and how you'll make the connections throughout activity and across resources and activities. 

Use for discussion in class: We've heard some great stories where Talis Elevate video activity is used in seminars via MS Teams, for example, as a way of breaking up activity and 'sense checking' the class perspectives on subject matter in a synchronous activity

Be conscious of copyright: Particularly on platforms like YouTube, there's a lot of content out there that probably shouldn't be. If you're thinking of using a video that looks like it's filmed on a phone, and is filming a TV, it's highly likely that shouldn't be on YouTube. Take a common sense approach here, look at the authors account (is it a legitimate account for example). If in doubt, consult with your library 

Student curation: Why not set your students a task to discover and share video content related to your subject matter? For example, if you're sharing a journal article, ask your students to find relevant content on youtube. Share the link in the article in Talis Elevate, cite why it's relevant, use agree features to 'upvote' the best resource, and continue the conversation in that content. Not only is this great for collating a wide array of content, it's a great activity for criticality. 

Some great content producers to consider using in your teaching 

MIT Opencoureware 

OCW is a free and open online publication of material from thousands of MIT courses, covering the entire MIT curriculum, ranging from the introductory to the most advanced graduate courses. At the OCW website, you'll find that each course has a syllabus, instructional material like notes and reading lists, and learning activities like assignments and solutions. Some courses also have videos, online textbooks, or faculty insights on teaching. A mix of recorded lectures, screen recordings and high quality produced content. 

TED Talks

Inspirational talks on a variety of subject matters. This is a great platform if you're looking for an overview/introductory talking point in particular. 

Ted ED 

Very different to its sibling channel TED, TED ED focusses on creating content to make subject matter more accessible. Their content spans audiences from Primary school to University across a huge variety of subjects. 

Kurzgesagt

Focussed on producing highly polished, brilliantly referenced, and topical content, this is a fabulous platform for discussing timely activity. A great resource partially for current affairs. Make sure you check out the comprehensive reference list in the description as well!  

Netflix 

Yep, you're reading correctly, Netflix actually have some great content that is available via YouTube, that they feel is important for society to have access to without subscription. Take a look at this playlist, for example:

Khan Academy 

The hugely well known and regarded Khan academy cover the spectrum of introductory to advanced subjects across STEM primarily, but also spanning arts and humanities (like the example below) . Highly polished production that's broken down into very digestable videos. We highly recommend a look 

VOX

If you want to cut through the noise that and get straight to facts, this is a great channel on a wide range of subjects, again, well researched and cited. 

History: 
A great collection of short videos (mainly) on very targeted subjects 

The Economist 

This may come as a surprise but the Economist now produce a huge amount of media content across topical subjects relating to the world of business and enterprise.