Article written by Nicky Ellet-Petersen, Faculty Developer
This fall, I began teaching the FQAS Student Success course. This course is facilitated online through Blackboard Ultra and meets asynchronously for five weeks. This course helps faculty meet WTCS credentialing requirements.
Since this is an online course, I’ve been creating instructional videos to deliver some of the content. Recently, I came across an AI tool called Synthesia, which is a tool for co-authoring videos with AI, including AI-generated avatars. I decided to try it out to create instructional videos for the Student Success course. I created a free account, which includes the production of three free videos of any length. After I use up my three initial videos, I will be able to generate three minutes of video per month for free.
My experience with Synthesia
I found Synthesia intuitive; it was fairly easy to learn. It was entertaining to try out different avatars and voices, and I got the hang of using the editing tools quickly. I was able to play around with timing, music, and graphics until I was satisfied with my videos. It took much less time to create fairly good quality videos than it normally takes me when I am doing the narration myself (I tend to stumble on my words and re-record multiple times).
Soon after I created the Synthesia videos, I discussed the software with Adam Nelson, our iTLC Guru. Adam told me that the use of AI-generated videos can have mixed results with audiences, with some users disliking them quite a bit. Adam’s comments made me curious, so I created an optional survey to give Student Success class members the opportunity to give me feedback on my use of AI-generated videos in the class.
Audience Reactions
Within the first three days of the course, fourteen class members watched the AI-generated videos and provided feedback in my survey. I found that the most respondents did not have a strong dislike of the AI generated video, with a handful actually liking them very much. On the other hand, some individuals had a fairly strong reaction against it. Here’s the data I collected:
I also asked if they would prefer to watch an AI-generated video or their instructor, and the results were evenly divided: 50% would prefer their instructor while another 50% had no preference. Here are the results:
In the follow-up comments at the end of the survey, the following themes emerged:
My Takeaways
After considering class feedback, as well as my own ease and enjoyment of using Synthesia, I plan to use a mixture of videos in the classes I teach, some that feature me as their instructor speaking directly to them and some that I co-author alongside AI.
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