Overview
For this weekly assignment, students will create a short instructional video on a disease cycle. Students will create a disease cycle log of one of the diseases of the day (listed below) that will be compiled into a log of exemplar diseases. This will be a concise, accessible lecture for a specialized audience seeking to learn more about a particular pathogen. This video will consist of voiceover narration and two images: a completed/comprehensive disease cycle diagram and a simplified version created by the student. These Disease Cycle Lessons should attempt to synthesize and compress a vast wealth of information, giving students the opportunity to instruct their peers in a concise and comprehensive fashion. Students can create these short instructional videos in whatever way works best for them.
Options for this Week
Please select one of the following pathogens for this week’s Disease Cycle Lesson:
Directions
When creating these instructional videos, students should take the specialized needs of their audience into consideration. Communicating complex, intricate ideas in more simplified terms is a necessary skill that students will need to utilize when talking to growers and pathologists. These videos will also function as excellent study resources for students preparing for their qualifying exams, as they will be required to recall general information about key pathogens.
To complete this weekly assignment, please complete the following tasks:
Create and submit the instructional video
- This video will consist of voiceover narration and two images: a completed/comprehensive disease cycle diagram and a simplified version created by the student. The templates for these images can be found below.
- Your goal is to create a simplified disease cycle log that helps clarify and explain the basics of a chosen pathogen to an audience seeking out more information.
- These video lectures should be instructional and informative, boiling down a tremendous amount of information to the bare essentials and providing your peers with an introductory overview of the disease cycle.
- When preparing your lecture, please think of these as instructional resources that could be shared with peers, colleagues, and other professionals within the field.
- Students can produce these videos using whatever methods and/or tools that might work best for them. I have outlined some potential options below, but please feel free to think outside of the box.
- There is no length requirement for these videos.
- Please share your Disease Cycle Lesson video on the discussion board no later than Wednesday at 11:59pm. Upload your videos directly to Carmen or externally to YouTube.
Follow-up Q&A
- For the remainder of the week, we will have an informal Q&A session between the lecturers and their peers. Students will field discussion questions to their classmates, and each lecturer will respond.
- These questions should be thoughtful, substantive, and prompt further discussion. The resulting dialogue should resemble the sort of Q&A that might conclude an in-class presentation.
- Each student should submit a discussion question to AT LEAST one of their peers no later than Friday at 11:59pm.
- Each student should respond to all of the discussion questions they’ve received throughout the week no later than Sunday at 11:59pm.
What to Include
- Survival
- Primary inoculum
- Dispersal
- Infection court
- Colonization
- Mono- or polycyclic (and if the latter, identify the secondary inoculum)
Templates
In addition to the lecture, students should also share two images in the Disease Cycle Lesson: a completed/comprehensive disease cycle diagram and a simplified version created by the student. I have provided the following template to help you created the simplified disease cycle log.
Disease Cycle Template
Example of diagram and completed template for apple scab presentation
Options for Creating Instructional Videos
Here are some options for creating your instructional videos. Please note that these weekly videos will NOT be evaluated for their production values or level of polish. Rather, I will be evaluating these based on their instructional value.
Beginner
- Pen and Paper: Using your phone, table, or webcam, create a short video of yourself drawing out the diagrams on pen and paper. This is perhaps the simplest, no-frills option available.
Intermediate
- PowerPoint: Students can record directly into PowerPoint by accessing to the “Slideshow” tab and clicking on the “Record Slideshow” button. Further instructions can be found at support.microsoft.com. (Links to an external site.)
- CarmenZoom: Students can record a screenshare video via CarmenZoom by clicking “Screen Share” and then “Record.” This can be saved either externally as an .MP4 file or internally into the Cloud. Further instructions can be found at the ODEE Resource Center. (Links to an external site.)
- Explain Everything: For students who would like to produce more interactive instructional videos, we recommend using Explain Everything. (Links to an external site.) Additional tutorials can be found on YouTube. (Links to an external site.)
Advanced
- Mindmapping Software: Students also have the option of experimenting with mindmapping software. Here are a few programs that might be worth considering:
Exporting Your Video
Please export your finished video at 720p resolution or lower. Higher resolutions will make it considerably more difficult to upload and share your presentation.
Sharing Your Recordings
- After exporting your video into an mp4 format, upload the presentation to YouTube as an unlisted video. Students will need to register their YouTube account to do this. Once they have an account, you can upload a video to your account using the instructions found here: How to Upload a YouTube Video.
- Afterwards, retrieve an embed code for the video using the instructions found here: Embed Videos and Playlists.
- Once you have the embed code, post to the discussion board and click on the insert/edit media button.
- A prompt will appear. Click on the embed tab and paste the embed link from YouTube into the text box. Once pasted, click OK.
- Click “Post Reply” to finish importing the video into the discussion board.
Accessibility
If you cannot complete this assignment as described in this prompt, please contact me directly via email or Carmen PM.
Example
Please watch my apple scab lecture to review a finished example of these instructional videos.
Academic Integrity
- Getting help on the assignment is permitted.
- Collaborating, or completing the assignment with others, is not permitted.
- Copying or reusing previous work is not permitted.
- Open-book research for the assignment is permitted and encouraged.