Dr. Wade is an Associate Professor in the UW Bothell School of Nursing & Health Studies and also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor with the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Science. He received a B.A. from Wesleyan University, where he later completed a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry.

He was selected for a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Human Genome Research Institute in a dual position with the Social and Behavioral Research Branch and the Genome Technology Branch. While a fellow, he concurrently earned a M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a focus on health behavior.

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The Why

• Chris’s motivation for creating educational videos: Chris is passionate about making education accessible and affordable, and believes that videos are an effective way to deliver educational content.
• The challenges of creating educational videos: Chris acknowledges the challenges of creating videos, including the time and energy required, the technical skills involved, and the discomfort of being on camera.
• The benefits of using videos in education: Chris highlights the advantages of using videos, such as the ability to pause and rewind, the flexibility to learn at one’s own pace, and the opportunity to engage with complex topics in a visual and auditory way.
• Chris’s approach to creating educational videos: Chris discusses their specific approach to video creation, including the use of software like Camtasia and Zoom, the length and format of videos, and the importance of reusing content.

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The How

• Chris’s YouTube Channel Growth: Chris has a YouTube channel with 94 videos, ranging from 10 minutes to over an hour. Some videos have gained significant traction, including one on root cause analysis with 14,000 views.
• Chris’s Video Evolution: Chris’s video style has evolved over time. He started with formal, narrated PowerPoint presentations and has progressed to a more engaging style with on-screen presence and visual aids.
• Overcoming Discomfort: Chris encourages viewers to overcome their discomfort with video creation and just start. He emphasizes the importance of not striving for perfection and focusing on sharing valuable content.
• Chris’s Current Video Format: Chris’s current video format involves a split-screen approach, with Chris on one side and relevant information on the other. This format allows for a dynamic and engaging presentation.

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Questions and Answers

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Todd’s Notes

Chris started with a flipped classroom model and a need to do less lecturing in the classroom.

For the videos, he started with narrated PowerPoints. He found he didn’t like Panopto and he currently uses Camtasia. And he uses Zoom for quick very short videos. He said he wants education to be free as much as possible. Interestingly, his  channel has 83,000 videos and he has had people approach him about speaking to topics in videos.

He has learned a lot on this journey. He said, “At some point you have to be willing to put up imperfect stuff.” I know that is a huge barrier for many faculty. They just can’t allow the work they do to have “imperfections” and that often prevents them from sharing anything at all.

He noted that he has moved away from using scripts and a teleprompter. He noted it was too restrictive and stressful. He also usually now makes videos with just his upper torso showing rather than ⅔ body. He also said that making videos still causes him a lot of anxiety as far as being on camera goes. He noted that it still takes energy to make the videos and he does it multiple times to make a video. He also said that time is needed to make videos, so planning, time, and energy. He knows his videos are “longer” but slicing them up takes longer to produce.

Chris noted that YouTube is free and that he likes the embed feature making it very flexible in terms of adding it to other web spaces. He also said his students like  adjustable speed. As many have observed in moving to a flipped classroom, his class time is spent talking with students and it is more a conversation than a lecture.

Chelsea’s notes

• A thought that the 2010-2015 promise of MOOCs didn’t pan out as planned but educational YouTube videos can still really have far reaching impact.
• Noted Chris’ mention of how students can re-watch videos the way they cannot an in person lecture. I really appreciate that element of teaching/lecturing this way. If a student is sick, for example, they don’t miss the content. A student whose first language isn’t English may wish to watch the lecture at a slower speed.
• I love that Chris mentioned wanting education to be free and accessible for all.
• He mentioned the emotional energy needed to make videos and the need to psych himself up for an audience that isn’t there at the moment. He gets some anxiety during the process of making the videos, but several of us noted appreciating his vulnerability about it.
• This definitely gave me some things to think about in terms of hybrid/flipped classrooms and if longer (maybe not an hour long) but say 10 min. Videos could be useful in my teaching of information literacy topics.