Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

166 Studying online 
the fle and choose “Compress”. You can then upload the smaller 
zipped fle to your VLE. 
Sometimes, though, even if you have edited the video to its 
smallest time frame, swapped the format to one that is smaller, 
and zipped the fle, it is still too big to upload. Depending on 
what your lecturer wants, there are a few alternatives. You could 
use a large fle sharing service or put the item in your cloud, such 
as Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. Another option is to 
upload the presentation video to your YouTube account but use 
the settings to make the video “Unlisted”. Tat way, only people 
with the link will be able to view it. Your video is still public, but 
it isn’t displayed in the usual way. You can then send the “secret” 
link to your lecturer instead of the video fle. I often ask students 
to do this as it saves them time having to concern themselves 
with fle sizes. 
QUICK TIP: Keep your fle sizes small by setting your webcam 
to 780p rather than 1080p.This will help reduce the size of your 
video footage. 
practicaL tips 
y
Allow plenty of time for preparation
. Online presenting is more 
complex than making face-to-face presentations. You will need 
to consider a range of technical matters and help your online 
viewers avoid cognitive overload. All of this requires more plan-
ning and more practical work on your part. You will need about 
three times the amount of time it would take you to prepare the 
same presentation for a face-to-face situation. 
y
Take steps to avoid nervousness.
Exercise, yoga, and mindful-
ness will help reduce your nerves. The way online presentations 
work, with you being static, means it is easier to get more ner-
vous than for on-campus presenting. Hence, it is vital to do all 
you can to avoid the inevitable anxiety of presenting. 

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