By Dr. Katie O’Neil

This blog post examines the results of a two-term pilot project that replaced traditional text-based weekly announcements with AI-generated video announcements. The goal was to increase student engagement with important course information by presenting it in a more visually appealing way. Despite expectations, students consistently indicated a preference for traditional announcements due to efficiency and ease of use. The experience highlights the importance of listening to student feedback and reminds educators that newer technology is not always the best solution.

In academia, there is an ever-present drive to make learning material engaging to strengthen learning and the student experience. When coupled with online teaching, this drive for engagement intensifies. Yet, keeping students dialed in from behind a screen is a unique challenge, prompting educators to hunt for modern solutions. Naturally, artificial intelligence (AI) has been at the forefront of education and curriculum design. What could be better? AI provides the perfect tool to spruce up the curriculum and pull students in, right? Well, in my case, this proved to be incorrect.

Like many educators, I am always looking out for ways to improve student engagement. As AI tools have become mainstream, they seem to offer an opportunity to present course information in a fresh and visually appealing format (Li et al., 2025). I was curious if a different delivery method for online course content would encourage students to pay greater attention to information that is often overlooked. 

Within the online course, weekly announcements are a standard. They provide students with key details and requirements for the upcoming week. Yet they are frequently overlooked by students…just one more thing to click in a sea of clicks. However, as educators, we know the importance of starting each unit on the right foot and highlighting key details of the upcoming week. 

Announcements frequently contain reminders about due dates, assignments, tasks, helpful resources, and expectations for success. Missing this information creates confusion for students. Because of this, increasing student interaction with announcements seemed like a great area to focus on this academic year. 

My plan was to develop video-based weekly announcements using free AI tools to pull students in and get them to view weekly announcements. I also wanted to ensure each video complied with ADA requirements. After trying out a number of free options, I settled on Claude as my AI tool of choice. The videos I created used text from the standard bullet point announcement with added images, colors, and movement. Each video was under two minutes long. 

I expected to receive positive feedback from students. I thought the change of format would be appreciated and engaging, and it seemed logical that students would prefer a more modern format. After all, students regularly consume video content on social media and other digital spaces. I hoped that bringing some of those same elements into the course would increase engagement with weekly course announcements.

My plan was to continue to refine my collection of video announcements after a successful pilot. The next step was to integrate sound and animation, so I began researching better AI platforms for free video creation.

However, after piloting AI-created video announcements for one term, the results were lackluster. The feedback I received from students’ responses indicated that they preferred standard written announcements to videos. 

This was unexpected. In many conversations about educational technology, the focus is on newer, multimedia tools. Student feedback challenged this assumption and made me reconsider what students actually need from a course in relation to keeping track of work and deadlines.

Feeling slightly defeated, I wondered if maybe this was due to a low sample size? I decided to run my pilot for another term. Unfortunately, the results were the same. Of those students who responded across both terms, 68% expressed their preference for bullet point announcements. 

The sample size was not the issue; students just didn’t see the value in AI video announcements. Why? Time: Students were required to take the extra step of clicking the video to play it and then taking a minute or two to watch the video. Text-based, bulleted announcements can be skimmed more quickly. Ease of Review: In order to double-check a requirement, students have to watch the video until they get to the point where their question is answered, and may need to then pause to take notes or re-read. One student noted, “It was kind of hard to just see what was due for the week because the info wasn’t all together.” A text-based announcement is easier to refer back to when a student has a specific question.

This experiment reminded me that engagement and efficiency are not always the same thing. While the videos may have been more visually engaging, they were less efficient for students trying to locate information quickly. In a busy online environment, convenience is valuable, as is a format for material that supports students’ workflow (Griffith & Faulconer, 2022). 

While my hypothesis was disproven, I have learned from my experiment. Bulleted announcements may not have flash, but they get the job done! There is still a place and a need for low-tech options in education. Furthermore, this experience reinforced the importance of listening to student feedback. While technology has many benefits, sometimes cutting-edge isn’t the best tool. Exploring AI and other emerging technologies is important, but it is worth remembering that the successful implementation of a tool or strategy depends on whether it genuinely aids students. 

References

Griffith, J., & Faulconer, E. (2022). Show me! Do videos make a difference in an asynchronous online course? Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 25(2). https://ojdla.com/assets/pdf/Show-Me-Do-Videos-Make-a-Difference-in-an-Asynchronous-Online-Course_-OJDLA.pdf 

Li, H., Sun, L., & Kim, S. (2025). Effects of customized generative AI on student engagement and emotions in visual communication design education: Implications for sustainable integration. Sustainability, 17(22), 9963. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17229963

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About the Author:

Katie O’Neil is a faculty member in the English and Rhetoric Department at Purdue Global. She lives in Central Ohio with her husband and three teenage children. She has a one-year-old German Shepard and a nine-month-old Black Lab mix who run the lives of the human members of the household.