Amsterdam University of the Arts: Practicing Course Material Interactively

At the Amsterdam University of the Arts, learning happens in the doing. Across music, theatre, dance, film, and design, students grow by practicing, watching closely, and refining their craft in response to feedback. Video sits at the center of this work, capturing demonstrations, masterclasses, and student performances. But watching a recording is not the same as practicing what it shows, and that gap is exactly where we came in.

Where Practice Meets Video

Arts education is inherently practice-based. Instructors record technique demonstrations and reference performances so students can return to them again and again. Yet on their own, these videos invite passive rewatching. The hardest and most valuable parts of learning — noticing a subtle choice, articulating why it works, and applying it to your own practice — happen outside the frame, if they happen at all. The faculty wanted a way for students to engage with course material as actively as they would in a studio or rehearsal room.

Making Every Video a Space to Practice

Working inside the tools the university already used, the team layered Annoto directly on top of existing videos through a one-click LTI connection, so nothing about their workflow had to change. From there, each recording became an interactive surface where students could think, respond, and practice together.

• In-context discussion anchored to exact moments, so a comment about phrasing or composition lands precisely where it matters.
• Reflection points that pause students at key moments and ask them to articulate what they observed before moving on.
• Peer review on recorded performances, giving classmates a structured way to leave timestamped, specific feedback.
• In-video quizzes to check understanding of technique and terminology as the material unfolds.

Because the questions and prompts attach to the moment rather than living in a separate assignment, practicing the material and discussing it became one continuous activity.

What Changed

The shift was qualitative but meaningful. Students moved from watching to genuinely working with the material, returning to precise moments, comparing interpretations, and building a shared vocabulary around craft. Discussion grew richer because it was tied to what everyone could see on screen, and peer feedback became more concrete and more useful.

For instructors, the change brought welcome visibility. Engagement analytics surfaced where attention held and where comprehension dipped, helping faculty see which passages needed more class time. That same interaction is documented as Regular & Substantive Interaction, and any graded activity syncs cleanly back to the gradebook.

For an institution built on practice, the outcome fit naturally: video stopped being something to watch and became something to work with. If your programs lean on recorded demonstrations and performances, we would love to show you how the same approach can turn viewing into practice.