Abstract
Innovative teaching strategies are beneficial in higher education to engage and motivate technologically aware students. Studies have shown that creative teaching (and assessment) techniques that incorporate technology promote a more productive and enriched learning experience. In addition, where there are increasing student numbers and diminishing resources, technology can also be leveraged to provide an additional support to course participants.
This paper explores a case study of how academics designed, developed and used a series of bespoke videos at the University of Limerick (hosted on YouTube) as part of a self-directed problem-based learning approach for business students learning computer applications for the first time. YouTube is a popular online video-sharing website for both scholarly and non-scholarly communication and its use in teaching is growing exponentially. Through Google Analytics, the trends and patterns of usage of the video series are analysed - and findings and observations are presented in this paper. A total of 18 videos (ranging from 6 to 15 minutes in duration) were used over the course of four years and viewed between a minimum of 1379 and a maximum of 2138 times by students. The analytical tools available allowed the authors to examine the extent to which video-based learning objects were used by students when (a) working on scheduled/weekly problem based materials and (b) in preparation for final assessments. This analysis allows us to consider the extent to which these learning objects can be used as an effective support mechanism.
It was also possible to observe not only the average view duration but also viewer retention patterns over the duration of each video tutorial. This allowed us to examine the video segments that were most and least watched allowing us to identify potential threshold concepts and prioritise seminal areas for further refinement.
This paper explores a case study of how academics designed, developed and used a series of bespoke videos at the University of Limerick (hosted on YouTube) as part of a self-directed problem-based learning approach for business students learning computer applications for the first time. YouTube is a popular online video-sharing website for both scholarly and non-scholarly communication and its use in teaching is growing exponentially. Through Google Analytics, the trends and patterns of usage of the video series are analysed - and findings and observations are presented in this paper. A total of 18 videos (ranging from 6 to 15 minutes in duration) were used over the course of four years and viewed between a minimum of 1379 and a maximum of 2138 times by students. The analytical tools available allowed the authors to examine the extent to which video-based learning objects were used by students when (a) working on scheduled/weekly problem based materials and (b) in preparation for final assessments. This analysis allows us to consider the extent to which these learning objects can be used as an effective support mechanism.
It was also possible to observe not only the average view duration but also viewer retention patterns over the duration of each video tutorial. This allowed us to examine the video segments that were most and least watched allowing us to identify potential threshold concepts and prioritise seminal areas for further refinement.
| Original language | English (Ireland) |
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| Publication status | Published - 2015 |
| Event | EdTech 2015: The 16th Annual Conference of the Irish Learning Technology Association - University of Limerick Duration: 28 May 2015 → 29 May 2015 |
Conference
| Conference | EdTech 2015: The 16th Annual Conference of the Irish Learning Technology Association |
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| Period | 28/05/15 → 29/05/15 |