The influence of digital videos on our everyday culture is undeniable. Online video sharing sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, Snapchat and Metacafe boast monthly audience numbers in the millions. Students today are utilizing educational videos as a tool for learning everything from changing a tire to the latest dance craze. Remarkably, millennials make up 92% of the digital video viewing audience. Abstract topics that once seemed difficult to teach and learn are now more accessible and understandable thanks to the availability of educational videos.

Podcasts are audio recordings of people and are predominantly purely audio in nature, but now there has been an inundation of people filming themselves recording the podcasts and sharing them on platforms such as YouTube. In the beginning of audio blogging, radio and video, there were very clear lines separating the audio and visual world, but now with the emergence and popularity of websites like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram it seems as though those lines are beginning to blur.

Technology is everywhere in education. It is not only about the new techniques for teaching and assessing, rather technology has a great impact on the characteristics of the 21-st century learners, their needs, interests and learning styles. Knowledge and information are now within a button’s reach for everybody at any time, and teachers are not the only source of information anymore. Skill building is the main target of learning, rather than mere information acquisition. The teacher now is a facilitator for the learning process that is built on students’ curiosity to inquire knowledge, and the focus is more on inquiry rather than on knowledge.

According to experts, the use of technology has the potential to revolutionize university learning and teaching (Selwyn, 2007). For example, Jennifer Hill & Amanda Nelson, professors at University of the West of England found that the satisfaction with videos can stem from the compelling storytelling that draws in the viewer through an emotional connection (Ayikor and Park in press; Huczynski and Buchanan, 2004) and the ability for students to virtually view a corporate environment they otherwise would not be able to visit in person. This can make the delivered content more memorable for the students and, if the video is a (an extract from a) popular film, it is easier to communicate the message and entertaining as well.

In the same storytelling vein, authors Dr. Jeffrey D. Karpicke, James V. Bradley (professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University), Abigail-Kate Reid (freelance researcher), and Michael Carmichael (senior publisher for video, SAGE Publishing), conducted a critical overview on the current debates around the use of video in higher education, and extended the body of research through an original piece that addresses the impact of the use of graphics in video. The findings from the white paper revealed that video is beneficial to teachers and learners, stimulating stronger course performance and affecting student motivations, confidence and attitudes positively. It is also having an impact on changing practices in teaching and learning more generally.

Shorter videos, or those segmented appropriately, can increase median viewing times for videos and can improve learning outcomes and the likelihood that repeat usage will occur.

Students find videos which include the instructor’s image to be more engaging, or they engage more with the course content as a result of instructor presence in videos. Nonetheless, a balance is needed to ensure that instructor presence is not distracting while allowing for appropriate social cues which are essential for enhancing learning outcomes. New experimental research shows that students’ interest and engagement levels increased, and they were able to remember more details when graphics were used in a video, compared with watching the same video without graphics included.

The popularity of the use of video in higher education has increased exponentially over the past decade, and this trend is likely to continue in the future. The advancement of the Net generation of students through higher education, the advent of new teaching methods (and the role of video media in changing some of these), a changing university environment, the development of digital media, and greater knowledge on the benefits of video in higher education will certainly contribute to this ongoing development. Furthermore, studies have shown that they can contribute positively to both student confidence, motivation and performance levels. In each of these ways, videos are already showing high levels of demonstrable impact in higher education.

In light of this potential, much research is undertaken into technology and higher education. The use of video technologies has increased over the years and students now have an expectation of technology use that they never had before.

Portable, personal and situated technologies have the potential to offer students and educators flexibility in how content is delivered and how communication occurs. Mobile learning, which utilizes such technologies, offers educators a means to design activities and resources that allow students to individualize their learning (Kukulska-Hulme, Traxler, and Pettit, 2007).

It is noteworthy that not everybody learns the same way. As Cynthia J. Brame associate director of the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching and senior lecturer in biological sciences says that few studies in this review examined the pedagogical strategies for using videos podcasts (Alpay & Gulati, 2010; Armstrong & Massad, 2009). Most video podcasts were viewed in a relatively passive manner. There is some evidence to suggest that the creation of video podcasts offers considerable promise with respect to skill development (Alpay & Gulati, 2010; Armstrong & Massad, 2009) although more research is needed in this regard. Another interesting study reversed the organization of a typical lecture assigning basic course material as homework through the use video podcasts and using face-to-face classroom time for hands-on applications and enhanced discussion (Foertsch et al., 2013). This is a unique approach that needs to be explored further.

Although the advantages of videos in education are quite clear, there are certainly a few valid aspects of this technology which can hamper learning. For example, there is currently a very limited amount of high-quality educational video free for downloading, because the cost of developing video that exploits the unique characteristics of the medium is still relatively high. To get the most out of educational video, students need specially designed activities that sit outside the video itself.

Students often reject videos that require them to do analysis or interpretation; they often prefer direct instruction that focuses primarily on comprehension. Such students need to be trained to use video differently, which requires time to be devoted to developing such skills. Other areas of interest might be the impact of gender, subject area ability, technological comfort level, and distractibility on the use of video podcasts. Suggestions for future research include focusing on the quality and design of video podcasts, pedagogical strategies, viewing patterns and impact on learning effectiveness, and in individual differences in video podcast use. Finally, a promising area of research involves the role and impact of video podcasts in helping students with special needs.

 

                                                                       References

Armstrong, G. R., Massad, V. J., & Tucker, J. M. (2009). Interviewing the experts: Student produced podcast. Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice, 8, 79–90. http://jite.org/documents/Vol8/JITEv8IIP079- 090Armstrong333.pdf.

Alpay, E., & Gulati, S. (2010). Student-led podcasting for engineering education. European Journal of Engineering Education, 35(4), 415–427. DOI:10(1080/ 03043797), 2010, 487557.

Brame, C., J. (2015). Effective Educational Videos: Principles and Guidelines for Maximizing Student Learning from Video Content. CBE Life Sci Educ. 2016 Winter; 15(4): es6. DOI: 10.1187/cbe.16-03-0125

Carmichael, M., Reid, A & Karpicke, J. (2018). Assessing the Impact of Educational Video on Student Engagement, Critical Thinking and Learning: The Current Play.

Fralinger, B., & Owens, R. (2009). You Tube as a Learning Tool. Journal of College Teaching and Learning. DOI: 10.19030/tlc. v6i8.1110

Foertsch et al., (2013). Reversing the Lecture/Homework Paradigm Using eTEACH® Web‐based Streaming Video Software. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2002.tb00703.x.

Henderson, M., Selwyn, N, Finger, G & Aston, R. (2015). Students’ everyday engagement with digital technology in university: exploring patterns of use and ‘usefulness’. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 37(3), 308-319 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2015.103442.

Hill, J., & Nelson, A. (2011) New Technology, New Pedagogy? Employing Video Podcasts in Learning and Teaching About Exotic Ecosystems. Environmental Education Research, 17:3, 393-408, DOI: 10.1080/13504622.2010.545873.

Huczynski, A., & Buchanan, D. (2004). Theory from Fiction: A Narrative Process Perspective on the Pedagogical Use of Feature Film. Journal of Management Education. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/1052562903262163.

Kay, H, R. (2012). Exploring the Use of Video Podcasts in Education: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature. Journal of Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.01.011

Kukulska-Hulme, Agnes; Traxler, John and Pettit, John (2007). Designed and User-Generated Activity in the Mobile Age. Journal of Learning Design, 2(1) pp. 52–65.

Shephard, K. (2003). Questioning, Promoting and Evaluating the Use of Streaming Video to Support Student Learning. British Journal of Education Technology. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8535.00328