Students perception of videos in introductory physics courses of engineering in face-to-face and online environments

Abstract

Digital videos have an important (and increasing) presence in learning processes, especially within online universities and schools. However, creating videos is a time-consuming activity for teachers, who are usually not expert in video creation. Therefore, it is important to know which kind of video is perceived as more satisfactory and useful by students, among the videos that docents usually create. In this paper we show a structural model with the relation between satisfaction, the way in which a video has been created, the kind of video (with or without the hands of the teacher and with or without the body/head of the teacher), perceived usefulness, contents of the video (theory or problems) and the potential impact of videos on passing rates. The experiment has been performed in an introductory Physics of Engineering course with over 200 first year students in both: at 100% online university, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC); and at a face-to-face university, Salesian University School of Sarrià (EUSS). Tests have been performed with around 100 videos of two types: videos created with a digitizing tablet and screen capture and videos created by recording the hands of the teacher. Results have been quantitatively analysed. The research shows that results are independent of the environment and that students prefer videos with hands. On the other hand, little effect has been found regarding the content of the video in the perceived usefulness or satisfaction. The performance results show that videos can improve the chances of passing the subject. Thus, the paper shows that videos with hands are a useful complement to challenging subjects, like introductory physics in Engineering, to effectively assimilate scientific knowledge. The main contributions of this paper are: to analyse the perception that students have of video in a specific context, introductory course of Physics in Engineering, in different environments; and to analyse the perception of the video regarding the way in which it has been created, and the kind of content.

Students’ Behavior and Perceptions Regarding Complementary Videos for Introductory Physics Courses in an Online Environment

“…Students also perceived videos as a resource that helped them to more easily understand because the language and explanations were simpler and more visual than in text documents. These results are compatible with our findings in a previous quantitative research [55].…”

“…One student said, "If the videos were removed, I would think that the course has worsened." In fact, in previous research we saw that when videos were introduced in a course, the results improved [55].…”

“…Data collection was performed through a questionnaire and through semi-structured interviews. The questionnaire was analyzed from a quantitative perspective in a previous paper [55]. It allowed recruitment of the interviewed students following a theoretical sampling [12], since the last question of the questionnaire was the possibility of being interviewed; thus, we recruited those students who were open to giving information.…”

Assessing the Influence of an Online Video Tutorial Library on Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students

“…Some instructors were highlighted as being especially clear, engaging, and knowledgeable. This is consistent with literature that suggests personalization and connection to videos is an important component and provides a reason to create department specific libraries [22]. Some students preferred videos from a range of instructors, though a few noted a preference for videos from the instructor of record.…”

“…Ideally, the videos are short, [19], [20], [21] focused, and facilitate student use. Supplemental videos also have been shown to improve grades and students have reported believing the videos enhanced understanding [22].…”