IMPALA Informal Mobile Podcasting and Learning Adaptation
The Use of Video-Podcasts to Support Practicals
Geography, University of Nottingham
Summary
This podcast application was developed within a level one GIS module in Geography, University of Nottingham. The video-podcasts provided students with a visual guide on how to use GIS software and were developed as a strategy to teach a large student cohort. The purposes were to facilitate student learning the GIS software easily, and for students to use these video-podcasts on their own during the practical sessions. These podcasts were 5-7 minutes videos delivered via WebCT VLE on a weekly basis. The lecturer will reuse all these podcasts with minor changes for the next year.
Context
This video-podcast application was developed for a module Geography Information System (GIS) within a first year undergraduate course in Geography, University of Nottingham.
The module was assessed through two computer-based multiple-choice tests, an individual project to produce a map of the student’s home town, and a group project to create a hotel.
Challenge & Rationale
Teach a large student cohort
GIS is a practical and technical module. Students need to learn how to use GIS software to analyze geographic information. One of the challenges of this module was to provide guidance on how to use GIS software to a large number of students (more than 200 students in 2006/2007), where there is usually limited interaction with the lecturer on a face-to-face level. The lecturer developed a teaching and learning strategy of using video-podcasting as an efficient way to provide practical support to a large student cohort. Students can watch the video-podcasts on their own in the practical sessions. They have the lecturer talking things through with them and showing them how to use the software step-by-step. It was like having a one-to-one tutorial session with the lecturer. The lecturer commented,
“You know, in some ways to sort of allow everyone access to the face to face through some virtual medium and video podcasting was the way that they could do that. It gave them the flexibility and it also gave them the ability to watch and have somebody discussing and talking to them and showing them how to do something rather than them trying to read my words and interpret what I mean. I can actually show them through this medium what I mean. And that’s a very useful strategy for dealing with this sort of large class size, so, yes it was a teaching move.”
Video-podcasting can also help to reduce the demand on one-to-one based interaction. Students can access the resources from their own rooms and on their own devices anytime when they need the support, instead of coming to the lecturer and seek support on a personal level.
Teach students with little knowledge on GIS
Another challenge the module faced was how to teach students an entirely new subject. The lecturer believed that video-podcasting is an innovative way to introduce the GIS software that students have never encountered before. The video-podcasts can help students to learn the software in terms of being able to follow instructions easily, having the lecturer talking through at the same time, and allowing students to work at their own pace by going through slowly.
“So we decided to make it very comfortable with the software and can sort of fly through virtually every practical you did. You just sort of sat down and did it yourself to capture the act of doing yourself …The student can still follow step by step on every activity…because he’s (the lecturer) talking at the same time to give information above and beyond what he’s actually doing. And that brought about this idea of the students working at their own paces and being able to just go through it really slowly.”
Compared to reading through text-based instructions, video-podcasts allowed students to learn more effectively.
Through a video-podcast, the lecturer can also offer more profound information than a normal practical guide can do.
“But we want to go beyond just which buttons, which menu to use and this is a nice way that I can talk them through and show them the way through the practical and my commentary offers, far more information than just the technical. It offers links back to theory. I can discuss things that we mentioned in the lecture summaries, the video summaries. My reference goes back with my voice and so it does much more than a simple PDF manual kind of learning allows you to do.”
Engage students
The course has been taught using conventional methods: lectures, laboratory practical, seminars and assessments. The practical work has been supported by text-based hand-outs. The lecturer wanted to change the teaching practice by incorporating video-podcasting to make the teaching method and material lively. He believed that learning through video-podcasts can help to increase students’ enthusiasm and engagement with the subject.
Maintain the updates easily
GIS software updates constantly. Capturing the software in videos is helpful to maintain the changes easily. The lecturer only needs to record the bits that change once the software version changes.
Application
The lecturer developed 60-70 video-podcasts with hundreds of screen shots and graphical illustrations to demonstrate students how to tackle practical tasks step-by-step. Each video clip was about 5-7 minutes long. All video-podcasts were made available on the WebCT VLE on a weekly basis.
Technology
The practical video-podcasts were created by using a free piece of screen capture software called ‘CamStudio’. The software captures the actions of the curser and the interface on the screen. It also captures the audio track. Video editing software called ‘Movie Magic’ was then used to edit videos. Finally, format conversion software was used to convert video-podcasts into MP4 format.
Evaluation
The impact of podcasting on students’ learning was being captured through qualitative and quantitative methods. Quantitative data was captured through an end-of-semester questionnaire with ninety-three students in the end of the semester, developed to gather data on students’ pattern of listening to podcasts, such as how many podcasts they listened to, time and place they listen to podcasts, and reasons for not listening. The data were analyzed using Excel employing descriptive methods.
The qualitative data was captured through two focus groups with twelve students during the middle of semester and personal interviews with nine students in the end of the semester. Student interviews, lasted about an hour, were conducted using a semi-structured interview schedule developed to explore how student learning is supported by podcasts.
Staff experience of developing podcasts was gathered through a personal interview with the lecturer who developed the podcasts. Information gathered included pedagogical rationale of using podcasts, the development process, and issues encountered.
All interviews with both students and staff were recorded on a digital recorder and transcribed verbatim for analysis to identify key themes and issues. The qualitative data was analyzed using a grounded theory approach offered by Strauss and Corbin (1990). The analysis of qualitative data was facilitated by using software called QSR N6.
Benefits
Help to learn easily
Many students found that the videos helped them to learn the practicals easily. Students felt that everything has been well explained on the videos and it was easier to follow the instructions on videos. The visuals helped to demonstrate details and step-by-step instructions.
“Unless you didn’t understand something, which was pretty unlikely because everything was reasonably well explained on the videos and nothing was particularly challenging. You couldn’t really go wrong because it was literally step-by-step on the computer screen for you.”
“The practical ones were really useful because we had to use software that we’d never used before. And they were really useful for showing you how to use bits of it. Much easier to follow when you see someone else doing it on their screen. It’s much easier to follow what you’re supposed to be doing. Whereas instructions… you know, if you get instructions to say go to a particular button but you can’t find it on the screen, then you’ve got a video to show you where to go, what to do. So they were really useful.”
“Yeah. I think on computers it’s much easier to learn from video. If it’s to learn you how to use a computer programme because what you’re doing isn’t easy to put on paper whereas you just copy what someone’s doing on a video… You know its like, how to use a button, find out where you’ve got to type… It’s much easier to see it on a video and see it like it should be. The alternative is like screenshots on a handout but even then, you end up with lots and lots of screenshots whereas 5 seconds of video can show you what like, 10 screenshots to show. It’s much easier to watch a short video and get it from there.”
“It is a different way of learning but a sensible way of learning because if the lecturer was trying to teach in front of us and we were all had to try and watch, we wouldn’t be able to see it in as much detail. Whereas when it’s on the screen in front of you, you can follow it step-by-step. So it’s probably a more efficient way of using it as well because there’s less questions and everyone can work at their own pace as well.”
Many students compared their learning in GIS with another similar module SPSS in which the instructions were given by handouts. They felt that learning the practicals from video-podcasts was much easier and effective than learning from paper-based instructions. They thought that video-podcasts can be useful for other practical-based modules.
“Yeah. The video would be really helpful, definitely. And I think a lot of us would find it a lot easier if there were videos.”
“It was much harder to learn how to use the statistical software than it was the GIS software. I think that’s mainly because of the videos.”
“Yes, it (SPSS) is much harder. It was a good introduction to GIS because not many of us had done it before or had experience with it. So to quickly get us up to speed on the basic skills we needed to learn, I thought it was a good way to approach it.”
“I’ve been doing it so we do have some practicals in that, how to use the statistical software and that’s been quite hard work learning how to use the software because when you haven’t used it before and then when it doesn’t look like Office or anything like that. And we had handouts but not that useful. Like, go to whatever menu but trying to find that menu is really quite hard work. Because you don’t always know where to look, really. Whereas the video was showing you where something was, was a lot more useful.”
“Because a lot of people find statistics much harder and with our tasks which we had to do then, we just had to work out what to do from the handout. We didn’t have a practical session and maybe if we’d had a practical podcast, that would have increased the amount of understanding, or whatever.”
Motivational
Many students described their feeling of watching videos as motivational and engaging because of the visual element.
“Watch helps. It’s more engaging if watch.”
“And then it was motivational because you could actually see him going through it, so he made you realise you could understand it if you just looked again.”
“I thought it was interesting and… I was quite impressed because I’m not used to having. You know, at school we just had notes, so I was impressed with videos. And they were very useful, really useful in the practicals so I was really impressed the first time.”
Revisit materials
For the practical video-podcasts that contained relevant information to student project work, many students went back and watched them more than once to prepare for the assignment.
“Yeah, lots. Especially with the practicals. For example, if you had an assignment for mapping and – I couldn’t quite remember how to do a specific detail, I’d go to back to an earlier podcast. And like, fast forward to the relevant bit and find what I was looking for and then close it down and carry on with the one that, the latest one, or whatever.”
“Well, we had videos showing us how to use the software and stuff. So, we did that in the practicals and I watched quite a few of them again for the coursework because one of them kind of walked you through an equivalent piece of work so I watched that again to remember how to deal with those particular bits. Because I couldn’t remember the whole of it so I watched them again whilst doing the coursework to know how to do certain things.”
“Or if we’re doing a project that was perhaps relating perhaps to a practical that we’d done two weeks previously, I’d go back. And also you know that way you can kind of, you know what’s on there and you just need to find it, you can just skip through.”
Positive feeling towards the lecturer
By watching video-podcasts developed by their lecturer, many students developed a positive feeling towards him.
“Yeah. I think it’s more interesting, a more positive image. You feel like… He took the time to do the videos, which just shows he’s dedicated to like, you and your group doing well. Whereas with some lecturers you feel like they just walk in, talk about and walk out again and that’s it. Whereas you felt the time he’d taken to do the videos and stuff, made a much positive image.”
“Yes, I think everyone enjoyed the GIS lectures and that was due down to (the lecturer) because he was a very personable lecturer as well, so I think that helped.”
“He got everyone enthused into the subject, which meant that people were more likely to look at the podcast because they wanted to learn about it and to pass. He does differ from other lecturers like, in his manner, and in his teaching style because he was a very charismatic lecturer. You know, he’d get us all involved and also we were pioneers of the text system. We’d text in questions but also comments so we had a good rapport going. And when you like a lecturer it means you’re likely to work harder anyway for them, rather than if you dislike them. ..We probably had the most attendance at those lectures as well.”
“I think GIS exceeded my expectations. I wasn’t quite sure it was to start with but I found it fun and although it was quite challenging, it was rewarding.”
Impact on the lecturer
By developing video-podcasts and providing students with another way of learning, the lecturer himself has enjoyed the experience very much.
“But whole my point is I have never enjoyed teaching a class as much as I have this year you know, my career so far, six years in lecturing, this has been the most fun I’ve had, I really enjoyed it.”
Lessons Learned
Invest time on exploring software
The lecturer’s experience suggested that it’s probably worth investing time on experiment with different kinds of software in order to find the ones that sever your specific needs.
“The other thing I’ve had to do at the time is to convert formats…I usually record 643 to 644.80 resolution, because if I go any smaller, I can’t capture enough of the software screen as I am recording to give them that sufficient visual context to students to learn. So I capture at 644.80 and then for podcast I need to reduce to 322.40 and so there’s format conversion that needs to be done there and software for that I ended up paying for. I tried free software, it just didn’t get on with it. The quality was poor. It’s the sound and visual tracking got ruined with large videos. So I gave up and bought in something called convert movie which I think paid about 30 pounds for and it takes a long time to convert, you need to run a batch file… you know perhaps 10 or 15 movies … let the computer do it … but it works very well. It’s very successful. So there is, you need some backgrounds in hardware and software. I think, some confidence in using some of these systems too to make these yourself and that’s very much what I’ve been doing here.”
Spend time on mastering the technology
The lecturer’s experience suggested that it will take time to master the technology at the beginning. However, the developing process will get smoother once you get used to the software.
“So to record I can record about two [t]racks worth in a day, so probably a maximum of 30 to 40 minutes worth of practical recording in a day, but that’s quite hard going and it didn’t start that way. I’ve got good at it now, but initially it would take me probably all day to record ten minutes and then once you’ve recorded, you’ve got to edit, post-edit and then go to magic’s movie appropriate to that and again once you’ve got over the learning record, learning software which takes a few days, I can edit up probably 20 to 30 videos in a matter of a day. If I just sit down with a cup of coffee and go through it, I can be very rapid at that.”
Stick on low-cost software
The lecturer sticks on the low-cost software and that works very well.
“The sort of technology that we found that works for us, we’ve used very low cost software, camstudios free and movie-edit program I think was about 35-40 pounds, something like that. We’ve tried to keep the software low. The movie-edit program I can only see as it is brilliant, absolutely brilliant, very advanced, allows you to do a great deal in terms of editing video and module for podcasting at a very low cost. It is a very professional piece of software. It’s something I would strongly recommend to people looking for editing software.”
Split up long videos
Another important practical suggestion was to split up long videos into shorter clips in order to reduce the workload on the server and network, especially during the revision period when many students access the video-podcasts simultaneously.
Allow off-campus download
Some students reported that the server did not allow them to download off-campus. The institution needs to investigate this issue and ensure that students can download on and off-campus.
Maximize podcast usage
The lecturer put the video-podcasts on WebCT in advance. He will also make the podcasts available on WebCT permanently, so students studying next year can still come back to the first-year material and use the resources.
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