Different Types of Videos Uses for Education
By: Andrea Trevino
Video integration in classrooms has become a popular and effective way for students to learn. The videos used today include: YouTube videos, video podcasts (Vodcasts), and even video conferencing Videos help make personal connections with the topic being presented in the classrooms but they can also ruin a lecture when used incorrectly.
Video Conferencing
Video conferencing has become a point of interest in the world of education. Skype is most commonly known as a program that allows people to communicate on the computer by using their webcam so they can see each other while they are speaking. Most people use Skype to keep in touch with loved ones who live far away or to just chat with their friends. Recently, video conferencing has been incorporated for learning. An example of this would be Taiwanese children trying to learn English. English is the dominant language of our world and even though it is not spoken in Taiwan, their children must learn it which can be extremely difficult because it is such a different language from their native one. Taiwanese children can now use videoconferencing as a way to communicate with people in English speaking countries to better improve their skills and also realize the importance of learning this language once they have seen an actual person who speaks English.
A study conducted in 2007 attempted to begin investigating whether Skype really does help Taiwanese children with their English or if continuing with the old methods of teaching English is more effective or the same. The researcher, “Kost conducted a quasi-experiment where students in the experimental condition engaged in 12 text-based chat sessions during a 15-week semester.” (Ya-Ting et al. 2007) At the beginning of the study the participants were all enrolled in the same undergraduate English course which was split into two different sections: Section A and Section B. Section A contained 29 students and was the control group, better known as the comparison group. The comparison group would learn english using the traditional student teacher in the classroom format. Section B contained 30 students was the experimental group receiving their english instruction using Skype. Both of these sections had the same instructor and the same content. (Ya-Ting et al. 2007) The study began with everyone in both sections A and B to take a pre-test showing their previous english speaking skills to compare them to the final results in order to really investigate wether Skype would work as a mode of education. At the end of the study Kost found that using programs such as Skype to learn a new language may have an indirect impact to learning this new skill. Talking to a real life English speaker and getting instant feedback is strongly significant. This subject is still being researched however, it has shown great improvement in speaking skills and should not only help people learning a new language but also help in every other subject.
Studies using videoconferencing for people who are deaf have also been conducted. "Research has traditionally shown that the average student with hearing loss graduates from high school with median reading comprehension skills at about the fourth grade level." (Luckner & Handley, 2008) People who are deaf do not have many sources for mental health services. "Telehealth" would be a perfect way to assist these people with any of their mental health problems. Telehealth is "the use of telecommunications and information technology to provide aces to health assessment, diagnosis, intervention, consultation, supervision, education, and information across distance." (Nickelson 1998). In other words, using videoconferencing as a form of helping the deaf with learning and with their mental health. There is a higher prevalence rate of depression found in the deaf population in comparison to the general population. (Leigh & Anthony-Tolbert, 2001) So in the study conducted to test this hypothesis experimenters would teach two different groups of deaf people, who were split up into a control and experimental group. In the first part of the experiment the control group was handed taught about the basics of depression by reading everything about depression of course it was in American Sign Language. The other group was taught the same exact information about depression using ASL as well. Both the groups took pre-tests and post-tests measuring their knowledge of depression. After these studies were conducted, the groups switched places: the first group was given an in depth discussion on depression using video conferencing and the second group read the information. (Wilson & Wells. 2009) The results of this experiment showed a positive outcome of the subjects who used video conferencing to learn about depression.
YouTube
YouTube.com has not only become a source of entertainment but also it has become a way for professors to improve their lectures. There is such a wide range of YouTube videos posted and a lot of these are made for educational purposes making learning way more interactive than it has ever been before. If teachers are concerned about finding a video with content not suitable for school they can always log on to TeacherTube another website which only provides videos for scholarly purposes. The best part about this technology is that students can go home and watch the videos as many times as they please.
There are some disadvantages to being able to use so much technology in classrooms today, videos specifically. Most schools right now offer students to bring their laptops to class everyday to make it easier to take notes and to follow along in class. However because the Internet is accessible students take advantage of it and watch YouTube videos for their own entertainment. Because these students are now distracted with these videos they cannot pay attention in class and therefore do not perform as well as they should be able to in the academic environment.
Vodcasts
A vodcast is a similar device to a podcast in which students can access information through a series of audio clips, which includes video or pictures. A video podcast is not the same thing as a traditional video. Video podcasts use audio and show pictures to go along with the audio recording.Teachers can easily make Vodcasts on their own for students to always refer to when studying for an exam. Creating a Vodcast is a simple task because it only requires the creator to record their audio using a program like Audacity, add pictures using a program called Snaglt, and upload their videos using Camtasia. To merge all of them they would have to use Adobe Premiere. An easier way to create vodcasts would be to use imovie or moviemaker. When using imovie or moviemaker the teacher would only have to press the record button, present their lecture and incorporate any pictures or videoclips that would be useful.
An American History teacher for juniors of Convent of the Sacred in Greenwich CT, would make podcasts and vodcasts every time there was a snow day or a unexpected day off from school. She records what she would say in class the day missed so there would be no need to make up or miss that class once students returned to school. The next day she would give us a mini quiz to see if we actually took the time on our snow day to actually concentrate on our school work. These vodcasts are beneficial because students are able to save them and reuse them when studying for a test or exam.
As horrible as this sounds for students who love unexpected days off from school, this will most likely be the future of education. Especially when teachers need to follow a certain schedule.
A study in the Aston University asked for student opinion on this new type of technology in their psychology lectures. The technology used in this psychology lecture included podcasts and vodcasts. Questionnaires were distributed to the class asking if this technology was of any help and the results came out positively. The overall outcome was that “the online material translated into students having increased understanding of the material, which supplemented and enhanced their learning without being a substitute for traditional lectures.” (Parson et al. 2009)
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