Video-based learning in higher education: the flipped or the hands-on classroom?

Abstract

Nowadays Higher Education is adopting new ways of teaching such as ways of Video-Based Learning (VBL) with the/naim of moving away from the traditional classrooms. The interest in VBL has increased as a result of new forms of/nonline education, most prominently in the case of Massive Open Online Courses. VBL has unique features that make it/nan effective Technology-Enhanced Learning approach. Furthermore it seems to support a rich and powerful model to/nimprove learning outcomes as well as learner satisfaction, but it is necessary to choose an appropriate instructional/napproach when designing VBL environments. One of the latest methods that use video as a tool for learning is Flipped/nClassrooms – or inverted classrooms- and, in many cases, it is showed that the result of introducing videos in a/nlearning design eventually converges in this type of methodology./nTo explore this context, this research presents a case study that uses a combination of the VBL and Project-Based/nLearning methodologies. The classes are face-to-face but there are no lessons: the students develop small projects in/nlabs. A set of teaching explanations are recorded in videos provided together with the descriptions of the projects. The/nobjective of this research is to study the behaviour and satisfaction of the students using the videos, their utility as well/nas the position of the professors. Participants were the students of the course “Wireless sensor networks” that took/nplace in April to June of 2014. This was designed as an optional subject in the 3rd and 4th year of the Bachelor Degrees/nin Computer Engineering, Electronic Engineering and Audio-visual Systems Engineering. Two professors were in/ncharge of the course, one of them acting as a coordinator and other as a teaching assistant./nThe study was conducted using a mixed methodology and used five instruments to gather data: two surveys (students,/nteachers), an interview (teachers), an observation protocol and two types of system log files (course delivery platform/nand video server). The gathered qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed and triangulated. One of the main/nresults is that students interacted with the course content mainly during class hours, despite the fact that they had the/nopportunity to watch the videos before the sessions. Hence the flipped classroom was not present though it was the/nexpected situation. Students used videos as support material within class while they were working on the projects at/ntheir pace. On the one hand, the incorporation of videos in class allowed students to enjoy a great flexibility to access/nthe professors’ explanation. The advantage of this flexibility questions the use of oral teacher presentations in class/nbecause of the latter are governed by schedule, meaning that the students cannot access to this explanation beyond/nthe class in the moments when their application is more significant. These conclusions are somehow in line with claims/nby other researchers saying that the role of presence-based learning may be re-thought, standard lectures do not take/nadvantage of having the students personally present in the class. However, the use of video allows access to content/n“on demand”. Moreover, the use of videos has helped students to become more autonomous. In a learning design/nbased on the student as in our case, the flexibility and autonomy that provide videos -used as support material during/nclasses- help students to have more control over their own learning process and, therefore, the role of the teacher as/nfacilitator is reaffirmed./nContrary to common belief, the use of video-based learning may not only converge in the use of flipped classroom/nmethodology. It is also possible to use the videos in a hands-on class as a support tool that encourages a more/nautonomous, flexible and significant learning. The application of a flipped or a hands-on classroom approach depends/non diverse aspects, including the nature of the course (with practical or theoretical orientations), the behaviour/nemerging from the students (depending on their needs and preferences, time constraints, etc.) and the design of the/nactivities proposed by the teachers (strongly requiring students to watch videos in a certain timeframe, e.g. previously/nto the class, or offering flexibility). Future research considering variations of these parameters will help to understand/nthe benefits and limitations of both approaches and to what extent they may coexists in VBL.