Evaluating Usability of Pre-recorded VDOs in eLearning CIDE-Assumption University, Thailand Dr....

Evaluating Usability of Pre-recorded VDOs in eLearning

CIDE-Assumption University, Thailand

Dr. Kuldeep Nagi

CIDEAssumption University,

Bangkok, Thailand 10240

http://www.elearning .au.eduPhone- [email protected]



CAMPUS

PICTURES

About CIDE @ Assumption University



- Born in India, US citizen

- Lived and worked in Seattle, WA, USA for +25 Years

- Fulbright Fellowship Award and now work at Assumption University

About Me-



Agenda

1. Introduction2. Objectives & Methodology3. Results & Discussion4. Conclusions

Q & A



1. Introduction

“Multimedia is defined as “a method for VDO and narration (audio content)” and emphasizes that multimedia material can reduce extraneous cognitive load on the learner while studying.



1. Introduction

• Today the Internet VDO is something we use to call the “television" and the people in the entertainment sector are obsessed with how the internet has changed the way we consume VDO- downloads instead of DVDs, on-demand rather than on a schedule.

• VDOs have a special place in eLearning and eTraining programs. They are being used extensively by academicians and practitioners to teach concepts and skills to a generation of visually oriented learners



1. IntroductionThere have been lots of studies indicating harmful effects of television. Jokingly the T.V. is also called as an “idiot Box”. Actually T.V. is not the idiot box but, the people who are watching are sometimes called as the idiots.

Research indicates that people watching become idiots because the TV makes their intelligence and creativity sub normal.

It is passivity and long exposure to junk content the media brings.

There is plenty of evidence about harmful effects of T.V.[1]. But so far research efforts comparing on-line pre-recorded VDO and print media as teaching tools have not focused on their effectiveness.



These days on any internet VDO site, the vendors give you a status bar (Fig. 3) at the bottom of the VDO that tells you how long you have been watching, how much is in the buffer, and how much longer until the end of the VDO.

Sometimes with the commercials there's a number counting down the seconds left in the advertisement.

Among so many other Web 2.0 technologies You-Tube has changed the world of on-line VDOs and their role in knowledge acquisition, education and training.Status Bar

1. Introduction

Duration

Fig. 3



Learning is mostly an active process conducted in a self-directed fashion. eLearning provides many opportunities for constructivist learning by supporting resource-rich, student-centered, and interactive learning.

Most on-line courses present synchronized multimedia materials on the Internet in an interactive and cohesive manner.

Among other things the study materials include (Fig.1- Fig.4 given on left) lecture notes, graphics, diagrams, podcasts and VDOs.

1. Introduction



The main objective of this paper is to analyze the usability of pre-recorded VDO materials and their role in learning in on-line courses.

In the context of this paper, this author prefers to use the definition of usability as specified by ISO 9241-11 [2]:

“The extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use”.

2. Objectives & Methodology



VDO and audio components are integral part of an on-line course. Therefore, this paper would survey, analyze and report effectiveness of only one component- Study Online VDOs with regard to their:

1. Learner Experiences: Determining usability level of VDO eLectures using system logs provided through the report of an LMS

2. Duration: Examining total time spent on watching on-line VDOs in a virtual learning environment (VLE)




For the purposes of this work system “Reports” a tool provided in the LMS were used as instruments.

Reports contain activity logs and other pertinent data sets that can be used for examining events is virtual session. Table-1 given next contains very important piece of information about over all usage of the chapters or units in a given eLearning courseware.




Study Online - Unit 1 : Introduction (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 25 0:05Study Online - Unit 1 : Introduction (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 25 0:05 1Study Online - Unit 1 : Introduction (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 24 23:59Study Online - Unit 1 : Introduction (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 24 23:58 1Study Online - Unit 1 : Introduction (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 24 23:58Study Online - Unit 1 : Introduction (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 24 0:07Study Online - Unit 1 : Introduction (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 23 23:58 8Study Online - Unit 1 : Introduction (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 23 23:41Study Online - Unit 1 : Introduction (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 19 11:06 2Study Online - Unit 10 : Input / Output (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2 2011 September 19 11:04Study Online - Unit 10 : Input / Output (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 19 10:56Study Online - Unit 11 : Multiprocessor (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 19 10:55 1Study Online - Unit 2 : Digital Logic (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 3 2011 September 19 10:50 1Study Online - Unit 2 : Digital Logic (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 19 10:49Study Online - Unit 2 : Digital Logic (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 18 23:33Study Online - Unit 2 : Digital Logic (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 18 23:29 4Study Online - Unit 2 : Digital Logic (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 18 18:43 10Study Online - Unit 2 : Digital Logic (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 18 18:40Study Online - Unit 2 : Digital Logic (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 18 18:28Study Online - Unit 2 : Digital Logic (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 18 18:25Study Online - Unit 2 : Digital Logic (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 18 18:23Study Online - Unit 2 : Digital Logic (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 18 13:41Study Online - Unit 2 : Digital Logic (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 18 13:40Study Online - Unit 2 : Digital Logic (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 18 0:30Study Online - Unit 2 : Digital Logic (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 17 19:48Study Online - Unit 2 : Digital Logic (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 17 19:47Study Online - Unit 2 : Digital Logic (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 17 19:43Study Online - Unit 2 : Digital Logic (Power V - Open with Internet Explorer only) 2011 September 17 17:53 1

Reports2. Objectives & Methodology




TABLE-1 Course Unit InformationCourses Students Units Units %

Total Viewed Unit Minimum Viewed

Course1 2 14 6 42.80%Course2 6 11 9 81.80%Course3 5 13 13 100%Course4 4 10 5 50%Course5 4 12 11 91%Course6 3 14 6 42.80%Course7 2 13 5 38.46%Course8 3 14 4 28.57%

The last column shows the percentage of units used on-line VDOs for learning. Course 3 shows the maximum usage of on-line VDOs. The second on the list is Course 2 with 81.80% of usage. In all other courses the usage was 50% or less, lowest being 28.57% % for Course 8.



Continuing our discussion on the main issue of usability of VDOs let us briefly examine the significance of Table-2.

Table-2 shows that due to repeat access of of a VDO url for a particular unit the % usage as shown in the last column may range from a minimum (25%) to a maximum (170%).

For full determination data about total instances of a VDO session for each unit by each student will have to be calculated.

Such calculations were avoided because of insignificance of repeat instances of a VDO session. The study is focused on minimum instances of usage.

3. Results & Discussion




Courses Expected Total %Mini Views Viewed Usages

MaxCourse1 28 19 67Course2 66 73 110.6Course3 65 98 150Course4 40 38 95Course5 48 82 170Course6 42 17 40.5Course7 26 28 107Course8 42 10 25

% Usage includes repeat sesion



Data given in Table-1 clearly indicates that 75% of courses which is 6 out of 10 showed usage of VDO in the range of 50% and below.

Naturally, this should be a cause for concern because lots of money and time is spent in recording the VDO eLectures. The information given in Table-1 is graphed below in Fig. 5.

A comparison of the total chapters or units versus actual number of units used is shown in brown color.





Fig.5



It is remarkable that even though only one component Study online VDO is selected for this study the results are convincingly clear that in 6 out of 8 courses the VDOs were not used as expected.

From Fig. 7 it is quite clear that the total time spent during the semester watching VDOs was also very low.

The maximum time spent on accessing Study-Online VDOs was 105 minutes during the whole semester.

The minimum time was 10 minutes which is almost negligible when you calculate the number of hours available for study during the whole semester.





Fig.7 Total time spend in a semester on VDOs



Overall success of a eLearning program is not measured by numbers of courses delivered, but by the achievement of key performance benchmarks and their bottom line usage.

It is nothing less than a paradigm shift from rote learning to performance, made possible largely by advances in Web 2.0 technologies for teaching and learning

Study online VDO alone cannot help in meeting these benchmarks [9].




The greatest challenge for on-line educators who are trying to use VDO and audio to their best advantage seems to be harnessing the motivating impact of these media without falling prey to its failings, shallow comprehension, trivialization, passivity and lowered mental effort.

More specifically, addition of books, articles, activities and projects can bring learners from basic to moderate levels of comprehension, where VDOs can cognitively engage them.

Because of VDO's capabilities to generate interest in a subject area, motivation to explore in greater depth can be expected. One approach to meshing VDO and other components for optimal educational outcomes is the development of a set of learning activities, called the VDO learning sequence (VLS). Consistent with research findings and suggestions put forth below, the VLS offers a promising approach to raising student interest, effort, duration of usage and content comprehension.

So in a nutshell, the issue is how can we make on-line learning engaging for student? Many instructors struggle to engage students in a face-to-face (F2F) environment.

Can the VDO and other resources provided in a courseware engage students in a VLE? The results indicate that in the given situation VDOs were not fully utilized. The reasons for low usage of VDOs range for their low quality, long duration, language errors, lack of appeal and other defects such as lacking relevance in the overall learning process [10].

4. Conclusions



Based on these preliminary findings this author proposes the following two suggestions:

Suggestion 1: VDO should be used optimally for highlighting key concepts and increasing responsiveness to the main content.

Suggestion 2: The transient quality of the VDO requires that the content comprehension should be followed by Q & A. Comprehension from VDO can be increased when learners are instructed to view a VDO clip with an objective in mind. A follow up set of questions in the form of audio inputs or review questions is always helpful in meeting the objectives of the VDOs [11].

4. Conclusions



There is an ongoing surge in eLearning, but only if we put the right components with adequate quality in place, which is something, most educational institutions do not do a very good job with.

Success of You-Tube indicates that quality of VDOs can be very instrumental in knowledge acquisition, learning and training.

4. Conclusions



Thank You

[email protected]

College of Internet Distance Education

(CIDE)Assumption University

Thailand, Bangkokwww.eLearning.au.e

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Evaluating Usability of Pre-recorded VDOs in eLearning CIDE-Assumption University, Thailand Dr....

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