27. Didactics - Learning and Teaching
Paper
A Principled Approach to Introductory Videos for Use in Flipped Classrooms
Vegard Gjerde
University of Bergen, Norway
Presenting Author: Gjerde, Vegard
Creating introductory videos is a popular approach to implementing a flipped classroom approach in teaching. However, creating new videos is time consuming (Hew, Bai, Dawson, & Lo, 2021; O'Flaherty & Phillips, 2015). It is also not clear what introductory videos should contain or how they should be structured (Pi, Zhang, Liu, Zhou, & Yang, 2023). I introduce an approach to making introductory videos where the content is based on domain principles and the structure is based on learning principles.
Each video was based on a single principle or definition, a set of questions intended to stimulate elaborative encoding (Gjerde, Holst, & Kolstø, 2021), and one concrete example. The videos were structured with (1) a short introduction, (2) a pretest, (3) the lecturers’ answers to the questions, (4) a posttest, and (5) retrieval of the principle from memory.
The introductory videos are intended to prepare the students for lectures. Therefore, they are probably the students’ first exposure to principles and concepts. The most important learning strategy for learning new content is elaborative encoding, which is to create meaningful associations within and between new and old knowledge components (Anderson & Reder, 1979; Gjerde et al., 2021; Stein, Littlefield, Bransford, & Persampieri, 1984). It is particularly important to stimulate elaborative encoding in students who are less interested and have less prior knowledge, as they do less spontaneous elaboration (Ozgungor & Guthrie, 2004).
Pretesting has been shown to consistently increase the learning of new information (Carpenter & Toftness, 2017; Hausman & Rhodes, 2018), with effects comparable with posttesting (Pan & Sana, 2021). Pretesting on information the students has not yet learned mainly influences the encoding of new information, while posttesting on information the students have already been exposed to mainly affects the consolidation of that information (Pan & Carpenter, 2023; Pan & Sana, 2021). Hence, the effects of pretesting and posttesting should be additive.
Each video lasted from 5 to 15 minutes. The videos were used in an introductory physics course at a large university in Norway and were intended to be their first meeting with new content and to be their main preparation for lectures. In this research, I wanted to investigate the students’ experiences and reflections regarding the use of the videos.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedTo investigate the students’ experiences and reflections regarding the use of the introductory videos, I conducted interviews and collected survey responses from two cohorts. The participants were students from an introductory physics class at a large university in Norway. Participation was voluntary. The study was approved by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data and all participants provided informed consent.
The interviews were conducted in 2022 by me and were based on a semi-structured interview guide. Thirteen students agreed to participate towards the end of the semester. The interview data was transcribed and then analyzed in the software Nvivo. I used a variant of thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to identify themes in the data.
The survey responses were collected from the 2022 (n = 50) and 2023 (n = 43) cohorts. The results were statistically analyzed in the software R.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsMost of the students in the sample used the videos in their studying, but to a varying extent. As much as 73 % of the survey respondents reported that they would be very disappointed if they lost access to the videos. This underscores their perceived importance in the students’ study habits and can be contrasted with the finding that only 9 % would be very disappointed if they lost access to the course textbook.
There was large variation in how they used the structured features of the videos—i.e., pretest and posttest—both within and between students. On average, the students felt strongly that the videos helped them in learning the course content and to get an overview. This feeling correlated strongly with how much they engaged with the videos and with the extent to which they used the structured features. The students reported in interviews that they noticed a large difference in how much they learned from lectures when they had watched the videos beforehand versus not. Several students were gradually convinced to use the videos to a greater extent due to the experienced benefits.
We believe that our framework makes it easier and quicker to create introductory videos for use in flipped classrooms. It ensures more effective, active learning processes and helps the lecturer to avoid re-creating traditional lectures, which already exist in large quantities, and which are of dubious effectiveness.
A large problem in a flipped classroom is the difficulty involved in getting students to prepare (Akçayır & Akçayır, 2018). Preparedness is also essential for the effectiveness of active teaching methods, e.g., through improving the quality of discussions (Lim & Park, 2023). We found that many of our students use the videos for preparation, and that the benefits gradually convince them to keep or increase their use.
ReferencesAkçayır, G., & Akçayır, M. (2018). The flipped classroom: A review of its advantages and challenges. Computers & Education, 126, 334-345. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2018.07.021
Anderson, J., & Reder, L. (1979). An elaborative processing explanation of depth processing. L.S. Cermak & F.I.M. Craik. (Eds.), Levels of Processing in Human Memory.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Carpenter, S. K., & Toftness, A. R. (2017). The effect of prequestions on learning from video presentations. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 6(1), 104-109. doi:10.1016/j.jarmac.2016.07.014
Gjerde, V., Holst, B., & Kolstø, S. D. (2021). Integrating effective learning strategies in basic physics lectures: A thematic analysis. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 17(1), 010124. doi:10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010124
Hausman, H., & Rhodes, M. G. (2018). When pretesting fails to enhance learning concepts from reading texts. Journal of Experimental Psychology-Applied, 24(3), 331-346. doi:10.1037/xap0000160
Hew, K. F., Bai, S., Dawson, P., & Lo, C. K. (2021). Meta-analyses of flipped classroom studies: A review of methodology. Educational Research Review, 33, 100393. doi:10.1016/j.edurev.2021.100393
Lim, J., & Park, J. (2023). Self-study enhances the learning effect of discussions. Journal of the Learning Sciences. doi:10.1080/10508406.2023.2185148
O'Flaherty, J., & Phillips, C. (2015). The use of flipped classrooms in higher education: A scoping review. The Internet and Higher Education, 25, 85-95. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2015.02.002
Ozgungor, S., & Guthrie, J. T. (2004). Interactions among elaborative interrogation, knowledge, and interest in the process of constructing knowledge from text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96(3), 437-443. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.96.3.437
Pan, S. C., & Carpenter, S. (2023). Prequestioning and pretesting effects: A review of empirical research, theoretical perspectives, and applications. doi:10.31234/osf.io/9rqpm
Pan, S. C., & Sana, F. (2021). Pretesting versus posttesting: Comparing the pedagogical benefits of errorful generation and retrieval practice. Journal of Experimental Psychology-Applied, 27(2), 237-257. doi:10.1037/xap0000345
Pi, Z. L., Zhang, Y., Liu, C. X., Zhou, W. C., & Yang, J. M. (2023). Generative learning supports learning from video lectures: evidence from an EEG study. Instructional Science, 51(2), 231-249. doi:10.1007/s11251-022-09602-8
Stein, B. S., Littlefield, J., Bransford, J. D., & Persampieri, M. (1984). Elaboration and knowledge acquisition. Memory & Cognition, 12(5), 522-529. doi:10.3758/Bf03198315
27. Didactics - Learning and Teaching
Paper
Digitally Supported Learning: Are there Differences in the Emotional Experiences between Subjects?
Judith Wittig, Karl-Heinz Gerholz
University of Bamberg, Germany
Presenting Author: Wittig, Judith;
Gerholz, Karl-Heinz
The emotional experience of learners has a pedagogical relevance, as the affective learning experience is linked to motivation. Certain emotional states can motivate or demotivate learners to engage in further activities in the learning process. Recording the emotional state of students can therefore provide information about the individual learning process. Research has demonstrated that experiencing negative emotions can for example impede the learning process and lead to performance difficulties (Linnenbrink 2007). Positive-activating emotions, on the other hand, support students’ cognitive engagement and hence better learning outcomes (Pekrun, Lichtenfeld, Marsh, Murayama & Goetz, 2017). It can be assumed that lessons in school can be characterised as a special situation in which students are expected to perform. Emotions that occur specifically in achievement and academic contexts can be defined as achievement emotions. The emotions related to achievement that arise from learning, classroom instruction, or dealing with difficult tasks can include for example enjoyment, boredom, frustration, and anger (Pekrun 2006). Since the contextual factors, such as the action performed or the environment, have a major influence on the emotional experience, it can be assumed that the characteristics of instruction also have an influence (Aelling, 2004; Lazarides & Raufelder 2021). Previous empirical studies reveal that there is indeed a linkage between achievement emotions and dimensions of instructional design, such as cognitive activation (Krapp 2007) or structuredness of instruction (Maulana, Opdenakker & Bosker 2016). Most of the studies analysed in this research focus on a specific subject, such as mathematics, and do not address the extent to which achievement emotions differ across various school subjects. However, there are also studies with a cross-curricular focus that support the assumption that emotions experienced during the learning process should be categorised as domain-specific. The causes of domain-specificity of emotional experiences in the context of learning have not been clearly identified until now. The attempts to characterize different subjects and therefore define the characteristics of the domains can be assessed by students’ and teachers’ perceptions towards the school subjects, such as “everyday usefulness” or “level of difficulty” (Collier 2011). There are different approaches to explaining and categorising emotional experiences during lessons. These approaches may include assignment to a specific domain, subject, or instructional design features. The present study attempts to analyse the relationship between the emotional experience of learners and specific instructional design features of certain lessons. The study focuses on digitally supported teaching and examines possible differences in the use of digital technologies in the classroom and emotional well-being. The relationship between the integration of technology in the classroom and emotional experience has not been sufficiently analysed. Rather, previous studies have focused on the effects on students' motivation and learning (Cheng 2021; Fütterer, Scheiter, Cheng & Stürmer 2022). As described above, emotions can be categorised as predictors of motivation. It is therefore of interest to establish a possible relationship between emotional experience and instructional parameters, such as the integration of digital technologies in the learning process or the teaching methods used. The central research questions for gaining a deeper understanding of the issues described are therefore the following:
Are there differences in the emotional experience of learning situations depending on the subject taught?
To what extent can instructional design features explain the differences in emotional experience between different subjects?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe research method of the study is based on the Experience Sampling Method. This research approach is designed to capture real-time experiences, behaviours, and subjective states of individuals in their natural environments (Csikszentmihalyi, Larson & Prescott 1977). The study employed continuous state sampling to gather insights into the learning emotions of students. This makes it possible to collect data just at the point of experience, i.e. in the various phases of the lesson. The survey uses short scales by Schallberger (2005), which comprise ten bi-polar items that depict the scales of positive and negative activation as well as valence. Positive activation (e.g. full of energy - lacking energy) and negative activation (e.g. stressed – relaxed) refer directly to the students' experience of lessons. Valence (e.g. satisfied - dissatisfied) refers to the students' general state of mind. A total of 14 classes at 12 vocational schools in Germany took part in the study. The assessment of emotional well-being was carried out during different teaching sequences. Seven classes were surveyed in mathematics, three classes took part in English, one class in German and two classes in vocational subjects. The pupils were asked about their emotional state every 15 minutes during lessons. Capturing emotional experiences has a key advantage. In contrast to single-point surveys, which tend to focus on the respondent's recollection of a specific experience, process analyses can provide more adequate measures of situational emotional experience. By averaging at the individual level, state emotions can then be cumulated into trait emotions with higher content validity (Goetz, Hall, Frenzel & Pekrun 2006). In order to be able to relate the different emotional traits to the design features of the teaching units, a document analysis of the teaching materials was also carried out. The materials were analysed for certain categories, such as collaborative learning methods or the quality of technology integration. A total of 12 sequences of 3-6 lessons each were analysed.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe results indicate that there are no differences between the subjects, in which the situation-dependent emotional states were measured. However, statistically significant differences were found between the different sequences. For instance, a teaching sequence in English that was particularly well-received showed highly significant differences when compared to another teaching sequence in English. Our results imply that the disparities observed are not inherently tied to the subject matter itself but rather stem from other influential factors, such as the instructional design employed in the lessons. The lessons that exhibited high positive activation and low negative activation were designed with specific parameters. These parameters encompassed a strategic emphasis on the vocational or lifeworld relevance of the teaching topic and associated tasks. Furthermore, the instructional approach featured interactive segments fostering creative autonomy and a profound integration of digital technologies. This underscores the pivotal role played by instructional design in shaping emotional responses during the learning process, transcending subject-specific distinctions.
ReferencesAellig, S. (2004). Über den Sinn des Unsinns. Flow-Erleben und Wohlbefinden als Anreize für autotelische Tätigkeiten. Eine Untersuchung mit der Experience Sampling Method (ESM) am Beispiel des Felskletterns. (Internationale Hochschulschriften, Bd. 431). Münster: Waxmann.
Cheng, X. (2021). ICT-Based Instruction for Secondary School Students: The Interplay of Individual Learning Prerequisites, Use of Technology, and Student Involvement in Learning Processes. URL: https://publikationen.uni-tuebingen.de/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10900/112218/Dissertation_Vero%cc%88ffentlichung_Cheng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y, Last access: 24.01.2024.
Collier, Antonie P. M. (2011). Domain Specificity of Achievement Emotions. URL: https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/entities/publication/851a480b-9adb-42ff-98af-c17baee85cd6, Last access: 29.01.2024.
Csikszentmihalyi, M., Larson, R. & Prescott, S. (1977). The ecology of adolescent activity and experience. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 6, 281-294.
Fütterer, T., Scheiter, K., Cheng, X., & Stürmer, K. (2022). Quality beats frequency? Investigating students’ effort in learning when introducing technology in classrooms. Contemorary Educational Psychology, Vol. 69.
Goetz, T., Hall, N. C., Frenzel, A. C., & Pekrun, R. (2006). A hierarchical conceptualization of enjoyment in students. Learning and Instruction, 16, 323-338.
Krapp, A. (2007). An educational–psychological conceptualisation of interest. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 7(1), 5–21.
Lazarides, R. & Raufelder, D. (2021). Control-value theory in the context of teaching: does teaching quality moderate relations between academic self-concept and achievement emotions? British Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(1), 127-147.
Linnenbrink, E. (2007).The Role of Affect in Student Learning: A multi-dimensional approach to considering the interaction of affect, motivation, and engagement. In P. A. Schutz & R. Pekrun, Emotion in Education (p. 107-124). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Maulana, R., Opdenakker, M.-C., & Bosker, R. (2016). Teachers’ instructional behaviors as important predictors of academic motivation: Changes and links across the school year. Learning and Individual Differences, 50, 147–156.
Pekrun, R. (2006). The control-value theory of achievement emotions: Assumptions, corollaries, and implications for educational research and practice. Educational Psychology Review, 18(4), 315–341.
Pekrun, R., Lichtenfeld, S., Marsh, H. W., Murayama, K., & Goetz, T. (2017). Achievement emotions and academic performance: Longitudinal models of reciprocal effects. Child Development, 88(5), 1653–1670.
Schallberger, U. (2005). Kurzskalen zur Erfassung der Positiven Aktivierung, Negativen Aktivierung und Valenz in Experience Sampling Studien (PANAVA-KS). Theoretische und methodische Grundlagen, Konstruktvalidität und psychometrische Eigenschaften bei der Beschreibung intra- und interindividueller Unterschiede. (Forschungsberichte aus dem Projekt: „Qualität des Erlebens in Arbeit und Freizeit“, Nr. 6.) Zürich: Fachrichtung Angewandte Psychologie des Psychologischen Instituts der Universität. URL: http://www.psychologie.uzh.ch/institut/angehoerige/emeriti/schallberger/schallbergerpub/PANAVA_05.pdf 10.9.2011, Last access: 24.01.2024.
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