Article pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Customized Videos on a YouTube Channel: A Beyond the Classroom Teaching and Learning Platform for General Chemistry Courses Jayashree S. Ranga* Department of Chemistry & Physics, Salem State University, Salem, Massachusetts 01970, United States ABSTRACT: Videos are an integral part of online courses. In this study, customized YouTube videos were explored as teaching and learning materials in place of face-to-face discussion sessions in General Chemistry courses. The videos were created using a budget-friendly and interactive app on an iPad. The customized YouTube videos were available to students on a YouTube channel dedicated to the course. Use of videos enabled students to pause and rewatch the videos as required. Pedagogical benefits of using the videos included opportunities for 24/7 and self-paced learning. Beyond the classroom learning was documented using the analytics option through YouTube (method 1) and Learning Management System (method 2). Data mining shows the following: (a) learning throughout the semester, (b) around-the-clock learning activity right before the final exam, (c) comparable average final exam performance observed during semesters with face-to-face discussions versus customized YouTube videos, and (d) students continuing to watch these videos beyond the course while reviewing content for competitive exams and/or upper level courses. KEYWORDS: First-Year Undergraduate/General, Distance Learning/Self Instruction, Internet/Web-Based Learning, Multimedia-Based Learning, Student-Centered Learning
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INTRODUCTION Engaging students outside the classroom is a key component of present-day teaching. Engaged learning strategies are most effective when students are provided with venues to learn at their own pace.1 Videos are valuable teaching resources for blended/ online/flipped classrooms, where the electronic media promotes student learning.2 Videos have resulted in improved student learning in general and analytical chemistry courses.3,4 Videos are of special interest within flipped classrooms, where the lectures are provided outside the classroom. Flipped classrooms provide an opportunity to engage students with active and collaborative learning during face-to-face lectures.5−9 Past studies have shown that the number of students possessing smartphones is growing at a steep rate.10,11 With the growing number of smartphones and portable devices in a connected world, digital learners are overwhelmed by the amount of online resources. Directing students to reliable, high-quality, and accurate online resources is a challenge for educators. To address this challenge, a personalized approach was used to deliver content to students on the YouTube platform. Customized YouTube videos were tailor-made to deliver content related to learning outcomes from the General Chemistry courses. The availability of user-friendly iPad apps such as Explain Everything makes the creation of budget-friendly, interactive, and customized videos a viable option for instructors with limited resources.12 YouTube has been one of the most popular sites for hosting videos for decades. Students can easily access YouTube © XXXX American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
videos through portable/mobile devices. Customized YouTube videos thus provide a ubiquitous opportunity for students to learn anywhere and everywhere.13 All General Chemistry courses discussed here were comprised of two 75 min face-to-face lectures and one 50 min discussion session per week, both managed by the same instructor. The discussion sessions are typically dedicated to problem solving. Usually, students are asked to identify challenging topics from regular lectures. The instructor selects problems related to the identified challenging topics. During these discussion sessions, problems are solved on the chalkboard with live input from students. Students are strongly encouraged to attend these discussion sessions along with their lectures, but attendance is not mandatory. Most students chose to attend the discussion sessions that were scheduled right before the lecture. The discussion sessions that were not scheduled right before the lecture or on a different day than the lecture were not attended as much due to time constraints. One of the key challenges faced, especially by commuter students, is being on campus each day of the week. Due to varied attendance during face-to-face discussion sessions, customized YouTube videos were explored in their place. The videos comprised of solved problems and concepts related to Received: October 19, 2016 Revised: April 14, 2017
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00774 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Journal of Chemical Education
Article
various learning outcomes from the course. The idea was to facilitate self-paced learning through online resources. In this study, customized videos hosted on YouTube served as 24/7 learning materials in lieu of face-to-face discussions. The highlight of this study is that all the videos were available to students on a YouTube channel dedicated to the General Chemistry course. This enabled data mining using YouTube’s Analytics option. Data mining provided information on number of views and watch-time data during various semesters. During an endeavor like this, some of the key concerns for educators include the following: (a) Are students indeed using these videos? (b) When are the students watching the videos? (c) Who is watching the videos, A, B, or C students? (d) Are these videos indeed helping students with learning? Answers to some of these questions are addressed in this article.
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Data mining provided information such as watch time and number of views. (b) LMS (method 2): Canvas was the LMS used in this study. The course analytics option on LMS provided page visitation information for each of the students. Page visits are documented every time a student visits the LMS.
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Many questions arise once videos are available to students. For example: Are these videos indeed helpful to students? When do students use these videos, just before the exams or throughout the semester? Is it just a few students who use these videos or a majority of students who use them? What is the impact of customized YouTube videos versus face-to-face discussion sessions on average final exam scores? These questions are addressed in the next few sections.
OVERVIEW
Creation of Customized Videos
In this study, customized YouTube videos were explored as a beyond the classroom resource for the General Chemistry courses. All the videos presented in this paper are related to General Chemistry II courses. Customized videos were prepared using an iPad Explain Everything app, an interactive whiteboard tool. Instructor-friendly tools within the Explain Everything app enabled the creation of dynamic and interactive videos for the course. The built-in tools include a laser pointer; color-based writing/typing tools; import options from Dropbox, Google Drive, and Evernote; and export options such as videos and PDFs. The created videos were exported to a YouTube channel dedicated to this course. Sample videos can be found in the reference section.14 Each video was mapped to the learning outcomes from the course syllabus. Videos were step-by-step presentations of (a) concepts, (b) problems, and/or (c) basic review of math content such as understanding equations. A majority of the videos were related to problem solving. In a typical face-to-face discussion session, similar problems would be solved on a chalkboard with live input from students.
Figure 1. Number of views versus date of the semester during Fall 2014 (class with 38 students).
Use of Videos throughout the Semester
Hosting of Customized Videos on YouTube
At the end of the semester, video-viewing data was analyzed using YouTube Analytics (method 1). Figure 1 shows a plot of number of views versus date of the semester during Fall 2014. As expected, during exams (*) high student activity was observed as a higher number of views. The availability of 24/7 videos motivated students to use this resource during preparation for the exams. This data also suggested that students used the resource throughout the semester. This data is representative of every semester. Some of the student remarks on the customized videos are presented below. Similar to khan academy videos, short yet descriptive videos with examples help put text information into context. It was nice having the videos because it was like having the instructor there with you when you need them to explain the homework. It allowed me to break down each problem step by step, rather than looking at it and being overwhelmed. I cannot stress this enough; The videos were extremely helpful! If anything, please add more. They are really helpful, and helped me prepare for the homework assignments, the activities and even study before each exam.
A YouTube channel dedicated to the General Chemistry course was used to host the customized videos. All the customized videos (29 videos) related to this course were uploaded onto this YouTube channel. This enabled data analysis of the course videos each semester. Most of the videos in the channel were 2−4 min long. A recent study on massive online open courses (MOOCs) suggests shorter videos (
