Using Videos to Explain Problem Examples

This article may be helpful to faculty members in the areas of mathematics and science who are considering utilizing video podcasts as support materials to help students work through problem sets for their class. Please note that although the journal article mentioned below is free to access, you will need to establish a username and password on the journal site to do so.

In the article “Developing a Framework for Creating Effective Instructional Video Podcasts” R. H. Kay studied the development and use of videos to share “worked examples” online with students. Worked examples are “instructional devices that provide an expert’s problem solution for a learner to study” (Atkinson, Derry, Renkl, & Wortham, 2014, p. 181).  Kay then used these findings to develop a framework organized into four main categories:

  • Establishing Context
  • Creating Effective Explanations
  • Minimizing Cognitive Load
  • Engaging Students

as well as 16 subcategories which can be viewed via the article link above. Please see page 24.

I want to do this! Who can help?

Contact Heather (hstafford@middlebury.edu) or Joe (jantonio@middlebury.edu) to get started!

Sources:

Atkinson, R. K., Derry, S. J., Renkl, A., & Wortham, D. (2000). Learning from Examples: Instructional Principles from the Worked Examples Research. Review of Educational Research, 70(2), 181–214. doi:10.3102/00346543070002181

Kay, R. H. (2014). Developing a Framework for Creating Effective Instructional Video Podcasts. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 9(1), pp. 22–30.

 

Integrating Blogging

This is the second screencast published on this site that is based on an interview Alex Chapin did with Prof. Louisa Stein from the Film and Media Culture department.  In this screencast Prof. Stein discusses her course on Millennial Media.  In this course, students were required to create their own blogs and to post to Twitter.

[middmedia E966CA341E9D26A5EA67ECDE36E4C402 achapin teachwithtech-stein-fmmc0254-04.mp4 width:400 height:254]

To encourage students to read each other’s work, Prof. Stein created “blog collectives” and required students to comment on the blogs of students in their collective.  An additional site was set up for the course that aggregated posts from all student blogs using the FeedWordPress plugin.

Course Hub Review

The Course Hub is a meta-platform for aggregating resources for a given course across a variety of platforms including WordPress and Moodle.  Below is a screencast showing how the Course Hub has been used in courses this fall.

[middmedia E966CA341E9D26A5EA67ECDE36E4C402 achapin course-hub-case-studies01.mp4 width:400 height:254]

Integrating Moodle and WordPress

Louisa Stein is an assistant professor of Film and Media Culture who used both Moodle and WordPress in the spring of 2011 for a course on the “Aesthetics of the Moving Image.”  Prof. Stein used WordPress for the public face of this course and Moodle for the weekly outline of readings, online discussion and assignment submissions.  Watch the screencast below for more details. Continue reading “Integrating Moodle and WordPress”

Clickers in a large lecture class – Catherine Combelles

What: Clickers (personal polling devices) in a large lecture class

Who: Catherine Combelles, Assistant Professor of Biology

Class: BIOL0145 Cell Biology and Genetics

Technology Used: Personal Polling Devices (Clickers)

Number of students: approx. 70

Learning objective: To monitor the students’ understanding of concepts covered in lecture and promote peer learning and discussion.

Description of use: Catherine used the clickers for every lecture from day 1 to the last day of classes, and throughout the duration of each lecture. At the beginning of each lecure, she started with a question that tested their understanding of concepts from the past lecture or on their readings for the day. She would then pose between 3-4 more questions depending on the lecture content that day. Continue reading “Clickers in a large lecture class – Catherine Combelles”

Wikipedia for Chemistry – Jeff Byers

What: Authoring and editing Wikipedia entries as an assignment in a senior elective course

Who: Jeff Byers, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Class: CHEM0442, Advanced Organic Chemistry.  This is a special topics course taken mostly by seniors, with some juniors, most of whom are chemistry or biochemistry majors.

Number of students: 9

Reason for using the technology: Most Senior Elective courses in the sciences culminate with some sort of final paper or project.  This project typically involves each student writing a detailed review paper on an interesting and advanced topic of their choice.  This is a worthwhile exercise, as each student learns an astonishing amount of detail on one specific topic.  These papers do not, in any way, reflect the important collaborative nature of science.  Jeff also believes that a senior elective course should also generate content of use to the entire chemistry community, unlike research papers which, after grading, rarely surface again. Continue reading “Wikipedia for Chemistry – Jeff Byers”

Middlebury Trailrunner Blog – Jeff Byers

middlebury-mapleWhat: Middlebury Trailrunner Blog

Who: Jeff Byers, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Technologies used: Hardware: GPS watch, digital camera.  Software:  Google Earth, WordPress, Garmin software (allows seamless connection to Google Earth). When posting an altitude profile, Jeff does a screen shot off of the Garmin software and pastes it into MS Word.  Then he uses a shareware program called “Doc to Jpeg Converter” and crops it with Microsoft Office Picture Manager. Continue reading “Middlebury Trailrunner Blog – Jeff Byers”