EDU800 – Week Six

This week I read five articles, three of which I will cover here. They were authored by Hung, Hwang, & Huang (entitled, A project-based digital storytelling approach to improving students’ learning motivation, problem-solving competence and learning achievement), Kay (entitled, Exploring the use of video podcasts in education: A comprehensive review of the literature), Schwartz & Hartman (entitled, It is not television anymore: Designing digital video for learning and assessment), and Shrum, Duque, & Brown (entitled, Digital video as a research practice: Methodology for the Millennium). All articles had strengths and weaknesses plus they interconnected.

First, in the article by Schwartz & Hartman, the authors looked at the relationship between video and learning (not production). The learning outcomes they looked for were (1) classes of outcome: see, say, do, and engage, (2) learning target, (3) assessments, and (4) genres. Related to the first learning outcome, classes of outcome, see related to recognition, engagement related to future learning, doing reflected attitude and skills or “talk the talk,” and saying involved recall. In this article, the thing I found most interesting was preservice teachers’ response to learning. They not only did the work but they improved upon it.

Next, in the article by Kay, the author looked at the impact of video podcasts via a literature review. She was very thorough, looking at 50+ peer-review articles over a 9-year timespan. She found early on that the availability of YouTube and high-speed bandwidth impacted how students viewed video podcasts out of class. These videos improved learning (preparation for class or to check for understanding), increased control over learning (freedom of choice for the “net” generation), and helped when students missed a class (make up). Kay then looked at challenges of the podcasts including reasons not to use them (students may not come to class if they had a video to view). Overall the author found that the benefits of using video podcasts outweighed the cons. This literature was comprehensive. I would have liked if the author included her own study, though.

Finally, in the Shrum, Duque, & Brown article, the authors concentrated on methodology and moving technology forward. Largely, they found that the camera blurred the line “between researcher and subject” (page 17). I found this interesting as I didn’t think this nuance would be so pronounced. I consider it a strength.

References

Hung, C. M., Hwang, G. J., & Huang, I. (2012). A Project-based digital storytelling approach to improving students’ learning motivation, problem-solving competence and learning achievement. Educational Technology & Society, 15(4), 368–379.

Kay, R. H. (2012). Exploring the use of video podcasts in education: A comprehensive review of the literature. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 820-831.

Schwartz, D. L., & Hartman, K. (2007). It is not television anymore: Designing digital video for learning and assessment. In Goldman, R., Pea, R., Barron, B., & Derry, S.J. (Eds.), Video research in learning science (pp. 349-366). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrance Erlbaum Associates.

Shrum, W., Duque, R., & Brown, T. (2005). Digital video as a research practice: Methodology for the Millennium. Journal of Research Practice 1(1), 1-19.

Yadav, A.,Phillips, M.M., Lundeberg, M.A., Koehler, M.J., Hilden, K.H., & Dirkin, K.H. (2011). If a picture is worth a thousand words is video worth a million? Differences in affective and cognitive processing of video and text cases. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 23(1), 15-37.