Abstract:

The aim of this work is to improve the quality, flexibility and effectiveness of the teaching in the scientific degree courses at the University of Camerino (Italy).

The main specific goals of the project here presented are:
(i) Counteracting the first year drop-out of the students;
(ii) Improving learning outcomes of the students in terms of quality and with higher marks in average;
(iii) Analyzing and understanding the behavior and perception of the students on the use of the on-line video lectures.

As a first case study and practical realization, we have chosen the Physics course in Classical Mechanics for the first year undergraduate students, enrolled either in the Physics degree or the Mathematics degree at the University of Camerino. We offered to the students the opportunity to use on-line video lectures recorded during the frontal lessons and embedded in the e-learning Moodle platform of our university, together with supplementary teaching material and with interaction tools. In total we recorded 40 videos of the lessons (60 hours of recordings). The total number of students enrolled in the on-line course was 80, but the number of students who effectively used the on-line videos was 70. To monitor the validity and the outcomes of this project, we have realized a detailed analysis on how the students used the e-learning platform containing the full video recording of the lectures. The student use of the video lectures uploaded in the e-learning platform has been analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively, and a detailed comparison with the performance of the students has been carried out. In order to increase the understanding of the behavior of the students and to acquire information on their perception about the video lectures, we have asked the students to fill in an open ended questionnaire. The available data extracted from the Moodle platform and elaborated from the questionnaire indicate the presence of two groups of students: a first group of motivated students, with a good physics background who had a limited but focused use of video lectures; a second group, with limited physics experience, who employed intensively the video lectures and whose final performance significantly benefited from its use. Therefore, we believe that the recorded video lectures delivered by the e-learning platform represent a powerful tool for improving learning outcomes and reducing the drop-out of the first year students.

Keywords:

e-learning, video lectures, drop out.