Abstract:

This paper focuses on student perceptions of screencasts as a learning aid. In the first part of the paper the research literature on videotutorials and screencasts in higher education is reviewed. Videotutorials, vodcasts and screencasts are becoming increasingly popular in the tertiary education landscape. An important component of e-learning is digital content. While the early days of e-learning were characterized by text and graphics-based presentations, recent trends show a massive increase in the use of online video to supplement traditional online learning resources. Nowadays, many online courses involve videotutorials in the form of streaming video. Many online educators are employing video lectures, videotutorials, video podcasts or screencasts to enrich their courses and facilitate student learning in traditional and hybrid courses. The videos employed are either created ad hoc by course instructors or merely selected by the huge pool of videos available on video sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. Even though videotutorials of various forms are being integrated in online courses at an incredible pace, only a few studies in the literature have addressed dimensions of their effectiveness for learning. A key factor in that respect is how students themselves view the videotutorials, what they perceive as their learning value, what they consider that facilitates or hinders their learning from videotutorials etc. In light of this, the present study investigated how students perceived of screencasts as a learning resource.

Fifty-eight undergraduate students who had enrolled in a digital media course in a preschool education department participated in the study. One of the main course topics focused was video editing and involved the use of Blender 3D as a non linear video editing software. To facilitate student learning, 22 screencasts with a total duration of more than 11 hours were created. The screencasts were very comprehensive, covering both the requisite concepts and the sequencing of steps required to materialize a specific video editing workflow with Blender. One of the main course deliverables was a short educational video. Students needed to become very familiar with the video ediging software used in order to be able to create the video and, consequently, the screencasts were instrumental for their course success. The present study draws on quantitative data from a questionnaire administered at the end of the course.

Overall, the students considered Blender to be interesting but found it difficult to master for video editing. They gave the screencasts very high ratings on all technical and content-related measures while they also considered that screencasts greatly facilitated their learning. Moreover, the students were enthusiastic about the fact that the screencasts could be viewed at their own place and in their own time while they could also fully control the viewing pace. Unexpectedly enough, the duration of the screencasts received the most negative student ratings. The fact that the screencasts were very comprehensive was not well perceived by the students who highlighted duration as the most problematic feature.

The paper is concluded with a discussion of the main findings and the implications for a framework for the optimal design of screencasts in e-learning.

Keywords:

Screencasts, videotutorials, higher education, student perceptions.