Abstract:

The introduction of technology at the University has traditionally been focused on increasing the computer-per-person ratio in the learning centers. However, the widespread adoption of broadband connections combined with the fact that hardware prices have plummeted during the last decade has put technology and online access right in our fingertips. Nowadays, the massive adoption of smartphones, tablets, netbooks and other kinds of equipment by current students forces the professors to adopt new strategies more aligned to our student’s digital life.

Many technical degrees require the students to solve problems by applying certain methodologies and techniques that can only be achieved by developing the appropriate skills. These skills are traditionally learned by mimicking professors during problem solving. After exercising these capabilities a number of occasions, students are usually offered with a collection of problems together with their solution. However, the procedure to achieve these solutions, in order to develop the aforementioned skills, is traditionally only carried out during the class lessons. This is a major handicap, especially for distance learners, or in those courses with limited time.

In order to leverage distance education, but also as a complementary material to all students, the combined use of graphics tablets and screen recorders arises as a powerful tool to document the process of exercise solving. This way, students can access these recordings on demand through an online video service provider.

In this framework, this paper summarizes the initial results of two teachers from computer science and telecommunications engineering that have experimented with the recording and the online delivery of problems combining different technologies such as graphics tablet, sketching software, screen-casting, video transcodification and closed captioning, among others. These efforts resulted in a pool of online accessible video exercises that can be employed for the students to gain the appropriate skills in order to solve other related problems. As an additional side product, the use of graphics tablet allows the professor to create digital diagrams that can be enriched over time and can be delivered to students through digital channels as a replacement of traditional photocopies.

The full paper will verse on both technical considerations and educational implications. The technical side will cover the tools, services and procedures employed to support this video exercises. The educational side will focus on case studies such as the usage of these techniques to support online personal tutoring. Finally, this paper will also include an assessment of the interest of video exercises from both student’s and professor’s point of view.

Keywords:

e-learning, video, computer science, telecommunications, engineering.