Abstract:

In the last years, screencast has become a widely used instructional tool in different areas. A screencast is a short video of a computer screen output with narrator explanation provided by the lecturer. This study explored the opinions of students of first-year university course regarding the benefits of screencasts in enhancing their physics learning experience, how students use screencasts, as well as why some students choose not to use them. The study also investigates whether the screencasts are helpful to improve course performance.

Several screencasts on key physics topics that students have struggled with in the past were uploaded onto Sakai/PoliformaT for students to access. Sakai/PoliformaT is a learning environment, developed at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV, www.upv.es/index-en.htm), through the Sakai project (https://sakaiproject.org). On average, every screencast was displayed over 100 times, in a group of physics with 117 students enrolled. Prior research suggested that screencast is perceived by students as beneficial and resulted in improved course performance. In order to check this perception, an anonymous survey, consisting of ten multiple choice questions supplemented by an open-ended question was administered online. In addition, the connection between screencast use, the students' perception of having gained a deeper understanding of the course material based on this use, and the actual performance on particular exam questions, was analyzed.

Preliminary findings among undergraduate engineering students indicate that most students found the screencast beneficial to their learning and understanding of the relevant concepts, and by watching screencast they improved course performance.

Keywords:

Screencast, students opinion.