Interactivity
Discussion
1. What benefits do you see from inserting reflective pauses, questions, and/or tasks into videos?
2. Research shows that it is important to challenge common misconceptions so that existing mental schemas can be restructured correctly (Muller, Sharma & Reimann, 2008). How can this be done in video?
3. How does built-in interactivity within videos allow for a more individualized learning environment?
The Research
Videos on YouTube are designed to run from start to finish, nonstop. A five-minute video will run for five minutes without pauses. Of course the viewer can pause the video to digest some of the information, but even this process requires extra cognitive resources (Should I pause or not?). The speed at which information is delivered through online video is problematic for diverse learners. Some can follow along while others fall helplessly behind. In order to better server diverse learners, video creators should break it up into user-controlled segments (Mayer, 2009). Inserting strategic breaks after each significant section of video content gives the user time to process what they have viewed. Those who are quick to process can move on when they are ready just like those who are slow can take as much time as they need. Without built-in, user-controlled segments, a great deal of information in any instructional video has little chance of making its way from working memory into long-term memory regardless of how fast the viewer can process it.
Furthermore, inserting reflective questions at these pauses has the potential to correct common misconceptions about the content. Muller, Sharma & Reimann (2008) suggest that the inclusion of alternative conceptions, also known as misconceptions into visual media increases germane cognitive load, which encourages students to re-engineer, flawed mental schemata. With that being said, built-in interactive pauses can not only help students send information into long-term memory, but they can also be used to correct existing mental frameworks provided that the pause includes a question or statement that addresses a common misconception or mistake that students usually make.
Moreover, built-in, interactive questioning offers video makers the ability to insert problems where they are most effective. The flipped classroom model of learning is well known in the educational community, but it might not be the most effective model according to research by Trafton and Reiser (1993). The flipped classroom model consists of students watching videos on their own after school, waiting about fifteen hours, and then coming back to school to reinforce or apply the content with their teacher. A foreseeable problem with this design is the length of time between the instruction and the practice. In their study, Trafton and Reiser examined the effect of including relevant practice problems as part of a problem solving assignment. In one group, students were given one example followed immediately by one practice problem (interleaved method). In the other group, students were given all four examples first followed by a block of all four problems (block method). Students in the interleaved group performed better than those in the block group. How much more poorly would students have performed if they had to wait fifteen hours before doing the problems?
Finally, research says that instructor feedback is incredibly beneficial to the learning process (Beesly & Apthorp, 2010). Tools such as Educanon.com and Edpuzzle.com allow video creators to give automated feedback to students when they answer embedded questions. Students who get a question right can be given an automatic explanation of why it was right and those who answer a question incorrectly can learn why they got it wrong. These tools also provide students with the option to go back and correct wrong answers and provide an explanation.
Furthermore, inserting reflective questions at these pauses has the potential to correct common misconceptions about the content. Muller, Sharma & Reimann (2008) suggest that the inclusion of alternative conceptions, also known as misconceptions into visual media increases germane cognitive load, which encourages students to re-engineer, flawed mental schemata. With that being said, built-in interactive pauses can not only help students send information into long-term memory, but they can also be used to correct existing mental frameworks provided that the pause includes a question or statement that addresses a common misconception or mistake that students usually make.
Moreover, built-in, interactive questioning offers video makers the ability to insert problems where they are most effective. The flipped classroom model of learning is well known in the educational community, but it might not be the most effective model according to research by Trafton and Reiser (1993). The flipped classroom model consists of students watching videos on their own after school, waiting about fifteen hours, and then coming back to school to reinforce or apply the content with their teacher. A foreseeable problem with this design is the length of time between the instruction and the practice. In their study, Trafton and Reiser examined the effect of including relevant practice problems as part of a problem solving assignment. In one group, students were given one example followed immediately by one practice problem (interleaved method). In the other group, students were given all four examples first followed by a block of all four problems (block method). Students in the interleaved group performed better than those in the block group. How much more poorly would students have performed if they had to wait fifteen hours before doing the problems?
Finally, research says that instructor feedback is incredibly beneficial to the learning process (Beesly & Apthorp, 2010). Tools such as Educanon.com and Edpuzzle.com allow video creators to give automated feedback to students when they answer embedded questions. Students who get a question right can be given an automatic explanation of why it was right and those who answer a question incorrectly can learn why they got it wrong. These tools also provide students with the option to go back and correct wrong answers and provide an explanation.