Figure 1. Indexed streaming video created with SMIL for the Real Player. The links in the left frame of the player function like a table of contents; when clicked, the player moves to the corresponding point in the video.
Prepared for TCC2003:
The Student Experience in Online and Hybrid Courses.
Eighth Annual Teaching in
the Community Colleges Online Conference, April 22-24, 2003. Organized
since 1996 by the University of Hawai'i Kapi`olani Community College.
Grete Pasch
gpasch@ufm.edu.gt
Director, New Media. Universidad Francisco
Marroquín
6 Calle Final, Zona 10. Guatemala
City
Guatemala
Abstract
Students may harbor prejudices against web-based courses, especially if they have never taken an on-line course. This paper describes how the Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala is using indexed streaming video to deliver course contents and discusses student views regarding classroom versus web-based learning, both before the course started and after it ended.
Introduction: New Media at the UFM
The Universidad Francisco Marroquín (UFM) is a private university that was founded in Guatemala City in 1971. Current enrollment is about 2,500 full time students. Degrees are granted in business administration (undergraduate and MBA programs), economics, law, political science, architecture, social sciences, education, medicine, and dentistry.
On campus access to information technology is excellent. We enjoy fast Internet and phone service via two E1 lines. Buildings are interconnected by fiber-optic lines and a wireless network covers most public areas and classrooms. The University maintains computer labs with over 200 PCs and funds a two-year credit line for all students and faculty who wish to buy their own laptops. The integrated library system is fully web-based and online, and a teaching portal is used by UFM professors as well as several local high schools.
The UFM's New Media Department began in March 2001, and slowly built up to our current staffing of two FTEs and three part-time producers. Our mission is to assist faculty members, researchers, and students in the use, creation, and management of digital resources that complement their academic work. This includes offering training opportunities, digitizing documents, evaluating digital materials, and creating web-based courses.
We are also investing much effort videotaping, editing, and distributing lectures and other special events. We make videos available on traditional media (VHS, DVD, CDs) and also via our freely accessible streaming server (see www.newmedia.ufm.edu.gt) for in-classroom or off-campus use. By February 2003 our streaming server offers access to over 100 hours of locally produced content.
Teaching with Indexed Video
Most importantly, to facilitate use of our videos, we index them. Given my previous experience with Real Player (Pasch & Stewart, 2002), we started by using SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) on the Real Player platform (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Indexed streaming
video created with SMIL for the Real Player. The links in the
left frame of the player function like a table of contents; when clicked,
the player moves to the corresponding point in the video.
We are now using GML (Glifos Markup Language), an XML-like language for content markup developed locally by glifos.com. The GMPlayer offers a fully configurable user interface using the Windows Media Player (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Sample
GML Player by glifos.com. The player window can be easily configured
layered areas containing an unlimited number of synchronized texts, such
as an index, transcriptions, Powerpoint slides, credits, or any other textual
or graphic content.
Usually, web-based courses rely on a platform such as Blackboard or WebCT for supporting communication and for providing a convenient location for course materials. And most of the time, those course materials consist entirely of texts and perhaps PowerPoint presentations that students must download and study.
Instead of text, we are using indexed video to deliver the course materials. Professors simply lecture in a regular classroom. We tape each lecture, including the interaction with students; the final edited video is indexed and posted on our streaming server. We digitize the course program and the original handouts, we search the web for related resources, and we integrate all materials into an easy to use, chronologically arranged course website.
Informal Logic on the Web
The first streaming video-based course we produced was Dr. Armando de la Torre's "Lógica y Retórica," a highly interactive course in informal or everyday logic. The lectures were taped during the fall semester of 2001 and were ready for use in early 2002.
"Informal Logic" has so far been offered online three times to sophomores in the political science program. When the first group took it (Spring 2002) we spent much effort evaluating the course. First, we randomly split the 60 students into two groups: web-based (28 students) and in-classroom (32 students.) No student was forced to stay in either group, and two switched to the classroom group. We explained to them that the course schedule would be the same for both groups, the materials taught would be exactly the same, and that the same exams would be used. The only difference was that for the web group the lectures would consist of streaming videos, while the classroom group would meet regularly with a professor. In order to evaluate and correct possible problems with the technology, we had the web group work at scheduled times in a lab reserved just for them. The tutor professor and a technical person were always present and ready to help.
The results of IQ testing, personality traits (BFQ), and learning styles evaluation showed that there were no significant differences between the overall characteristics of the web group and the classroom group. Only one third of the students considered themselves to be advanced or expert computer users. In average, they had six years of experience using computers and a variety of applications, such as Word, Excel, MSN, Powerpoint, and chat programs. All used email regularly and were familiar with web browsing. And the final results-- that is, their grades, showed no significant differences either (Baessa & Fernández, 2002). However, their perception of what was possible or not in a web-based course disagreed significantly. This is the topic we will discuss next.
Prejudice #1: I will miss having a real professor!
When the semester started, 19 of the 28 students in the web group said that the greatest disadvantage of an online course would be not having direct contact with the professor. We had suspected this fear, and so we had arranged for the professor to be present while students worked on their videos in the lab. Twice a week, he was available for face to face Q&A sessions. But during these sessions, students asked very few questions and hardly payed attention to the professor.
Interestingly, by the end of the semester, this concern had become a non-issue. During final focus groups, only one student brought up a related comment. He said that teaching was more "personal" thanks to the videos, but that he still missed having direct contact with the professor.
Another student commented that even though the professor was not physically there, "I felt that the teaching was more direct, that it was dedicated just to me." Two students felt privileged in having Dr. de la Torre as their (virtual) professor, as he does not teach this course very often, especially to undergraduates. "He is such a well prepared professor, and this is probably the only way I'll ever have him as a teacher." Finally a student said that he saw the videos as an opportunity to get to know Dr. de la Torre's teaching style, in case he ever took a face to face class with him.
In contrast, at the end of the semester, 100% of the students in the classroom group said that the physical presence of a professor was necessary.
Prejudice #2: I will not get answers to my questions!
Only three students in the web group had taken an online course before. One had studied basic Italian using audio. She liked it and she felt she had "learned." And two had participated in "Introduction to Economics", a text-based online course. One of these students said he had done well and he liked the new experience; the other commented that the class had been very "different" and it was "hard to get answers to my questions". And she was one of the six students who said they were worried that in the web-based logics course they would not have immediate response to their questions.
Again, during final focus groups, relatively few students addressed this issue. One student did say that for future video-based courses, the professor should be available in person at least once a month for questions.
Two students saw no need for asking questions: "it was all clear, I had no questions to ask," and "I never had questions, everything Dr. de la Torre said was clear." Several students mentioned explicitly that if they had a question, they would replay the part of the video that was not clear. One student mentioned that she does not like to ask questions in class anyway, and that frequently, during a lecture her mind tends to wander. "I prefer the videos, I like it because I can play it back whenever I need to." And one student even said that she prefers the videos because there are few students interrupting with dumb questions.
Some students complained that the TA was not always able to answer their questions. We thought this was strange, since the TA has assisted the same course for the same professor at least 8 times, and he had been present in each class session that we videotaped. We did find out that he didn't always have time to watch the videos for each module in advance, and for that reason he did not always know how to answer specific questions.
Prejudice #3: I will miss the class discussion!
Five students in the web group said that they were going to miss hearing other students' class participations. We worried about this, especially because all work (exercises and homework) was to be submitted individually. We suggested that they could get together and watch the videos in small groups, but they never did so. In fact, during focus groups discussion, students in the web group said that the "course methodology made it unnecessary to work in groups". In general they did not seem to miss group work, and many explicitly stated that they had enjoyed working individually:
Rodrigo Arias came up with an idea and a design for a "session station" that accommodates a group of 4-6 students. It consists of a large, oval table with a screen with rear projection. We are experimenting with this setting in situations where students may wish to work in groups. For example, the session station was used frequently by students in our "Contemporary Architecture" course. They commented positively on the experience of watching and discussing the video with their study group, and they especially enjoyed the ability of taking and sharing notes easily.
Other a priori Comments
Before the course began, we also asked the students in the web group what they thought would be the main advantages of this course. Twelve of the 28 students said this was an opportunity to experiment with new technology, and nine students mentioned replaying the video and seeing parts that they had missed was a top advantage. Other advantages mentioned included: I can learn a new technology, I can study from another country, and I don't have to come to class. Two students said there was no advantage.
Disadvantages mentioned included: "my eyes will get tired" (one student reiterated this toward the end of the course) and "there is only a limited number of examples or exercises because it is recorded in advance." One student was very upset about having to rely so much on the computer: "I don't like to sit in front of the computer", and at the end of the semester, she was the only one who was adamant about not having liked the course: "I chose to take this course, but I repent completely." Two students said that online courses have no disadvantages.
Conclusions
At the end of the semester, it was clear that the classroom group had not changed their opinion regarding web-based courses. 93% said that they would not have enjoyed receiving this course online. 62.5% said that it would be impossible to teach it online anyway, and even those who thought it would be possible were very insistent on the need for direct contact with a professor. Comments included: "this is a complicated course, thus impossible to teach it online", and "there would be no way to resolve questions" and "direct contact with the teacher is needed".
In contrast, students in the web group are now much more receptive to web-based courses. They said that at first, it was not clear how the course would work, but when they saw the website and the quality of materials, they started "liking it more than a regular classroom course", because they could "do more than in a regular course."
Still, they feel that if they took another
course online, it would have to be what they perceive to be "non-complex
subjects" such as "social sciences, politics, economics" but not mathematics,
statistics, or chemistry. This is perhaps a newly acquired prejudice
in them - and probably one that would not be dispelled until they successfully
took a science course online!
Grete Pasch
PhD Candidate, School of Information,
University of Texas at Austin.
MLIS, UT Austin. MSc, London School
of Economics, England.
Director, New Media. Universidad Francisco
Marroquín, Guatemala.
gpasch@ ufm.edu.gt - www.newmedia.ufm.edu.gt
References
Baessa, Yetilú and Javier Fernández. 2002. Comparación de dos Modalidades de Enseñanza del Curso de Lógica y Retórica en la Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala. Available at: www.newmedia.ufm.edu.gt/logica/baessafernandez.pdf
De la Torre, Armando. 2001. Lógica y Retórica. Web-based course taught for the Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala. Available at: www.newmedia.ufm.edu.gt/logica
Pasch, Grete and Quinn Stewart. 2002. "Using the Internet to Teach the Internet: An opportunistic Approach," The Electronic Library, v.20, no.5: 401-412. Draft available: www.gslis.utexas.edu/~gpasch/tel/pasch_stewart.html