Students Create YouTube
Videos: Evidence of
Meaningful Learning
Alandra Weller-Clarke, PhD
MISTOP
February 21, 2014
Background
®
In its report, the National Council for Accreditation of
Teacher Education (NCATE, 2001, p.7) highlights the
challenge:
To what degree are higher education institutions meeting
their responsibility for preparing tomorrow’s classroom
teachers? Bluntly, a majority of teacher preparation
programs are falling short of what needs to be done…colleges
and universities are making the same mistake that was made
by K-12 schools; they treat “technology” as a special addition
to the teacher education curriculum- requiring specially
prepared faculty and specially equipped classrooms- not a
topic that needs to be incorporated across the entire teacher
education program…[Teachers] rarely are required to apply
technology in their courses and are denied role models of
faculty technology in their own work.
Call To Action
®
Teacher educators need to prepare teachers ‘who can utilize
technology as an essential tool to developing a deep
understanding’ (Drier, 2001, p. 173) of not only theories but
pedagogy.
®
We need to prepare preservice teachers and educators to use
technology by not only integrating it into our classrooms, but
provide them with the tools on how to effectively utilize it in
their future classrooms as well.
®
This training should not be a discreet component of learning
as a particular method for a particular subject matter, rather
integrated as a means to an end, like another more creative
outcome in the arena of assessment.
®
We need to infuse technology into all aspects of teacher
education (Willis, 2001; Li, 2003a) and emphasize learning
with technology, not from technology (Jonassen et al., 2003).
Purpose
v  This paper examines the issues of integrating technology into
an undergraduate educational psychology course.
v  It presents an approach to provide information that can be
useful in implementing rational changes to teaching educational
psychology or learning theories.
Main Objectives for Students
q  Demonstrate an understanding of psychological, cognitive, and
social psychological theories essential for teaching, counseling, and
working with K-12 students
q  Apply different psychological theories to specific teaching or
social service situations
q  Recognize and analyze age-level and developmental
characteristics with special emphasis on the behavioral, emotional,
physical, social and cognitive components
q  Demonstrate skill in use of relevant multimedia technology and
educational internet resources
Theoretical Framework
§  The course was theoretically grounded in cognitive research (Bruer, 1993)
and constructivist learning theory (Vygostsky, 1978; Young, 1997).
§  Simulations, hands-on homework assignments, group work problemsolving, and elaborate creative projects were the norm for this course.
The goal of the instructor for this course aligns with the thinking: “The
important point is that…the educational goal for social constructivists is to
create social environments that encourage students to construct their own
understanding’ (Lin et al., 1999, p.47).
§  Based on this belief, the course was designed to integrate technology with
students’ real-life experiences in order to allow the preservice teachers to
develop skills and advance their understanding of basic learning theories.
Data & Data Collection
Data
®
Thirty seven students enrolled in an undergraduate
education psychology course participated. Students
enrolled in this required course were typically in their
early twenties. This is the only required course that
focuses on child and adolescent development and
educational learning theories.
Data Collection
®
In this study, several data collection techniques were
used to ensure triangulation. The primary sources of
data included the end of course survey, the instructor ’s
journal, and the video artifacts. In the following, each
data source is described as well as the information each
source was expected to provide.
Instructor ’s Journal
®
Throughout the semester, a journal was kept to record
reflections on activities, student concerns, rubric decisions,
administrative issues, human and electronic resource
availability, and the overall experience in general. This bi
weekly journal documented both positive and negative
experiences, a well as pedagogy notes for future classes.
Threaded discussion
®
At each of the four due dates, students were asked to view each
others’ videos on D2L, discuss their findings and then vote on
those they viewed best of class. They needed to reflect, critique
and evaluate their personal interpretations regarding others’
explications established in the videos. The purpose of the
threaded discussion was twofold: one, to promote knowledge
construction, and two, to eliminate popularity or other bias.
Uploaded videos
®
Four videos were created for the following theories:
1. Personal, Social & Emotional Development;
2. Individual Differences;
3. Behaviorism;
4. Social Cognitive Theory.
o
Videos allowed students to create what each theory meant to them as
future educators and psychologists.
o
Students not only imagined themselves utilizing these concepts, but
applied them to practical everyday teaching situations, thus constructing
meaningful learning for their next lives as teachers, psychologists,
educators, social workers, etc.
Data Analysis: the surveys
ü  Surveys were first examined quantitatively for frequency counts.
ü  Likert-scale options for the responses delivered feedback for the Techniques of instruction
according to “not helpful, somewhat helpful, and very helpful.”
ü  As for the Methods of Assessment, student chose between “none, somewhat, and very well.”
ü  This Course Compared to Most was broken down into less, same, more, and much more.
ü  Student Characteristics, Influences (feel better about skill), and YouTube Comments were
simply true or false choices.
Data Analysis Continued
ü  The three open-ended questions were aggregated, summarized and coded relating to
particular themes. These emergent themes were identified and a coding scheme was
developed.
ü  Close examination of the instructor journal, the threaded discussion, the videos, and
the survey were placed into the scheme.
ü  To ensure reliability, the emergent themes were triangulated across datasets.
ü  Finally, concept maps from the narrative portions were constructed to organize
particular categories and the frequency counts were charted to make
interconnections explicit.
Results
The analysis of the data revealed that the following two themes are
particularly prominent:
1)  preservice teachers’ attitudes about using technology in classrooms
improved; and
2)  as the videos represented learning theories, students improved their
understanding of educational psychology as applied to teaching. Their
learning was clearly MORE MEANINGFUL to them.
Ed Psych Survey on Learning
Techniques of Instruction: What techniques did you find helpful in learning the content for this
course? (please check one box per technique)
Not Helpful
Somewhat Helpful
Very Helpful
Reading the textbook 3% 62% 49% Taking notes/ highlighting during lectures 0 27 73 Personal stories told by the professor as examples 0 5 94 In-class group work (brainteasers, etc.) 0 13 86 Simulations (disability day, reinforcement/
punishment exercise) Constructive approaches (multiple intelligence
group lessons; YouTube videos) 0 5 94 5 40 54 Movies to reinforce ideas and offer different
viewpoints on topics In-class debates (holiday party & 4 day week
topic) Open discussion with classmates 3 13 84 5 38 57 5 35 61 Homework portfolio projects 0 32 68 ü  Do you believe there is a correlation between the techniques you believe as helpful also are more fun and
more motivating?
100% Yes
0% No
ü  Do you believe these techniques are useful to college students as well as k-12 students
100% Yes
0% No
Methods of Assessment:
How did each method of assessment help you learn the material best?
None
Somewhat
Very well
Vocabulary/ textbook quizzes 0% 57% 43% Multiple intelligence in class day 3 13 84 Review of movie Children in America’s Schools on
midterm Obituary for Erikson or Kohlberg 0 16 84 0 24 76 Describing stages with examples of Piaget or Vygotsky
theory The YouTube video projects 0 27 73 8 51 40 This Course Compared To Most:
How would you rate this course to other courses in the amount of:
Less
Same
More
Much More
The textbook
11% 73% 13% 3% Taking notes/ highlighting during lectures 5 70 22 3 Personal stories told by the professor as
examples In-class group work (brainteasers, etc.) 0 5 49 46 0 24 65 11 Simulations (disability day, reinforcement/
punishment exercise) Constructive approaches (multiple intelligence
group lessons & YouTube Project) Movies to reinforce ideas and offer different
viewpoints on topics In-class debates (holiday party & 4 day school
week topic) Open discussion with classmates Homework portfolio projects 0 8 43 49 0 16 51 32 0 8 65 27 8 19 49 24 5 3 62 24 24 57 8 16 Qualitative Questions:
Ø  Do you feel more likely to use these techniques in your future classroom/
profession as a result of your personal experience learning with them?
100% Yes
0% No
Ø  What technique(s) would you add to this course/ project?
Ø  Any other suggestions for teaching this course would include:
YouTube Comments:
True:
False:
I feel making the videos helped me relate to the theories in a more meaningful way
78%
22%
I feel the videos let me express my learning as an individual (or small group)
81
19
I feel the videos are a great tool for expressing my own interpretation
84
16
I feel the videos should be continued in this class
73
27
I feel the videos are too much work
49
51
I feel the videos could be spaced apart for better quality
86
14
I feel the videos carry the appropriate grade weight for the course
76
24
I feel more confident about the theories having constructed them myself
84
16
Student Showcase & Reflections:
Yusra:
* Makes me feel more passionate about the material
* Helps me learn and understand child development better
* Gave me a new appreciation for multicultural teaching
* Result: I now make videos on my own time
* Yo u r o w n v i d e o à 1 0 0 % a t t e n t i o n
* S o m e o n e e l s e ’ s v i d e o à ? ? ? % a t t e n t i o n ; y o u m a s t e r w h a t y o u
m a k e / t e a c h Example:Developing A Sense of Self
Mike & Alicia:
* We had a lot of fun making these videos- great assessment!
* We will remember this content far longer than our other classes.
* We really had to get at the social meanings and interpretations in
order to add examples we wanted to get across.
* We enjoyed showcasing our learning OUR way!
Example: Gender Differences Across Domains
Jocelyn:
•  Active Proccess! I was able to create something using my
ideas, experiences, and talent- drawing.
•  I played a direct role in what I chose to learn and focus
on. The freedom of expression allowed for more creativity.
•  Thinking critically became necessary as I started to piece
everything together.
•  Makes the assessment continuous and student contributes to
assessment using self evaluation.
•  Erickson’s Eight Stages:
Jocelyn's Erickson
Student Presenter:
Mary Donner
Sophomore, Benedictine University
The Time Lapse
Thank you for
your attention
Feel free to contact me via email at:
aclarke@ben.edu
& check out student videos on my YouTube Channel:
DocClarkeVideos