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Megan Otto
Cody Caudill
Rhetoric 105
14 December 2011
Expanding the Way Students Learn by Incorporating Videos in the Classroom
Ever since I was a child, I have wanted to learn how to play an instrument. This came
from my love of music. Last summer I finally began to learn how to play the guitar. I was taking
lessons once a week at a friend of a friend’s house. It was so exciting to actually be learning how
to play the guitar. My lessons were going great but it was getting closer and closer to the day I
was moving into my dorm at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. At first I was not
sure how I was going to continue learning to play the guitar but then it hit me: YouTube videos.
When I searched “How to play the guitar,” an abundance of videos came up. There were videos
for beginners, certain types of guitars, certain songs, etc. The pace of the videos varied as well;
some were slow (for the beginners), some were fast (for the experienced), and all in between. At
first I felt overwhelmed by the amount of options I had but it did not take me long to find a
person who I felt explained things well, went at a good pace for my ability level, and was
engaging and fun to watch.
YouTube is a site that has a ton of different types of videos. One type of videos are “How
to” videos. Many college students use these videos to learn how to do different activities, such as
learning to play an instrument, dancing, and cooking. These videos have certain qualities that
make them such a good tool to use to learn. Some of these qualities are user control (being able
to pause, rewind, and watch again), accessibility, and matching the user’s ability level. However,
without the advances of technology, these instructional videos would not be possible. With
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technology constantly changing and improving, students are also changing and improving their
way of learning. Since one way students are successfully gaining knowledge outside of the
classroom is through these instructional videos, it seems important to think about how these
videos can be incorporated into traditional learning environments like the classroom.
Methods
Once I began to use YouTube to learn how to play the guitar, it made me wonder if other
college students also use it the same way. In order to find out if and how my peers use YouTube
to learn, I conducted a survey of thirty undergraduate students. I decided to do a survey because
it provided me with the opinions of a large number of people. My selection of the participants
was random (handed it out to students at the library and a resident hall) which allowed me to get
feedback from students of different years and personalities. By having a wide range of
participants it allowed me to apply my data to students in general instead of narrowing in on one
type of student. Once I had all thirty surveys filled out, I analyzed the results by comparing the
answers to the questions.
Now I wanted to look more in depth on if these instructional videos can be used in the
classroom. In order to find out how people who are directly affected by videos in the classroom
feel, I interviewed a student and a teacher. Teachers and students have different opinions and
perspectives on issues and by interviewing both I was able to get the view point of each side. The
student I interviewed is Ashley Kelly1. She is a freshman at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign who is majoring in Accounting. Ashley was a great student to interview because she
is already in some classes that use videos and she has used YouTube to learn in the past. Since
she has experience with learning from videos used in the classroom and learning from YouTube,
1
Name has been changed.
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she was able to give me knowledgeable answers to the questions I was asking. The teacher I
interviewed is Brooke Smith2 who is a psychology teacher at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign. Her input was very valuable since she uses videos in her classes which allowed her
to answer based on her actual experiences. After interviewing both Ashley and Brooke, I looked
to see if there were any similarities or differences between the results of the interviews and
survey. There turned out to be many similarities and a few differences.
Analysis
Many college students use technology to learn how to do activities. As shown by
surveying 30 undergraduate students, seventeen male and thirteen female3, only four answered
no to, “Have you ever used YouTube videos to learn how to do something?” This made it clear
that a resource many students go to in order to learn is YouTube. The follow up question to that
one was, “If yes, what did you learn how to do?” There were a variety of answers from dancing
to origami to cooking4. This led to the idea of being able to teach a variety of topics through
videos. If students can learn a range of topics through YouTube, why wouldn’t they be able to
learn different school subjects in the classroom through video teaching? Looking at the answers
to the question, “Do you feel it would be effective to use videos to teach in the classroom,”
twenty eight out of thirty participants answered yes. This shows that many students feel they can
benefit from video teaching. A reason for this could be due to the fact that some students are
visuals learners and seeing videos would help them retain information better. Another reason
could be since they are used to learning non-academic activities through videos, they will be able
to easily adapt to that way of learning in the classroom. However, out of the twenty eight people
who said that video teaching would be effective, only eleven people believe it would be effective
2
Name has been changed.
See appendix 1 for graph on gender of survey participants
4
See appendix 2.1 and 2.2 for graphs on all the activities done by the participants
3
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in all classes. That leaves seventeen people who feel that certain classes would benefit more.
Their response to which classes benefit more varied tremendously, from science classes to
languages to math. Some students listed non-academic classes while others were more general
with their answer, such as “classes where visualization is important5.” This shows that not all
classes may benefit from video teaching but many classes will. Overall, most students use
YouTube to learn how to do activities and feel that videos used in the classroom are effective but
would be more effective in certain classes.
Students who have experience in classes that teach with videos may have a different
opinion on the matter from students who do not have experience. Ashley Kelly is a freshman at
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who is majoring in Accounting. Only being a
freshman, Ashley is already in some classes that use video teaching. She also admits to using
YouTube videos to learn non-academic activities, such as dancing and making origami, because
it is easy to get to. She feels that it is a good place to learn because there are so many options; a
person can learn in a face paced way or at a slower paced. This quality of YouTube videos is
very valuable since everybody learns at a different speed. Since showing one video that
acknowledges the learning speed of every student is highly unlikely, a teacher can show a video
that is in between fast and slow paced and explain the concept a little more for the students who
learn at a slower pace. The teacher may also provide links for students to visit outside of the
classroom that explains the concept at different speeds.
Regarding the effectiveness of using videos to teach in the classroom, Ashley states that,
“[Video teaching] can be a great asset to the classroom if the teacher is organized with it.” She
goes on to explain how one of her teachers would be using PowerPoint slides then would throw
5
See appendix 3 for a graph of all of the classes the participants feel would be more effective. The last three bars
on the graph are generalizations made by participants that apply to any class that does what is listed.
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in a random video and then switch back to the slides. The teacher was unorganized to the point
where Ashley went online to learn the material herself. But on the other hand, she had a teacher
who was organized and used the videos sparingly to help the students identify and connect main
ideas and visualize the concept. This method of using video teaching worked way better for her.
She also feels that, “If the class was solely on YouTube videos, I would fail.” She goes on to
emphasize the fact that they should be used as examples which make it easier to remember the
information later. She also mentioned that she feels not all classes should use video teaching. For
example, math and history would not be good classes to use video teaching in but psychology
and science would be. So if the teacher was organized and combined video clips with the lecture
then it was effective.
Teachers have different perspectives on using videos to teach in the classroom. Some feel
it is effective and they use them but others feel that it is better to use a book and stand in front of
the room and lecture. Brooke Smith is a psychology teacher at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. She currently uses videos, mostly YouTube but sometimes clips from
documentaries, while teaching. She feels that students can comprehend a difficult concept better
when they see it action through a video. However, just like Ashley, she also feels that videos
should be used in moderation, “Videos should be used to supplement lecture, not to replace it.”
Using videos along with lecture to make it easier to understand a concept is more effective for
the student than when videos are used too heavily, such as being the only teaching method. That
way the lecture introduces and explains the concept and then the video reinforces it.
One reason why using clips along with lecture is effective may be due to the fact that not
all students learn the same way; some students learn better with hands on, some with visualizing,
others with hearing, etc. Many of the “how to” videos on YouTube integrate all of these learning
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styles; by explaining the activity, they are appealing to students who learn better by hearing, by
demonstrating the activity, they are appealing to students who are visual learners, and for making
it so the person can copy what they are doing, they are appealing to students who are hands-on
learners. By teaching the concept just by lecture, it would only be benefiting those who learn by
hearing, whereas if it was taught with both lecture and video, it is benefiting those students who
learn by seeing and those who learn by hearing. In addition, if the teacher chooses the right type
of video (one that benefits all types of learning like the “how to” videos) the teacher is helping
all of the students. Brooke currently has two ways in which she uses videos, “to help break up
the lecture in interesting ways and to demonstrate concepts that are difficult to explain to
students.” In both cases she is giving the students examples, not the whole concept through
videos only, which should make it easier to understand and more probable that the students will
recall it later. Overall, from the perspective of a teacher, video teaching can be effective if in
moderation.
Since Brooke and Ashley both mentioned only uses video clips along with her lecture,
not videos as the lecture, I wanted to do more research about this idea. The article A blended
approach to learning: added value and lessons learnt from students’ use of computer-based
materials for neurological analysis, by Dr. Alison Davies, who is the Research Projects’ Officer
for the Learning Department Unit at the University of Birmingham, Dr. Jill Ramsay and Helen
Lindfield both lecture on the BSc Physiotherapy course in the School of Health Sciences at the
University of Birmingham, Dr. John Couperthwaite, who was the IT Developer and Web
Coordinator at the University of Birmingham, did just that. They worked with BSc
Physiotherapy students to see the effects of adding video in with a lecture (Davies et al. 839).
They started off by noting that “e-learning is not a replacement for traditional modes of learning
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(such as face-to-face teaching), but is something that can complement and support traditional
approaches to produce a stimulating and motivating environment that enhances the learning and
teaching experience” (Davies et al. 840). This shows that they feel video clips should be used in
addition to the lecture. To further prove this point, the students watched video clips in class
(along with lecture) of patients displaying the effects of different neurological disorders. After
viewing the video they formed small groups and discussed the video and answered questions.
When asked how they felt the video teaching went, seventy two percent of the students suggested
that their experiences of using computer-based materials alongside traditional methods of
learning had been “useful” in helping them to develop their observational and analytical skills
(Davies et al. 844). They found being able to see the patients in video enhanced their
understanding of the disorders and become more prepared for what to do in the situation. One
BSc Physiotherapy student said, “There’s only so much theory you can read, but you need to see
practical examples…showing the video in the lecture was really good.” According to the
research they did, using video clips along with lecture is effective. This is exactly what Brooke
and Ashley had said.
Davies, Ramsay, Lindfield, and Couperthwaite had also given the students the video clips
on CD-ROM, in which they were able to watch them outside of class. This gave them the ability
to pause, rewind, stop, etc. which led them to take good notes and get a better understanding of
the material. The students had stressed that they liked the flexibility of taking the CD-ROM
home and being able to replay the clips as much as they wanted to. One of the qualities that make
YouTube videos a good learning tool is user control. When watching a YouTube video, the user
can pause, rewind, watch again, stop, etc. as many times as needed for them to understand the
activity. Since the BSc Physiotherapy students were able to apply this quality to the videos they
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saw in the classroom, they were able to learn and get a better understanding of the topic. Video
teaching would be more effective if this quality can be applied to the videos shown in the
classroom.
In order for videos to be very effective in the classroom, they should contain the qualities
of YouTube videos. One of the main qualities of YouTube videos is that they are short and
digestible. This is accomplished in teaching with videos if the teacher is showing a short video
clip along with their lecture. Accessibility is another quality of YouTube videos. As long as the
video clip is easy to get to outside of the classroom, then the clip is accessible. Another quality of
YouTube videos is that the user has control, in which they can pause, rewind, watch again, etc.
By allowing the students to take home the video clip or providing them with the link, in order for
them to watch it outside of class, the teacher is providing user control. When using a YouTube
video to learn, the user is participating in the activity while watching the video. This might be
harder to incorporate into a classroom video. If the teacher can show a video where the students
are able to follow along and perform the activity, the students are more likely to remember the
material later. Another quality is that the videos match the ability level of the user. This is
another quality that may be difficult to include in the classroom. Since a teacher will most likely
not be able to show a video that matches the ability of all of the students, the teacher can show a
video that is in between fast and slow paced. Students who learn at a slower pace might have
questions so the teacher may have to explain the concept to them a little more or provide them
with a link to a video that is at a slower pace. Video teaching would be very effective if all of
these qualities can be included.
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Conclusion
Learning can go beyond just a book and lecture especially with the way technology is
constantly changing and improving. The accessibility of knowledge to students is widening due
to this increase in technology. Most college students have used YouTube videos to learn how to
do an activity. They are able to learn from these videos because of certain qualities they contain,
such as matching the ability level, user control, and being easy to get to. By showing a video
clip, along with the teacher’s lecture, that includes all or most of the qualities of YouTube videos
then it will be very effective to the students. Some teachers at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign already use video clips along with their lecture. Now it is time for more
teachers to use them. There are more ways to learn and teach than just from a book.
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Appendix
1
Gender
Male
Female
2.1
Activities Males Learned
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
2.2
Activities Females Learned
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
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3
Classes That Are More Effective
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
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Works Cited
Alison Davies, Jill Ramsay, Helen Lindfield, and John Couperthwaite. "A blended approach to
learning: added value and lessons learnt from students' use of computer-based materials
for neurological analysis." British Journal of Educational Technology Vol. 36 No. 5
(2005): 839-849. EBSCO. Web. 10 November 2011.
Kelly, Ashley. Personal Interview. 12 October 2011.
Otto, Megan. “YouTube Learning.” Survey. 09 October 2011.
Smith, Brooke. Email Interview. 21 October 2011.