Claudia J. Dold USF Libraries, Tampa Now that you have made a great video, how do you know if anyone is learning from it? Claudia J. Dold USF Libraries, Tampa

Research question What are the effects of new media --video-- on literacy, particularly within higher education?

My role Educate the University students Support the University’s strategic goals

Information Literacy …a person’s ability to find, evaluate, and use information competently

Research Question How can one measure real learning? Durable, not short-term Includes judgment (ACRL standard) Assess, assess, assess! And then evaluate. Get feedback.

Population College of Community & Behavioral Sciences, USF Social Workers Administrators Counselors All ages & full spectrum of mental health issues Some will go to graduate school

Student Surveys Look for a change over time Knowledge of the USF Libraries’ homepage Research skills Database selection Essential database features Literature review Citations: APA 6th edition format Understanding plagiarism

New Media = Video I write them I create them I wonder if they are being used

Comprehensive Plan Select classes that required research and writing Assess student learning over a semester Ask faculty if they referred to the videos in their coursework Ask about graduate students’ experience with videos and collect their comments Preparation: Put videos on YouTube for the analytics

UG Spring 2013 15 students. One class. Pretest / in-class lecture / posttest. Paper format. During the semester, the teacher promoted videos, demanded good research and citations. Results: 50% increase in student results on the survey.

UG Students: Spring 2013

Driving force… Was it the videos ? Was it the professor? Some combination of both?

UG & Master’s Students: Fall 2013 149 students in 10 classes All classes had a research paper due that term Pretest – posttest. Short paper test with 10 questions All 10 answers were in the videos Faculty told students about 10 short instructional videos and posted the link to YouTube on the electronic interface Results: 11% of students looked at the videos

UG Students: Fall 2013

Master’s Students: Fall 2013

Doctoral Students: Fall 2013

Conclusion Students were not looking at the instructional videos, even when -- they had a link they had a need

Advanced Videos What about a different group of graduate students? Videos designed for students who would write a thesis Videos were created under the supervision of two department chairs Targeted to improved research and writing

Advanced Videos Survey Methodology: Results: self-select to take the survey Starbucks card for those who completed the survey & entered their contact information issued through SurveyMonkey Results: Poor response rate Useful comments

Conclusions from all the surveys The passive approach does not work. Students do not watch instructional videos, even when they are told they will provide help for their class work and their degree. Possible Explanations: ?? Students don’t think they need this instruction at this time ?? ?? Students don’t see the value of well-written papers ?? ?? Students don’t think their papers are important unless the professor demands excellent written work all semester ??

Faculty Survey: Late Fall 2013 Please indicate your level of “use” of instructional videos (as deter- mined by the questions below), as measured over the last twelve months: Did you know that the videos are posted and available to you and your students? Have you recommended the videos to your students? Have you posted the website for videos to your courses via Blackboard or Canvas? Have you written a video into your syllabus as an assignment for your students?  

Results: Mixed -- Some faculty assign instructional videos as part of the coursework. Others knew they were around but where? How? Which ones to use? What’s in them? Others didn’t know/didn’t respond.

Conclusion from faculty surveys: I have a Marketing Problem Ideas: Talk at faculty meetings Send faculty targeted emails to identify videos that would be useful for their particular courses Visit faculty in their offices to show them the video sites & discuss applications

Video as Teaching Medium Effective ! Appeals to three learning channels: visual, aural, written captions Images may convey more than words ever could Color, motion, narration ….demand attention Content for the deaf and blind Learning on demand, 24/7

Take-away 1: Instructional video is useless if no one uses it. Ideas: Propose a ladder of library and research skills videos to ensure students have the skills they need to succeed in a course and a program. Analyze syllabi. Work with faculty to assign videos and design video content into learning modules. No need to feel left behind: students may watch a video until they learn the material. Send students to the videos before they come in for a consultation.

Take-away 2: Video is useful for simple projects and complex concepts Ideas: Create short how-to videos to teach the tasks that are common How to get started in a database Create longer videos to teach complex ideas or operations How to conduct legal research Construct a video so it is logical, clear, and concise Caption all videos. Some words are new, foreign, or difficult Assess! Get feedback! Evaluate! Use short assessments.

Take-away 3: Interdisciplinary research is the way education is going… Ideas: Focus on information needs posed in the research question. Teach students to evaluate information in light of the question. Examine the problem from several angles. Consider TV character Dexter from the social, psychological, criminal, neurological angles Learn the language and thought structure of related disciplines. Use thesauri. Take a class. Read a textbook. Keep learning!

Your thoughts… Questions Comments Suggestions Claudia J. Dold, Assistant Librarian, USF Libraries