Student usage of short online single-topic videos in a first-year engineering chemistry class

Abstract

This study explored students’ usage patternswith 5-10 minute single-topic (“short topic”) videosproduced solely for online use to support undergraduatestudents enrolled in a first-year introductory course toengineering chemistry and materials science at theUniversity of Toronto. The short topic videos were postedas unlisted YouTube videos and made available to studentsusing the Blackboard learning management system.Analytical data was collected from these unlisted YouTubevideos. In 2016, 142 student participants completed ananonymous survey that collected information on users’perceived usefulness and the reason for using the shorttopic videos. In the survey responses, 70.4% of studentsindicated a preference for using the short topic videos toreview specific content vs. full lecture captures. A total of76 short topic videos were created with an average videolength of 8:11 min. The videos were intentionally keptshort, with a maximum duration of 13:46 min. View counts and feedback from the survey responses suggested that students used the short topic videos to review contents and found the videos to be a valuable learning resource. The videos were re-used as the main learning content in the online equivalent course offered in 2017 and 2018. Datacollected from YouTube analytics demonstrated similarusage behavior and retention in the videos when used asthe main learning resource in the online courses to whenthe videos were provided as supplementary resources.