=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2356/experience_short8
|storemode=property
|title=Videos as teaching and learning resources for developing of pre- and in-service teachers' professional digital competence in the ICTMOOC
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2356/experience_short8.pdf
|volume=Vol-2356
|authors=Irina Engeness,Magnus Nohr
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/emoocs/EngenessN19
}}
==Videos as teaching and learning resources for developing of pre- and in-service teachers' professional digital competence in the ICTMOOC==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2356/experience_short8.pdf
Proceedings of EMOOCs 2019:
Work in Progress Papers of the Research, Experience and Business Tracks
Videos as teaching and learning resources for developing
pre- and in-service teachers’ professional digital
competence in the ICTMOOC
Irina Engeness1 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5948-4992 and
Magnus Nohr1 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7647-2886
1Ostfold University College, B R A veien 4
1757 NO, Halden,
Norway
Irina.Engeness@hiof.no
Magnus.Nohr@hiof.no
Abstract. This study provides an insight into the preferred length of videos in
the online course ICTMOOC aimed at the development of professional digital
competence with pre- and in-service teachers in Norway. The one-way ANOVA
test (Field, 2013) was used for the analyses of participants’ responses about the
preferred length of videos in the ICTMOOC.
Findings reveal that the learners preferred the videos in the range of 5-10
min. These findings have therefore implications for the design of videos for
MOOCs and online courses.
Keywords: Videos, MOOCs, online courses
1 Introduction
This study examines the length of videos that was preferred by the students
engaged in learning in the online course ICTMOOC offered at Ostfold University
College in Norway. The ICTMOOC is aimed at the development of professional
digital competence with pre- and in-service teachers as a part of their teacher training
and professional development programme. Since 2014 when the ICTMOOC was
offered for the first time, the course has become increasingly popular with pre- and in-
service teachers, which may indicate contemporary demand for flexible online
education that intends to bridge the educational journey from theory to practice.
In online learning, as well as other types of learning, student engagement is
considered a necessary prerequisite for learning (Guo, et al., 2014) and videos are one
of most wide-spread tools used to enhance students’ engagement in online learning
(Evans, et al., 2016; Hew, 2016; Rose, 2009). However, research on the length of
videos suitable for asynchronous online courses (Singh & Mørch, 2018) is still
relatively scarce. This study addresses this gap by examining the following research
question:
RQ1: What length of videos was preferred by the participants in the ICTMOOC?
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Proceedings of EMOOCs 2019:
Work in Progress Papers of the Research, Experience and Business Tracks
1.1 Video resources in online courses and MOOCs
In studies on the use of lecture videos, students report enjoying the videos and
finding their classes engaging (Choi & Johnson, 2005; Whatley & Ahmad, 2007).
Guo and colleagues (2014) reported that shorter and informal talking-head videos,
where instructors speak fast with high enthusiasm and videos produced with a more
personal feel could be engaging for learners. Like Guo and colleagues (2014), other
researchers (Reutemann, et al., 2016) found that talking head videos are the most
preferred by learners in four MOOC platforms (edX, Coursera, FutureLearn, and
Iversity).
The length of the educational videos in MOOCs is a widely discussed topic. Some
researchers argue that short videos are most suitable for educational purposes (Bonk,
2011; Guo et al., 2014). On the one hand, Guo and colleagues (2014) introduced a
“six minutes rule” as an optimum length for videos in MOOCs. On the other hand,
Lagerstrom and colleagues (2015) believe that the “six-minute rule,” valid for a
MOOC environment, does not capture the video viewing behaviours of students in
standard college courses and how long students watch a video depends on how
motivated the student is to study.
Although the observations outlined here indicate that videos can be a powerful
resource to enhance students’ engagement in learning, the discussion on the length of
videos in online courses is lacking consensus. We addressed this knowledge gap by
examining participants’ preferred length of videos in the ICTMOOC.
2 Method
2.1 Participants and setting
Data collection was conducted through the questionnaire administered to all the
pre- and in-service teachers engaged in the ICTMOOC in 2014 – 2018. The
questionnaire aimed to examine participants’ experiences in the ICTMOOC. In total
501 participants responded to the questionnaire in 2014-2018. The majority of
participants in the ICTMOOC in 2014-2018 were females, in-service teachers and
they were either strongly satisfied (M=28.82%, SD=4.71) or very strongly satisfied
(M=67.67%, SD=6.42) with the ICTMOOC.
2.2 ICTMOOC
The ICTMOOC was first introduced in Norway in 2014. The course was
developed by the researchers and development specialists from Ostfold University
College. The online course ICTMOOC has a structure of an xMOOC (Singh &
Mørch, 2018), it is built in the Canvas platform and is aimed to enhance the
development of digital competence with pre- and in-service teachers. The ICTMOOC
consists of 10 Modules to be completed by the participants over the course of 10
weeks. Table 1 presents the list of Modules included in the ICTMOOC and the
progress plan the participants are to follow.
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Table 1. Modules included in the ICTMOOC and the progress plan
Title of Modules Progress Plan
(week number)
Module 0. Introduction Week 34
Module 1. Taking notes digitally Week 35
Module 2. Microsoft Office and collaborative writing Week 36
Module 3. Digital Presentations Week 37
Module 4. Tweaking Pictures Week 38
Module 5. Video and Animations Week 39
Module 6. Digital Assessment Week 40
Module 7. Interactive Whiteboard Week 41
Module 8. Web Publishing Week 42
Module 9. Student Response Systems Week 43
Module 10. Digital Tools for Students With Individual Needs and Week 44
Copyright
Each Module contains textual information, videos, individual tasks, and multiple-
choice quizzes. In total, there are 223 videos in the course, 174 of them have been
produced by the course developers and stored at the YouTube Channel. 179 videos
are tutorials (so-called ‘How To’ videos) and forty-one videos discuss the pedagogical
aspects of the use of digital tools. The total length of all videos in the course is 22h
29min 39sec and the average length of a video is 6min 3sec. In several Modules, in
addition to textual information, videos and multiple-choice quizzes, students are
expected to complete practical exercises, give and receive peer feedback and submit
examination tasks. On successful completion of the ICTMOOC (evaluated to passed
or failed), participants are awarded 15 ECTS Credits (European Credit Transfer and
Accumulation System). Over 80% of enrolled students passed the ICTMOOC in
2014-2018.
2.3 Data and Analyses
To address the research questions in this study, the following questions were
included in the questionnaire administered to the participants in the ICTMOOC in
2014-2018: Q11: What is your overall experience about the use of videos in the
ICTMOOC? (applied a Likert scale from one to five (one = ‘very weakly satisfied,’
two = ‘satisfied,’ three = ‘somewhat satisfied,’ four = ‘strongly satisfied’ and five =
‘very strongly satisfied’), Q12: What do you think about the length of the videos in
the ICTMOOC? (applied a Likert scale from one to five (one = ‘too short,’ two =
‘short,’ three = ‘appropriate,’ four = ‘long’ and five = ‘too long’); and Q13: What
length of videos do you think is the most appropriate for the ICTMOOC? (participants
were to mark one of the suggested lengths: 0-2 min, 3-4 min, 5-6 min, 7-10 min, 11-
15 min, 16-20 min, 21-30 min, and 31-45 min)
The data consisted of 501 participants’ responses to questions 11, 12 and 13. The
one-way ANOVA test (Field, 2013) was used to analyse statistical difference between
the participants' responses to questions 11, 12 and 13.
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3 Findings
The analysis of participants’ preferred length of the videos in the ICTMOOC starts
by examining students’ responses about their overall experience of using videos in the
ICTMOOC (Q 11: What is your overall experience about the use of videos in the
ICTMOOC?) (Table 2).
Table 2. Participants’ responses about their overall experience of using videos in the
ICTMOOC
Years 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Mean (M)
Very weakly satisfied 1.3% 0% 0.5% 0.5% 0.7% M=0.60% SD=0.47
Weakly satisfied 0% 4.5% 0% 0% 0% M=0.90% SD=2.01
Somewhat satisfied 6% 3.1% 2.2% 0.8% 0.3% M=2.48% SD=2.26
Strongly satisfied 34.9% 24.2% 30.6% 28.5% 23.6% M=28.36% SD=4.68
Very strongly 57.8% 68.2% 66.7% 70.2% 75.4% M=67.66% SD=6.42
satisfied
One-way ANOVA p = 0.000
test
The one-way ANOVA test (Field, 2013) shows a significant statistical difference 1
between the participants’ responses: the majority of pre- and in-service teachers were
very strongly satisfied (M=67.66%, SD=6.42) with the use of videos in the
ICTMOOC in 2014-2018.
Table 3 presents participants’ responses about their experiences of the length of
videos in the ICTMOOC (Q 12: What do you think about the length of videos in the
ICTMOOC?)
Table 3. Participants’ responses about the length of videos in the ICTMOOC
Years 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Mean (M)
Way too short 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% M=0.00% SD=0.00
Too short 1.2% 0% 0% 0% 0.7% M=0.38% SD=0.55
Appropriate 62.7% 80% 83.6% 93.1% 92.9% M=82.46%SD=12.45
Too long 39.8% 23.1% 16.4% 8.5% 9.2% M=19.40% SD=12.86
Way too long 0% 0% 1.4% 0.8% 0% M=0.44% SD=0.64
One-way p = 0.000
ANOVA test
The data indicate the difference between the participants’ experiences of the
length of videos in the ICTMOOC. The one-way ANOVA test (Field, 2013) shows a
significant statistical difference between the participants' responses: the majority of
1p> .05 indicates no significant statistical difference between the means of samples (Field,
2013)
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participants (M=82.46%, SD=12.45) considered the length of videos (average 06min
03sec) in the ICTMOOC in 2014-2018 appropriate.
Table 4 presents participants’ responses about the preferred length of videos in
the ICTMOOC (Q13: What length of videos do you think is the most appropriate in
the ICTMOOC?)
Table 4. Participants’ responses about the preferred length of videos in the ICTMOOC
Years 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Mean (M),
0-2 min 1.1% 1.7% 1.2% 1.4% 2,1% M=1.50% SD=0.41
3-4 min 4.7% 9.2% 4.3% 5.1% 8,3% M=6.32% SD=2.26
5-6 min 40.7% 27.3% 42.1% 36.2% 40.4% M=37.34%SD=6.03
7-10 min 40.4% 45.5% 41.5% 38.9% 37.4% M=40.74%SD=3.08
11-15 min 9.3% 12.2% 8.7% 13.5% 7.8% M=10.30%SD=2.43
16-20 min 3.5% 4.1% 2,2% 4.1% 3.3% M=3.44% SD=0.78
21-30 min 0.3% 0% 0% 0% 0.3% M=0.12% SD=0.16
31-45 min 0% 0% 0% 0.8% 0.4% M=0.24 SD=0.36
One-way p = 0.000
ANOVA test
The data show the differences between the participants’ preferences about the
length of videos in the ICTMOOC. The one-way ANOVA test (Field, 2013) shows a
significant statistical difference between the participants' responses: the students
preferred the videos in the range of 5-6 min (M=37.34%, SD=6.03) and videos in the
range of 7-10 min (M=40.74%, SD=3.08).
4 Discussion, implications and directions for further research
The analyses performed in this study focused on examining the preferred length of
videos in the ICTMOOC by addressing the research question: What length of videos
was preferred by the participants in the ICTMOOC?
First, the pre- and in-service teachers expressed their satisfaction with the videos:
the majority of participants were very strongly satisfied (M=67.66%, SD=6.42) with
the videos in the ICTMOOC in 2014-2018. This may indicate that the videos were
used by the participants extensively for various types of support. However, by doing
so, the learners may have demonstrated their dependency on the videos and the
support the videos provided.
Second, while the participants were very strongly satisfied with the videos in the
ICTMOOC, the majority of students (M=82.46% SD=12.45) considered the length of
videos appropriate (average length of videos in the ICTMOOC is 06min 03sec).
Specifically, the students reported that the videos in the range of 5-6 min (M=37.34%
SD=6.03) and the videos in the range of 7-10 min (M=40.74% SD=3.08) were
preferred in the ICTMOOC.
In sum, the majority of participants were strongly satisfied with the videos in the
ICTMOOC. In addition, the learners indicated that the videos in the range of 5-10 min
were preferred in the ICTMOOC in 2014-2018.
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There are several pedagogical implications for designing videos facilitating
students’ learning in digital environments.
First, the preferred length of videos in the range of 5-10 min might have
implications for the design of videos in MOOCs and online courses aimed at the
development of professional digital competence with the participants.
Second, the pre- and in-service teachers' strong satisfaction with the videos may
indicate that videos are useful resources to facilitate learning in online environments.
This may also emphasise the importance of the types of support videos provide to
learners. Further research will, therefore, benefit from a mixed method study,
providing qualitative and quantitative evidence about the types of support videos
provide to the participants in online environments.
These findings, therefore, inform practitioners, MOOC, online courses’ developers
and educational video producers about the length of videos preferred by the
participants in the ICTMOOC aimed at the development of digital competence with
pre- and in-service teachers. They also emphasise the crucial importance of
practitioners’ awareness about the suitable length of video resources for the purpose
of integrating these resources to enhance pedagogy and students' learning.
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