Wednesday, June 13:  Evaluating Instructional Uses of Streaming Media

Dianne Fulton

 

            I enjoyed viewing the videos.  I guess there is a novelty effect.  I did not have much trouble getting them to download in a timely manner (with a 56K modem).  Listed below are my pros and improvements.  The first two segments were a good review of copyright rules, (An Introduction to Copyright, Fair Use and Intellectual Property), and a reminder to evaluate videos to see if they have the correct educational value (Instructional Video Evaluation Instrument).

 

Windows Media Demonstration of a Screen-Captured Tutorial

This media demonstration showed how to make a pie graph for presentation purposes.  Pros: There was an arrow that pointed to the different places of the screen that one would click on to accomplish the task.  This would be could for visual learners, and they could pause, or go back and forth to learn this skill.

Improvements:  It seemed as if we started in the middle of the lesson.  I would also like written directions for this.

 

Indonesian Language Lesson

Pros:  A student could benefit from hearing and applying practical applications in learning a foreign language.  Not only could the viewer hear the foreign language, but they could see the scene in which the language was used.  An answer section was at the bottom so the advanced language students could respond.  This seemed like a could way to apply learning.

Improvements:  Include Roger Wilco so students can practice verbal fluency.

 

Auscultation of Heart

Pros:  They presented visual clues of learning how to listen to the heart.  This could be used in a quizzing situation.

Improvements:  In this situation hands-on practice is needed.  In training matters of great importance, instructors need to be available for immediate feedback. 

 

Numerical Solution of Boundary Value Problems

Of course, I had no background knowledge to have an opinion if this actually would work.

Pros:  Remembering higher-level math courses, I do not remember the instructor teaching and showing concepts.  At least in this format, there is auditory and visual instruction.  If a student does not understand, s/he can pause and review. 

Improvements:  The slow modem would stop the audio segment, so this was disjointed. My interest level was so low, that this was hard to stay tuned in.

 

August Strindberg

At first, when I saw the talking head, I thought “Oh, no!” but this was actually necessary for an introduction to the video presentation.

Pros:  At the beginning, I was not too impressed.  The still pictures were not effective.  However, the audio portion was expressive.  I realized that in 1887 there would not have been anything else except the still pictures to represent Strindberg’s life, so these do show the actual setting.  Most descriptions of this time period and his accomplishments were valuable.

Improvements:  One picture was shown for too long a period.  There was some buffering time.  This video did not keep my attention because my interest was low.

 

Survival of the Fittest – The Fittest What?

Pros: Introduction had necessary information.  Had a feedback button.  Photos were clear. Some good photography of gecko, flatfish, and other examples were included. Some questions and answers were explained.

Improvements: This took too long to download (coffee break time).  The talking head referred to photos on another screen. In one place, the talking head was replaced by action (broken-winged bird, dandelion).  This was of more interest.