What is the benefit of video lecturing compared to other eLearning modalities?

Tiong Hok Tan: Lecture video recording was considered as a response to our drive to bring in a strong human element into online learning technology way back in 2002. With students increasingly accessing our edveNTUre eLearning portal for their material, there was the realization that the "failure of success" reality will set in when students find learning by looking at web pages limiting and no better than reading a book. Thus, the push was set that year to look for eLearning tools and systems that will embody the theme "HumaniZing eLearning".

According to Dewey (1913) and Rutter (1984), computer-based lessons that include social cues - such as facial expressions or human voices - tend to be more favourable among students as they communicate better, increase student interest in the lessons, and enable them to learn better.

The use of more human elements in our "high tech - high touch" delivery approach helps to create a feeling of the presence of the instructor and focus students' attention on the content at a pace set by the instructor, but easily customised by the students. The multimodal (audio, video, text) modes of learning cater to students with different learning styles.

What would you recommend in terms of recording, publishing, and using such lectures in a blended-learning approach?

Tiong Hok Tan: Do it now or the institution may risk becoming less competitive, which today is, of course, disadvantageous. The push factors for providing video-based instructional media include: the net-generation students' expectation of on-demand and readily and instantly accessible online content that is customised to their learning needs.

Streaming-video technology has matured, and faster broadband internet connections are now readily available. Web 2.0 technologies, which allow individuals to create their own content, have flattened the instructor-student hierarchy. Now everyone - students as well as instructors - can be a content creator and provider. And of course there has been a meteoric increase in the ownership of portable media players and mobile communication devices - including mobile phones with wireless capability.

Some notes on recording: Professional-quality recordings may not be always necessary, as these require more time and cost more, too. An important factor is the turn-around time - ideally, the recordings have to be available almost instantly - this is the "freshness" factor. For content-based lecture recording, audio (with synchronous slides) may still be more important than video.

The interaction among the various elements in the presentation (voice, video, slides, etc.) needs to be tightly coordinated. Otherwise, it will cause distraction rather than enhance the learning experience. Video lectures should not be provided in isolation. They should incorporate a variety of activities to engage learners with their content and also establish interaction between learners.

Some notes on publishing: Multimedia content has traditionally been and is still very bandwidth intensive. It can clog network connections, and this might lead to jerky, erratic images and the loss of sound, and hence reduce the usefulness and effectiveness of such resources.

Many current lecture-recording systems focus on the recording (creation) part, but are weak in the "delivery" part. Institutions must ensure that robust and scalable content- distribution server architecture is available to cope with heavy traffic and provide a satisfactory learning experience. The use of content-delivery network infrastructure should be considered early in the planning stages to avoid major "fork-lift" upgrades later on.

What is the difference between HumaZing and engaging eLearning?

Tiong Hok Tan:HumaniZing eLearning (in the NTU context) is about the introduction of human-presence, media-enriched content to enhance or replace traditional learning resources such as static web pages and PowerPoint slide presentations. As described above, humaniZing eLearning acts as a learning reinforcement to improve students' learning. However, it provides few opportunities for students to interact with the content or instructors in real time when the content is being accessed.

Engaging eLearning, on the other hand, encourages student-content, student-student, and student-professor interactivity. This is made possible by the use of video instruction combined with online activities such as quizzes, discussion forums, and customised learning activities (using LAMS).

Online collaborative tools such as the discussion forum are said to provide a platform for students to actively engage in constructing knowledge with their peers and instructor (Roschelle, Pea, Hoadley, Gordin, Douglas & Means, 2000, p. 79).

Findings from our previous studies (Thanasingam S. & Soong, S.K.A. 2007) suggested that the online discussion forum was highly effective in engaging students to participate in a learning community. There was a high level of individual student involvement in the activity. The results also suggest that the online forum activity was able to motivate and engage students in the learning process. A high level of learner satisfaction would increase persistence in the discussion because students feel involved (Tinto, 1993).

While no research/survey has yet been done to determine the usefulness of the recently introduced online social and educational networking applications such as blogs, wikis, Facebook, social bookmarking tool, and instant messaging applications at NTU, we expect that as long as the learning activities are thoughtfully designed, they are likely to positively influence learning outcomes and the performance of this net generation students.

What future impact on education would you expect from video lectures?

Tiong Hok Tan: A great advantage of recorded lectures is the ability of students to review lecture material and presentations by their instructor. This creates new opportunities that will support moments of cognitive lapses, students weak in that subject, and making up for missed lectures. It could mean a reduction in failure rates as weak students are provided with additional opportunities to re-learn. Such reductions of student failures have economic implications (like more students graduating to join the employment market).

The delivery of video-based supplemental materials, often designed and produced specifically as podcasts/vodcasts, will be common in future education scenarios. These materials range from brief, reflexive "sonic sessions" that interpret one or two important topics and offer questions for consideration, to listening exercises in language or medical diagnostics, and on to pre-recorded mini-lectures that must be viewed before the next lecture. This, in turn, will accelerate the pace in moving from the traditional learning environment to the networked learning environment.