Dr Jonathan Wilson – @WilsoJS
The University of East Anglia
Past research has shown that well-selected YouTube videos can help to develop student engagement and promote learning (Burke and Snyder, 2008). Videos are often user-generated content (UGC). These are videos created by people rather than corporations or those with a commercial interest (Burgess and Green 2009). UGC can be produced, modified, shared and consumed, and “can be seen as the sum of all ways in which people make use of social media,” (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010, p.61).
This short paper focuses on the production of UGC in the form of YouTube Videos to enhance and support students’ learning. The 2-3 minute videos will be created by the module tutor in the form of VideoScribe whiteboard animations. These will then be uploaded to YouTube at regular intervals throughout the marketing module. Animated whiteboard video can be described as “a video that records people drawing and writing on a whiteboard and then utilizes video editing software to add sound and effects and share information with viewers’ (O’Shea, 2016, p.18). The videos will follow themes covered in the module and include content that answers student questions. A hashtag #AskWilsoJS will be set up for marketing students to ask questions to their tutor via Twitter. The answers to these questions will then form the content of the UGC YouTube videos.
Students will be encouraged to post comments on YouTube in response to the videos and share them via Twitter. The videos will also be posted to the tutor’s Twitter account and blog. The aim here is not only to support and enhance learning through UGC YouTube videos, but also for students to interact and share their experience via YouTube, Twitter and the tutor’s blog.
Research questions that will be addressed as part of the study include: What are the students’ views on the introduction of UGC YouTube videos to support learning? How much did they engage with #AskWilsoJS via Twitter? How did students respond to the VideoScribe animation series?
A series of focus groups with the marketing group will be held in October and November 2016. This paper will be the first stage of a research project focusing on the introduction of UGC YouTube videos as a means to supporting and enhancing students’ learning.
In this talk, I will briefly report on the process of introducing UGC YouTube videos as a social media tool to support students’ learning. Together with the results from the student focus groups.
References:
Burgess, J., & J. Green. (2009). YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture. Malden, MA: Polity Press.
Burke, S., & Snyder, S. (2008). YouTube: An innovative learning resource for college health education courses. International Electronic Journal of Health Education, 11, 39-46.
Kaplan, A.M. & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, Unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons, 53, 59-68.
O’Shea, M. (2016). Engage Students’ Creativity through Animated Whiteboard Video Project. Tech Directions, 75, 9, 17-19.