Title: Interactive Videos or Synthesized Readings, Which One is Better to Increase Students’ Engagement in an Introductory Economics Course
Stream: Teaching Experiences, Pedagogy, Practice & Praxis
Presentation Type: Live-Stream Presentation
Authors:
Bei Hong, Singapore Management University, Singapore
Duan Ning Magdeleine Lew, Singapore Management University, Singapore
Abstract:
A major challenge faced by university instructors is to find more time to incorporate active learning in the classroom which encourages participation and to explore strategies that enable the development of students’ higher-level cognition. As a result, more instructors are choosing to flip their classrooms, in which students are encouraged to do the preparatory reading or watching to participate more meaningfully. Previous studies examined the influence of varied pre-class activities mainly on students’ exam achievement. According to Akcayir and Akcayir (2018), 79% of the pre-class activities are delivered through videos, whereas 42% of the researchers preferred using readings.
In this study, we tested two methods of pre-class content learning—interactive videos with embedded quizzes and synthesized readings using content from textbooks. In the pilot experiment, students were divided into two groups with different pre-lecture materials. Teaching assistants’ records of the frequency and quality of students’ participation showed that videos achieved an overall higher participation rate than readings. From students’ feedback about what they liked and disliked about the pre-lecture materials after the pilot round, we further improved the synthesized readings and conducted the main round with a larger size of participants to investigate the change in effectiveness of different materials. We concluded that the readings can be as effective as or even more effective than videos if they are well designed.
This paper extends the existing literature discussion to the impact on student engagement. The results could provide recommendations for the best pre-lecture educational method to increase student participation.
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