Video Killed the University Teacher

David Michael Bourne

English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia 11480

Keyword: Video, University Teacher

Abstract: Video has been a staple ingredient of the classroom content for decades. Until recent years, teachers were

limited to using video content that was produced by third parties, content that was often high priced and

somewhat complicated to obtain. Technological developments in hardware and software now make it

possible for teachers to create their own video content. This has resulted in a blossoming of online platforms

referred to as ‘MOOCs’ (Massive Open Online Courses) such as Udemy, Coursera, Linda, along with sole

operators using YouTube. These options are increasingly seen as viable alternatives to attending a class.

This paper considers the phenomenon of video-based learning and reviews the attitudes of educators and

undergraduate students in Indonesia to this trend.

1 BACKGROUND

A lively discussion rages over how automation is

affecting the working lives of people. It is becoming

a reality that many jobs that have normally been

performed by humans are now exposed to the risk of

being replaced by algorithms. Ref (Harari, Y N,

2015) discusses this phenomenon and how

algorithms could affect the world of teachers:

When they get in the classroom,

however, they may well discover that the

algorithms have got there first.

Companies such as mindojo are

developing interactive algorithms that not

only teach me maths, physics and history,

but also simultaneously study me and get

to know exactly who I am…. And these

digital teachers will never lose their

patience shout at me, and never go on

strike (Harari, Y N, 2015).

Ref (Harari, Y N, 2015) also points to a paper

called ‘The Future of Employment’. The paper

offers estimates of the risk pertaining to different

professions of being eliminated by automated

computer driven algorithms. According to (Frey C B

and Osbourne M, 2013) traditionally jobs that were

designated as being ‘skilled’ - often referred to as

knowledge work - were considered safe from

automation. This was because such jobs required

human ‘thinking’ that machines cannot do. Teaching

is usually considered to be a part of knowledge

work. Ref (Frey C B and Osbourne M, 2013) with

reference to Brynjolfsson and McAfee write:

What is striking about the examples in

their book is that computerisation is no

longer confined to routine manufacturing

tasks. The autonomous driverless cars,

developed by Google, provide one example

of how manual tasks in transport and

logistics may be automated (Frey C B and

Osbourne M, 2013).

As further emphasis of the impact of technology

in teaching, The Economist (The Economist2014)

reported that higher education institutions –

universities – are faced with three disruptive forces.

Two of these are a funding crisis and the need for

these organisations to be providers to support and

retrain workers throughout their career. The second

force identified by the paper is that technology is

undermining the current business model applied by

universities.

The continued interest and concern about the

effects of automation caused the writer to scrutinise

the use of video in higher education. In the world of

teaching it could be argued that the use of video-

based instruction plays a significant role in the

automation of learning environments. The appetite

that digital denizens have for video is perhaps

148

Bourne, D.

Video Killed the University Teacher.

DOI: 10.5220/0010004000002917

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Social Sciences, Laws, Arts and Humanities (BINUS-JIC 2018), pages 148-153

ISBN: 978-989-758-515-9

embodied by YouTube. YouTube states that it has

over 1 billion users

(https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/press/). This

number can only be expected to grow.

Educators have been discussing the effects of

this trend for a number of years. As far back as 2012

'Education Week' recognised that:

A growing number of educators are

working to turn learning on its head by

replacing traditional lectures with video

tutorials, an approach popularly called the

"flipped classroom" (Ash K, 2012).

Even before that, (Dongsong Z, Zhou J L, Zhou

L and Nunamaker J F, 2004) state that video based

instruction indeed offers a real alternative as a

replacement to standard class based approaches:

Our investigation shows that the

Internet and multimedia technologies are

reshaping the way knowledge is delivered

and that e-learning has become a real

alternative to traditional classroom

learning (Dongsong Z, Zhou J L, Zhou L

and Nunamaker J F, 2004).

This paper intends to review how this trend is

developing in the higher education sphere in

Indonesia. Through questionnaires of university

lecturers and undergraduate students the paper aims

to provide an analysis of their attitudes regarding

this trend. It is hoped that the results of this survey

will provide higher education institutions and

individual educators with some guidelines on how to

manage the phenomenon of video-based learning.

2 THE ADVANTAGES OF VIDEO

The advantages of learning by video may be

observed from two perspectives – that of the student

and that of the teacher. From the student’s

perspective, the advantages are significant and

enticing. Firstly, a student can access the learning

material at any time and place using a mobile

device. This offers significant convenience for the

student. There is also time flexibility for the student

since there is no requirement for the student to be at

a particular place at the assigned time for the lesson.

The student may go through the video lessons at a

time and pace that accommodates their routine. Key

advantages, then are that it is learner centered and

self-paced.

Another advantage for the student is that they

may review the training videos several times in

order to gain a more thorough understanding. In

comparison, a teacher’s classroom presentation or

explanation is ephemeral. In a class of 20-30

participants, it is often difficult for an individual to

seek clarification on a point made by the teacher.

From the teacher’s perspective there are also a

number of advantages. Ref (Harmer J, 2007)

describes some of the pedagogic advantages to using

video in the language teaching classroom:

In the first place, they get to see

‘language in use’. This allows them to see

a whole lot of paralinguistic behaviour.

For example, they can see how intonation

matches facial expression and what

gestures accompany certain phrases (e.g.

shrugged shoulders, when someone says I

don’t know), and they can pick up a range

of cross cultural clues (Harmer J, 2007).

Secondly, barriers to entry are relatively low for

an educator to produce videos. Most adults already

possess a smartphone and a laptop, which are the

main pieces of equipment needed. With the addition

of editing software, anyone can be ready to produce

their own education videos.

Another advantage for teachers is that it is easy

to share learning content with students. Platforms

such as MOOCs referred to above generally

welcome new content from educators. Furthermore,

setting up a designated channel on YouTube is

simple and free. Finally, it can be argued that

teaching through video represents a familiar step for

a teacher. In higher education, many classroom

sessions still consist of a lecturer delivering content

and information through a series of PowerPoint

slides. A teacher therefore simply needs to deliver

their slide presentations in front of a camera,

explaining the content and adding additional

commentary just as they would when they deliver

the same information to a class of students.

One final advantage of creating video based

learning material relates to the educational

institution. The technology makes it possible for a

large number of people to follow one particular

course. Therefore economies of scale apply and the

cost of online training is often lower, or even free. It

should also be noted that high costs are associated

with the provision of face to face tuition as they

require a physical classroom and all the associated

costs.

Video Killed the University Teacher

149

3 LIMITATIONS AND

PEDAGOGIC

CONSIDERATIONS OF VIDEO

LEARNING ONLINE

It is clear that the growth of learning through video

is the result of the advantages stated in the previous

section. However, it is also evident that classroom

teaching still continues; universities continue to

maintain campus buildings and students continue to

attend classroom sessions as part of their studies.

There are several arguments that continue to validate

the traditional classroom model. To begin with, ref

(White C, 2003) states that the social aspect of the

face to face classroom is a key element to the

success:

In face to face language classrooms

the establishment of a positive social

climate and cohesion within the class are

considered an important part of the

teacher’s role and integral to good

practice (White C, 2003).

Another concern about the video based learning

is that of motivation. If a student is following a

course on their own without social contact with

other students they need to have a high level of

commitment to see it through. The risk of dropping

out is much higher for students who are following

this type of course. Ref (Kaplan A M, Haenlein M,

2016) writes:

Following through on a MOOC or

SPOC requires a relatively high level of

intrinsic motivation and self-discipline.

Successful graduates therefore tend to be

older (in the range of 25-35 years), and

already hold a first degree, which they

obtained through more traditional means.

For most participants, a MOOC is

therefore primarily a way to build new

skills in order to strengthen an additional

professional career (Kaplan A M,

Haenlein M, 2016).

Another drawback related to producing and

accessing video based training is that it requires

technical skills, especially for the teacher who is

preparing and creating the content. Following the

initial recording there is usually a significant amount

of editing required to produce the final product.

Another salient point is that teachers need to

project a strong on screen presence. It helps if they

can be charismatic and telegenic. Not all teachers are

able to make this transition or transfer their

classroom presence through to the media of video.

Finally, as well as operational advantages for an

educational institution, there are also concerns of

more competition. The massive growth of video

based learning has resulted in a host of organisations

offering essentially the same thing.

4 METHOD

The aim of this paper is to discover the attitudes of

teachers and students towards the growth of video

based learning and whether such courses could

disrupt the traditional classroom based mode of

instruction. This information was obtained through a

survey. Two surveys were distributed; one survey

was targeted at teachers; a second survey was

targeted at undergraduate students. These groups

will be referred to as the Teacher Group and the

Student Group. Both services elicited responses

using a five point Likert scale.

4.1 The Teacher Group

The questions for the teacher group were designed to

discover attitudes about how teachers feel about

making videos and their assessment of the

effectiveness of video in the learning process. The

questionnaire was distributed to teachers of

undergraduate students who specialised in a range of

disciplines. Teachers were selected randomly. The

questionnaire is shown below:

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Table 1. The Teacher Group.

TEACHER

GROUP.

Strongly

agree

agree neutral

disagre

Strong

disagr

1. I have had

experience in

roducing an

online course

using video.

2. It is important

to create my

own videos.

Videos created

by other

teachers or

organisations

do not meet my

needs.

3. I am interested

to produce a

series of lessons

that will be

recorded and

osted on the

internet.

4. Students learn

effectively by

watching online

videos.

5. Face to face

classroom

learning is more

effective than

learning

through

watching an

online video.

6. Online courses

based on video

are likely to

become more

opular than

face to face

classroom

lessons in the

future.

4.2 The Student Group

The student group consisted of undergraduate

students in the same department and class. The

purpose of the survey was to discover whether

students exhibited a high level of interest in video

classes and whether they felt such programmes were

effective. The questionnaire used a five point Likert

scale and is shown below:

Table 2. The Student Group.

STUDENT

GROUP.

Strongly

agree

neutra

disagree

Strongly

disagree

1. I have had

experience in

studying by

following an

online course

using video.

2. It is better to

study online,

rather than

study in a

classroom.

3. I learn the same

amount by

watching online

video based

training

compared to

face to face

learning in the

classroom.

4. I want to watch

videos from my

own teacher.

Videos created

by other

teachers do not

meet my needs.

5. Videos with

more than one

resenter are

interesting.

6. Online courses

based on video

are likely to

become more

opular than

face to face

classroom

lessons in the

future.

5 FINDINGS

5.1 The Teacher Group

From a total of 54 responses to the questionnaire,

teachers produced the following data. There were

two respondents who did not answer question #4.

Video Killed the University Teacher

151

Table 3: The Teacher Group.

5.2 Teachers’ Comments.

Teachers provided a range of comments that provide

insight into their attitude and needs in creating

video-based training materials. The comments have

been grouped into 5 general areas as follows:

Table 4: Teachers’ Comments.

time skill cost quality content

# comments 14 31 1 4 5

5.3 The Student Group

From a total of 36 respondents the students produced

the following data:

Table 5: The Student Group

5.4 Students’ Comments

Students comments expressed a mixture of positive

attitude and preference for face to face learning, as

indicated by their response to question #7. These

areas have been aggregated into 5 areas:

Table 6: Students’ Comments.

6 SUMMARY

It is suggested by this paper that a number of useful

conclusions may be drawn from the analysis. The

first point concerns attitudes towards learning

through video and its role in higher education.

Teachers showed stronger attitudes about teaching

through video, with fewer respondents remaining

neutral. However, both teachers and students agree

that the traditional teaching model still has value and

both teachers and students remain uncertain about

whether video technology will replace the standard

classroom experience.

The second point is that there appears to be value

in producing video based learning content. The

research identifies a number of key factors that

should be considered in order to make such a project

successful. For teachers there is a perception that

such an undertaking is not straightforward or easy.

They require time and training in the areas of using

the hardware and software, as well as confidence

that they are capable of producing good quality

learning.

7 CONCLUSION

This research has shown that there is probably a

strong interest from teachers to produce learning

videos, and students will likely watch them,

provided that features such as listenability and

production quality are evident. This paper suggests

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that a training course for content producers is almost

essential.

This paper relied on responses from teachers and

students of the undergraduate sector in one private

university in Indonesia. As such the results probably

reflect cultural and environmental influences of the

people who responded. For organisations interested

in expanding their portfolio of digital content, it

might be advisable to conduct a similar survey as the

first step.

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