Video for Quality (in Norwegian: Video for kvalitet (VfK)) was part of the Innovative Education project at NTNU. The project was mainly aimed at the production and evaluation of video as a learning object. The aim of the project was to answer the question:

What makes a video a good learning object?

Although the question itself is specific, it is not possible to answer it without considering the4 videos in the right context. In this case, learning is the main objective. This has led us to set up three goals for the project.

The project aimed to:

1. produce research-based videos
2. develop and apply evaluation instruments such as learning inventories
3. study the effect of videos on learning

Moving images, in the form of film, TV and video, have been used in teaching since the 1920s. First as silent movies, later sound movies, live TV and video cassettes / CD / videodisk / DVD to the creation of the World Wide Web and the ability to connect a personal computer to various video portals.

In that sense, this is not a new form of teaching. However, many of the previous experiments with film/video as a learning object have not had the impact on teaching that was envisaged from the 1920s onwards. This has largely been due to investing too much in the technical aspects without considering the material to be presented and the teachers and students who were to apply it. Simply put, one did not consider the pedagogy and the humans.

Today, the technology itself is rarely the limiting factor, as there are high-resolution cameras and programs for their own video production. The challenge lies in how the technology is used, what is recorded, and the material is presented.

To record sound and take photos require knowledge of the media and the recording equipment's limitations. Although the technical quality of a camera is high, this does not mean that all the photographs you take will be good. Digital cameras allow you to take a lot of pictures and then select the few that are be good. In other words, we have replaced quality with quantity. The same applies to a large extent also to sound recordings where it is believed that an audio editor can fix the sound so that it sounds good. This is not true.

In producing videos to serve as teaching objects, one must bare this in mind, as not to wear out the viewers with low image and sound quality, which will make them lose motivation or get cognitively exhausted. In the Project Video for Quality (VfK), it became clear that this was an important aspect. Through the collaboration with NTNU's multimedia center, we have invested effort in maintaining a high level of sound and image quality as an important part of the project. For production.

Three different types of videos

If we disregard the technical aspects, we can divide the most common video formats into different groups considering the development. Next, we study how they were recorded and the intended use. We have divided recording of lectures into three different groups.

E-lecture 1.0

In this group, we place lectures recorded in situ, with one camera, usually located at the back of the lecture hall. Normally, these videos are around 45 minutes, which is equivalent to a normal lecture/lesson. The videos are then posted online, without editing. Sometimes the picture is switched between different scenes, such as whiteboards, close-ups of the lecturer and presentations in the form of slides, etc. In some cases, you may find videos where you get the opportunity to choose the scene yourself using "picture in picture" functions.
The use of this type of video gives students a more passive role in front of the screen compared to the lecture hall. In addition, the possibility of a "social" interaction with the lecturer or fellow students is missing, when it is more difficult to perceive body language and facial expressions. Evaluations show that these types of videos have little reuse potential, and that they are mostly watched within a relatively short period of time after the lecture, in most cases only by students attending the course or even those attending the “live” lecture. We can ascertain that this type of video is teacher-centered even though it may be user-paced when replaying.

E-lecture 2.0

A natural step is to reduce the length of the video so that it is more viewer-adapted and to make it thematically so that specific academic aspects come in focus. By recording a short video in the studio, the lecturer can focus their attention on the camera (the student/viewer/user) making body language and facial expressions more visible, and with this we get a more student(learning)-centered video. There is also a "social" connection with the body language easy to see. Recording in a controlled environment also makes it easier to edit the video afterwards. By having a recording location that you can control, the picture and sound will also get much better quality. It is also easier to stick to a script that can be thoroughly prepared academically, didactically and presentation-wise in advance. This makes it possible to make extensive use of research results and try out different presentations. It was initially this type of lecture video that VfK produces. It should also be mentioned that thematic videos can be produced with different focuses and levels within the same theme.

E-lecture 3.0

A natural progression from 2.0 is to add interactivity to the video. This is a relatively new field that places great demands on the video portal used. This opens for Personalized Learning where a link to a learning platform makes it possible to guide students to a suitable learning object to optimize their learning. VfK has tested various interactive solutions in the project and is working to implement these. More information and results within this will come.

Problem solving and instructions

Besides lectures, problem solving sessions and instructions for laboratory work or computer programs are interesting, as students often need extra support for this. In designed videos for these purposes we have applied the same principles as for lectures.

Findings

Video for Quality has developed and adopted new technology as part of the project. By focusing on learning, we do not look at video as an isolated learning object but put videos as learning objects in a larger context. This has led us to constantly explore new ways of working and try to adapt them into a holistic approach to learning.