Impact of Pre-lab Videos on Improving Students’ Learning Outcomes

Resmi Krishnankuttyrema; Mikhail Shilov

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Conference: 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual On line
Publication Date: June 22, 2020
Start Date: June 22, 2020
End Date: June 26, 2021
Conference Session: ET Pedagogy III
Tagged Division: Engineering Technology
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--34757
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/34757
Download Count: 545

Paper Authors

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Resmi Krishnankuttyrema Bowling Green State University

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• Assistant teaching professor , Mechatronics Engineering Technology, at Bowling Green State University, Ohio.
• Master’s Degree in Bio Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
• Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and medical Instrumentation from Cochin University of Science and Technology, India.
• Ten years of teaching experience working as an Electronics / Mechatronics instructor of which four years in the Department of Engineering Technologies program at Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, Ohio, USA).

• Three years of experience working as Biomedical instructor at Owens Community College.

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Mikhail Shilov Bowling Green State University

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Mikhail Shilov is the instructor of Engineering Technology at Bowling Green State University who is interested in improving teaching techniques as well as mentoring and motivating students for higher achievements.

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Abstract

In Engineering Technology courses that involve lab activities, we observed a knowledge gap among 10-30% of students that increases as the semester progresses. This places those students at a disadvantage relative to their peers as they have difficulty understanding and mastering advanced topics. This also puts more advanced students at disadvantage as they have to wait while other students are being helped. As a result, they get distracted and lose focus and interest. The knowledge gap also often results in the repetition of topics and prolonged lab sessions as well as more serious issues such as the mishandling of equipment. STEM instruction typically is based on verbal, deductive, reflective, and sequential learning methods. However, studies show that students in science and engineering programs tend to do well with visual, inductive, active, and global learning methods. With this information in mind, we developed custom pre-lab videos to address the knowledge gap. The pre-lab videos demonstrate basic usage and implementation of laboratory equipment, software tools and commands that are used in our courses. We used these videos for instructional purposes in two different engineering technology disciplines: a freshman level course on electronics and a sophomore level course on solid modeling. To examine the effectiveness of pre-lab videos, students’ learning outcomes were assessed by conducting lab proficiency exams for the respective courses before and after implementing the videos. We observed improvement in students’ overall performance, 20-30% reduction in time needed to complete labs or tutorials, and the reduction of knowledge gap as indicated by narrower grade distribution. In addition to that, 15-20% more learning material was delivered and the frequency of equipment mishandling has also reduced by 40-50%. While there are video tutorials available on the Internet that demonstrate some of the topics covered in our classes, it is nearly impossible to find videos containing the exact combinations of equipment type, lab tools, and assignments encountered by our students. Creating this sense of familiarity is the critical to reduce the knowledge gap and maintain student focus. That is why the custom pre-lab videos were developed by the instructors, and they are proving to be a great tool to minimize the knowledge gap among students and improve the students’ learning outcome.

Citation
Format

Krishnankuttyrema, R., & Shilov, M. (2020, June), Impact of Pre-lab Videos on Improving Students’ Learning Outcomes Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--34757

TY - CPAPER
AB - In Engineering Technology courses that involve lab activities, we observed a knowledge gap among 10-30% of students that increases as the semester progresses. This places those students at a disadvantage relative to their peers as they have difficulty understanding and mastering advanced topics. This also puts more advanced students at disadvantage as they have to wait while other students are being helped. As a result, they get distracted and lose focus and interest. The knowledge gap also often results in the repetition of topics and prolonged lab sessions as well as more serious issues such as the mishandling of equipment.
STEM instruction typically is based on verbal, deductive, reflective, and sequential learning methods. However, studies show that students in science and engineering programs tend to do well with visual, inductive, active, and global learning methods. With this information in mind, we developed custom pre-lab videos to address the knowledge gap. The pre-lab videos demonstrate basic usage and implementation of laboratory equipment, software tools and commands that are used in our courses. We used these videos for instructional purposes in two different engineering technology disciplines: a freshman level course on electronics and a sophomore level course on solid modeling.
To examine the effectiveness of pre-lab videos, students’ learning outcomes were assessed by conducting lab proficiency exams for the respective courses before and after implementing the videos. We observed improvement in students’ overall performance, 20-30% reduction in time needed to complete labs or tutorials, and the reduction of knowledge gap as indicated by narrower grade distribution. In addition to that, 15-20% more learning material was delivered and the frequency of equipment mishandling has also reduced by 40-50%.
While there are video tutorials available on the Internet that demonstrate some of the topics covered in our classes, it is nearly impossible to find videos containing the exact combinations of equipment type, lab tools, and assignments encountered by our students. Creating this sense of familiarity is the critical to reduce the knowledge gap and maintain student focus. That is why the custom pre-lab videos were developed by the instructors, and they are proving to be a great tool to minimize the knowledge gap among students and improve the students’ learning outcome.

AU - Resmi Krishnankuttyrema
AU - Mikhail Shilov
CY - Virtual On line
DA - 2020/06/22
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Impact of Pre-lab Videos on Improving Students’ Learning Outcomes
UR - https://peer.asee.org/34757
DO - 10.18260/1-2--34757
ER -