Abstract
Video-based discussion is an emerging technology that can be used in online higher education courses as part of introduction, debate, personal exploration, and reflection activities. The video format bridges the distance gap in course conversations and offers benefits of providing contextual details, emotion, and individual personality while also enabling asynchronous flexibility. This chapter provides an overview of research in this area and describes an exploratory case study in which video-based discussion was used as part of an online graduate course. Data gathered included video postings and follow-up survey responses. Design guidelines and strategy recommendations are offered for planning and implementing video-based discussion activities in online higher education courses.
TopBackground
Interactions between instructors and learners are challenged by a transactional distance that spans more than just a physical separation, but involves educational and psychological distances as well (Gavan, 2015; Moore, 1993). Dialog, a core factor of transactional distance, is central to learner success and significantly influences learner intention to return for an e-learning experience (Goel, Zhang, & Templeton, 2012). Planning and forethought is necessary to design and facilitate meaningful and worthwhile online course discussions. The autonomous nature of learning that occurs in online courses can be a benefit as well as a challenge for students.
Difficulties with establishing pedagogical presence in online courses are critical issues to explore, and adequately addressing them can contribute to greater learner engagement and meaningful learning. Though many current Learning Management Systems (LMSs) offer a variety of tools for course organization and interactions, the potential of these systems is often not realized when course delivery and engagement is limited to primarily text-based ways (Bates & Sangrà, 2011; Siemens & Tittenberger, 2009). Learning opportunities can be missed when students are not part of active discussion that supports social and cognitive presence.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Online Discussions: Course-related conversations that take place in a virtual format.
Cognitive Presence: Construction of meaning through communications within a Community of Inquiry.
Teaching Presence: Indications of instructor involvement within a virtual learning environment.
Social Presence: Presentation of personal characteristics that present participants in a Community of Inquiry as “real people.”
Asynchronous: Online course discussions that take place at different times.
Community Of Inquiry: A group formed around pedagogical interactions and exploration in which thoughts and ideas expressed by its members inform conceptual understandings of others in the group.
Video-Based Discussion: A threaded, asynchronous online discussion format in which participants record their postings as video clips.
Transactional Distance: A separation in online learning designs that involves physical, educational, and psychological dimensions.