The 'Practical' represents a powerful learning environment, engaging students with numerous skill-set development opportunities; for example peer-learning, technical skills and academic writing amongst others. One area... [ view full abstract ]
The 'Practical' represents a powerful learning environment, engaging students with numerous skill-set development opportunities; for example peer-learning, technical skills and academic writing amongst others. One area gathering attention in this environment is pre-practical preparations, i.e. what is performed before attending the session. Traditionally, students are requested to read a text-based manual, something both educators and students would argue doesn’t actually occur. Often the information provided here can be irrelevant, not explaining the purpose/context of the practical for students.
With the advent of TEL/multimedia videos, there remains scope to bring this approach to the pre-practical environment. Brief, customised videos shared with students in advance of the practical session can introduce key terms or concepts, background information, practical/clinical skills and equipment demonstrations. This reduces the learners’ cognitive load while assisting the development of linkages and connections with their existing knowledge base – significantly changing the traditional learning process before practicals. However, while students are highly familiar with accessing/viewing video content, their attention must be maintained during each video. They must be concise and include multiple viewpoints, schematics and general footage to retain engagement, ultimately maximising their potential.
In this cross-discipline study, undergraduate science and veterinary nursing students were provided with high-quality pre-practical videos to contextualise the upcoming practical and/or demonstrate a specific technical/clinical skill. As an incentive to view the video, students had access to an online quiz based on the pre-practical video content, with completion required before the practical commenced. The quiz provided feedback and identified concepts students struggled to grasp, so these could be addressed at the beginning of the session. This study was evaluated using an ethically approved online survey. Key elements of effective pre-practical video design and construction will be detailed in combination with an overview of the results of this study and its future plans.
Keywords: pre-practical, preparation, online quizzes, video, assessment, feedback.
Topics: Assessment and feedback in a digital age , Topics: Digital technologies in disciplinary contexts
