Video-web learning platforms
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History
Video is not new to Computer-supported collaborative learning and has been used in education for decades already. In the eighties and nineties, it was mainly used to record conferences, lecures or educational films that could be watched by the learners. Even today, large repositories of video learning material are available and can be used in many instructional programs. Research here is focusing on quality standards and user-friendly editing tools. Video podcasting also is a significant resource for teachers.
In the nineties, new technologies allowing web transmission of video have developed (see wikipedia page on streaming media. Improvement of CPU power and bandwidth allow for direct viewing of video content without downloading. Video sharing sites like youtube have gained great popularity and some like teachertube are being used for training.
The possibilities to manipulate video material has soon been discovered in instructional technologies research. Written or oral annotation of video films for instructional purposes (Bargeron 1999) is being explored as well as the production of short, remodeled sharable extracts ("dives") by editing, zooming/transforming and annotate video (Pea 2004).
After 2000, the introduction of interactive telecommunication technologies with two-way synchronous viewing (See wikipedia on Videotelephony) broadened the horizon of video use and made videochats like skype and ichat popular. These technologies opened new perspectives for Videoconferencing and have prompted the development of the wide field (and industry) of Online video tutoring.
From an instructional perspective of distant learning and of using C3MS(Community, Collaboration, Content Management System), integrating synchronous video with some interactivity on a learning platform seems to be the natural next step.
Description
The field of video tutoring with various degrees of interactivity on the platform and in some cases on the video itself is still developing, making a definition difficult. Most articles were found using the expression video-web platform, but terms like "desktop videoconferencing platform" (Guichon 2009) or "video-web communication tool" using existing tools like Adobe Connect (Jauregi 2008) are also used. A video-web learning platform includes of course a video-conferencing channel for several participants. The video window appears on a desktop enriched with synchronous communication tools (chat, whiteboard....), asynchronous communication tools like a forum, possibilities to see ressources and links and to record the sessions. Some platforms allow marking of cues during the session for later discussion and analysis (Guichon 2009).
Underlying learning theories
Clearly, the instructional tool we try to describe here first is based on social constructivist learning.
A learning platform that integrates some form of live video picture of participants and/or trainer allows for better social exchange. Many instructional fields are enriched by social learning. A direct sociual exchange alsohelps to adress some of the communication and tutoring problems encountered with asynchronous exchange and tutoring.
Situated practice: The synchronous exchange allows the trainer and the participants to be in an apprenticeship relation since it can include showing and imitation.
Offering audio, video and written informations, the use of this kind of instructional design should also be considered in the light of cognitive processing capacities to avoid cognitive overload.
communication
More than just videoconferencing or video chats, a video-web platform allows group learning where registered participants can see each other, chat and share documents of all kinds. The sessions can be recorded for later analysis (Jauregi 2008, Hampel 2005). Analyzing the interaction after the synchronous part enhances the instructional value of the platform and allows more thorough reflection and metareflection.
interactivity
on the video picture: synchronously/asynchronously on the platform
analysis
placing cues on the live video for later exchange and correction: fully interactive and collaborative synchronous video-web platform.
specificity
Thus a video-web learning platform is a distance computer based learning tool that includes the possibility of synchronous video conferencing, enriched with interactivity ranging from written synchronous communication over exchange of documents to a direct interactivity on the video object itself by the placement of cues on the streaming video for later review.
Issues
Technical Issues
Quality of transmission Computer knowledge of users Planning
Pedagogical Issues
Tutor's skills Cognitive overload
Examples
Language learning Engineering businesses Computer engineering Medicine