Video-based learning in higher education: the flipped or the hands-on classroom?

Nowadays Higher Education is adopting new ways of teaching such as ways of Video-Based Learning (VBL) with theaim of moving away from the traditional classrooms. The interest in VBL has increased as a result of new forms ofonline education, most prominently in the case of Massive Open Online Courses. VBL has unique features that make itan effective Technology-Enhanced Learning approach. Furthermore it seems to support a rich and powerful model toimprove learning outcomes as well as learner satisfaction, but it is necessary to choose an appropriate instructionalapproach when designing VBL environments. One of the latest methods that use video as a tool for learning is FlippedClassrooms – or inverted classrooms- and, in many cases, it is showed that the result of introducing videos in alearning design eventually converges in this type of methodology.To explore this context, this research presents a case study that uses a combination of the VBL and Project-BasedLearning methodologies. The classes are face-to-face but there are no lessons: the students develop small projects inlabs. A set of teaching explanations are recorded in videos provided together with the descriptions of the projects. Theobjective of this research is to study the behaviour and satisfaction of the students using the videos, their utility as wellas the position of the professors. Participants were the students of the course “Wireless sensor networks” that tookplace in April to June of 2014. This was designed as an optional subject in the 3rd and 4th year of the Bachelor Degreesin Computer Engineering, Electronic Engineering and Audio-visual Systems Engineering. Two professors were incharge of the course, one of them acting as a coordinator and other as a teaching assistant.The study was conducted using a mixed methodology and used five instruments to gather data: two surveys (students,teachers), an interview (teachers), an observation protocol and two types of system log files (course delivery platformand video server). The gathered qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed and triangulated. One of the mainresults is that students interacted with the course content mainly during class hours, despite the fact that they had theopportunity to watch the videos before the sessions. Hence the flipped classroom was not present though it was theexpected situation. Students used videos as support material within class while they were working on the projects attheir pace. On the one hand, the incorporation of videos in class allowed students to enjoy a great flexibility to accessthe professors’ explanation. The advantage of this flexibility questions the use of oral teacher presentations in classbecause of the latter are governed by schedule, meaning that the students cannot access to this explanation beyondthe class in the moments when their application is more significant. These conclusions are somehow in line with claimsby other researchers saying that the role of presence-based learning may be re-thought, standard lectures do not takeadvantage of having the students personally present in the class. However, the use of video allows access to content“on demand”. Moreover, the use of videos has helped students to become more autonomous. In a learning designbased on the student as in our case, the flexibility and autonomy that provide videos -used as support material duringclasses- help students to have more control over their own learning process and, therefore, the role of the teacher asfacilitator is reaffirmed.Contrary to common belief, the use of video-based learning may not only converge in the use of flipped classroommethodology. It is also possible to use the videos in a hands-on class as a support tool that encourages a moreautonomous, flexible and significant learning. The application of a flipped or a hands-on classroom approach dependson diverse aspects, including the nature of the course (with practical or theoretical orientations), the behaviouremerging from the students (depending on their needs and preferences, time constraints, etc.) and the design of theactivities proposed by the teachers (strongly requiring students to watch videos in a certain timeframe, e.g. previouslyto the class, or offering flexibility). Future research considering variations of these parameters will help to understandthe benefits and limitations of both approaches and to what extent they may coexists in VBL.