Dr. Rusty Waller, Educational Leadership
Using YouTube in Online Courses
To facilitate student mastery of the content, the course is divided into 10 modules ranging from introductory material to the chi-squared distribution. In the last month, short lectures (4-10 minutes) for each of the first five modules have been uploaded to YouTube for broader dissemination to mobile platforms. The modules range in length from 5 to 12 of these lectures. Hopefully, the remaining modules will be up by the end of the summer. Students can download the discussions onto cell phones, iPods, etc. for much broader viewing. I chose to open these lectures for public consumption. During the first 30 days of availability, these material experienced 2,033 complete downloads. The breakdown is as follows: US (1,909), Asia (17), Africa (3), Europe (42), Middle East (9), South America (1), Other (52). Four days later, this has increased to 2,846 complete downloads. I think this work has been discovered.
These discussions have been designed to incorporate as much visual representation as possible to reach a broader constituency of learners. The modules open with the idea of moving towards graduation and end with a reinforcement of this goal. Some address the upward ascension through the course earned by climbing Waller’s 10-step ladder. Additionally, my strange sense of humor has infiltrated each module. The infamous Dr. Dawg provides insight and revelation into methodologies for learning statistics. To ease the fear associated with online learning, Module 1 also included two videos of my grandchildren and I playing on the computer. Several students commented that these did much to alleviate their apprehension regarding the course. Additionally, the students may subscribe to my YouTube page for complete access. The discussions are also linked within my course web shell. One of my students took the initiative to work assigned problems and post solutions to his own YouTube pages. I actually referred another student to watch his solutions.
These materials were created on my iMac using a blend of PowerPoint, Jing, and iMovie. Viewing the modules in sequence provides some insight into my growth in this media from inception to present. Any endeavor like this includes the normal growth sequence from sliding, crawling, standing, walking, and running. I am currently standing and hope to walk soon.
The following link provides access to one of the discussions. Note the emphasis on TAMUC and my e-mail address at the end.
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