Two New Concepts in Video Podcasts
Minimalist Slides and Modular Teaching Mini-videos
Emilio Letón
1
and Elisa M. Molanes-López
2
1
Department of Artificial Intelligence, UNED, Juan del Rosal 16, 28040, Madrid, Spain
2
Department of Statistics, Carlos III University of Madrid, Avda. Universidad 30, 28911, Leganés (Madrid), Spain
Keywords: Learning Resources, Minimalist Slides, Mini-videos, MTM, Rubrics, Video Podcasts.
Abstract: Nowadays the main learning resources are traditional board, slides and video podcasts. Each of them with
their own strengths and weaknesses. Analysing the advantages and disadvantages of the traditional board
and slides we have created, with the advantages of both resources, a new concept that we have named
“minimalist slides”. Using the minimalist slides we have introduced a new type of video podcast that we
have named “modular teaching mini-video”.
1 INTRODUCTION
In today's teaching there are different methods of
transmission of knowledge by the teacher:
traditional board, slides and video podcasts.
Traditional board and slides are well known and are
still used. Video podcasts as a learning resource are
being used more and more nowadays (Kay, 2012,
among others). In many cases, video podcasts are
just the recording of entire lectures that are viewed
passively (Traphagan et al., 2010; Wieling and
Hofman, 2010). Other forms of video podcasts are
shorter in time and are associated with interactive
tasks to make the learning more effective. For
instance, Griffin et al. (2009) used synchronized
PowerPoint and voice and He et al. (2012) and
Loomes et al. (2002) voice and handwriting.
Each of these methods has strengths and
weaknesses. In this work, we analyse the advantages
and disadvantages of the traditional board and slides
with a survey of students at a Madrid (Spain)
university to create, with the advantages of both, a
new concept that we have named “minimalist slides”
(MSs). With the help of MSs we have created a new
type of video podcast that we have called “modular
teaching mini-video” (MTM).
The outline of the paper is as follows. In section
2 we analyse the advantages and disadvantages of
the traditional board and slides. In section 3 we
introduce the MSs and in section 4 the MTMs. In
section 5 we propose several rubrics. Finally, we
describe some examples of MTMs in section 6.
2 TRADITIONAL BOARD AND
SLIDES
In this section, we analyse the strengths and
weaknesses of the traditional board and slides with a
pilot survey of 18 students studying Statistics in the
second year of Engineering at Madrid’s Carlos III
University. The survey had open questions. We
show below similar answers given by the students to
each question to have a better general view.
Additionally, they were asked to allocate 100
percentage points in total among three methods
(blackboard, slides, mixture) according to their
preferences for a theoretical class. The results were
as follows: a median of 44% for blackboard, 38%
for slides and 18% for a mixture.
2.1 Traditional Board
The advantages of the traditional board from the
students’ viewpoint are:
- It is more dynamic, it forces you to follow the
subject and you can customize your class notes.
- You can highlight or emphasize text. The
explanations become clearer.
- You can copy the concepts as the teacher explains
and thus you have time to understand and make your
own notes.
- We have more time to copy. You can solve the
problems as you would in an exam.
- It is easier to take class notes.
292
Letón E. and M. Molanes-López E..
Two New Concepts in Video Podcasts - Minimalist Slides and Modular Teaching Mini-videos.
DOI: 10.5220/0004948302920297
In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU-2014), pages 292-297
ISBN: 978-989-758-021-5
Copyright
c
2014 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)
- Since you have to write, whether you like it or not,
you will learn even if you pay little attention.
- The teacher explains more on the board and more
of what is on the slides.
- As the teacher explains it is easier to see how the
explanation evolves. In my opinion, you take better
notes from the board.
- Since the teacher is writing, the student also has
time to write in his/her notebook.
- It is less boring and everything is explained a little
bit more slowly and you have more time to absorb
the explanations.
- You have more possibilities of having all the notes
because the teacher can go more slowly.
- There is interactivity. It is easy to give examples.
- It forces the teacher to give an explanation at a
moderate speed, allowing the student to copy notes
and understand at the same time.
The disadvantages of the traditional board from
the students’ viewpoint are:
- I would have liked more clarity on the board and a
slower explanation.
- It may happen that you cannot understand the
teacher’s handwriting or that he/she writes too fast
and you do not have enough time to copy.
- It slows down the class a bit.
- More copying is required and the pace is slower.
- The teacher has to clean the blackboard often and
you cannot go back. The blackboard is messy.
- You may not understand the teacher’s explanations
because you are trying to copy them.
- The teacher can make mistakes on the blackboard,
with illegible handwriting or especially 3D drawings
which are difficult to see.
- The teacher is much more messy and disorganized.
Sometimes it is difficult to understand what is
written and you have to ask him/her.
- You are busier copying than understanding.
- More time is needed to present things such as
tables with many data.
- It depends on the teacher’s skills to explain
himself/herself clearly, in an organized manner on
the blackboard.
- It is more difficult to retain all the information if
the subject is more elaborate.
- The main disadvantage, that is not always present,
is the lack of understanding due to poor lighting
conditions or unclear handwriting.
In summary, the strengths of the traditional board
are that it brings dynamism, it is easier to take notes,
the teacher explains with more examples, it is easier
to follow the teacher’s explanations because the pace
is slower and there is more interactivity.
The weaknesses are that it slows the class a little,
it is more difficult for the teacher to be organized,
often he/she does not get a "clean" finish, it is
difficult to copy and understand at the same time and
the quality of the drawings is not so good.
2.2 Slides
The advantages of the slides from the students’
viewpoint are:
- The transfer of knowledge is quicker because the
learning content written on the slides is more clear
and organized.
- Since you have the slides in advance, you can
follow perfectly the explanations.
- The graphical plots are clearer. Besides, the slides
provide support to the teacher’s explanations and
he/she can advance at a convenient speed.
- You do not have to copy.
- They are more visually attractive and facilitate
reading. They are better suited for theory.
- They provide clear explanations that help us to
learn better.
- Since you already have the slides, it is easier to add
your own comments and to follow the teacher’s
explanations.
- The big advantage is that the quality of the 3D
drawings is improved.
- They are easy-to-access material on the web.
- They are useful for us to study for the exams.
- They summarize the concepts and although
sometimes there may be information missing that
makes the understanding more difficult, though
since they contain the most important concepts, you
finish the class with a better understanding.
- They are a helpful support for the students when
they miss a class.
The disadvantages of the slides from the
students’ viewpoint are:
- You are more lost because having the slides you
write less.
- I do not like the classes with slides because the
explanations are not given thoroughly enough.
- The slides are not as your own notes. Besides, you
may lose concentration and not take notes of the
things that are not included on the slides.
- Sometimes the slides are too summarized. There is
missing content.
- Sometimes the content of the slides is not enough
and the classes become tedious and too passive.
- If things are not cleared it is more difficult to
understand them. Sometimes the explanations go too
fast. You do not learn so much.
- As you do not have to copy, sometimes you do not
pay attention to them.
TwoNewConceptsinVideoPodcasts-MinimalistSlidesandModularTeachingMini-videos
293
- It is a too general and theoretical material when
you are asked to solve exercises.
- The explanation is understood less easily than
when the teacher explains on the board.
- It may happen that you do not have enough time to
add your own comments.
- There is a tendency to go faster (can be annoying).
- The worst way of teaching is with slides.
- They can make the students sleep. Sometimes they
are too schematic. It is more difficult to take notes.
- The slides seem to be a comfortable way of
teaching for the teacher but very bad for the students
because it is very difficult for them to take notes and
the teacher usually goes too fast.
In summary, the advantages of the slides are that
they are more organized and allow the teacher to go
faster, the student does not need to copy, their finish
is clean, they can be supplemented with multimedia
and graphic support, and they are easily accessible
on the web. The disadvantages are that they
sometimes allow the teacher to go too fast, they
favour a passive attitude, they are often too
summarized, the explanations are more concise and
there is no space to take notes.
3 MINIMALIST SLIDES
We have seen in the previous section that one
advantage of the slides is that the student does not
need to write because the slides contain all the
information for the student (“maximalist slides”).
But this advantage seems to be also a disadvantage
for the students because they do not feel the need to
write and it causes a passive attitude in them. Even
though the teacher can give additional explanations
by using his/her voice and/or writing on the board,
the student may not pay attention because he/she
assumes that explanations not written on the slides
are never important. For that reason we propose to
use slides with little information on them
(“minimalist slides”, MSs). MSs are not self-
explanatory and force the teacher and the student to
work with them. The MSs are used as follows: the
teacher provides the MSs on the web previously to
the class, the student prints them and takes the MSs
to the class, the teacher projects the MSs and writes
on them using a digital board to fill them out while
the student is copying these notes on his/her printed
version of the MSs. Due to the fact that some
information is already written on the MSs the
student has more time to think as he/she is writing
the missing information that is not included on the
MSs. This way of proceeding avoids a line being
copied/read by the student without thinking, which
would be useless.
The basic features of the MSs are:
- The number of lines on each slide is less than or
equal to 7.
- There is space to write on each slide.
- The slides are available to be printed.
After using the MSs during a whole academic
year in 40 students of the same subject, they were
asked to allocate 100 percentage points in total
among three methods (MSs, blackboard, maximalist
slides) according to their preferences for a
theoretical class. The results were as follows: a
median of 80% for MSs, 1% for blackboard, and
19% for maximalist slides.
The MSs have the advantages of the traditional
board and slides and do not have the disadvantages
of them. The only disadvantage is that they cannot
be used in distance learning. This disadvantage will
be solved in the new section with the MTMs.
4 MODULAR TEACHING MINI-
VIDEOS
In this section, we introduce a new type of video
podcast that we have named modular teaching mini-
video (MTM). This concept is characterized by its
duration, support, methodology, philosophy, format,
and interconnection, as explained below.
The duration of an MTM is between 5 and 10
minutes. In order to achieve this duration, an effort
of synthesis has to be made and it is necessary to
have a structured vision of its content (this is not
difficult, but it requires some practice).
Nevertheless, we have to remark that “not
everything can fit” within an MTM. The MTM is a
complement to other traditional teaching materials.
The fact of its short duration makes it necessary to
prepare the recording and rehearse several times.
However, at the same time we have to be practical
and to not worry about perfection.
The support in which an MTM is designed are
the MSs, described in the previous section.
The methodology that is used in an MTM is
based on the digital board, where the MSs are
projected and filled in simultaneously. This way of
proceeding prevents the passive attitude of students.
While watching the MTM the student has to work on
each line or drawing that is hand-written by the
teacher on the slide. So, first the student has to think
what must be filled in on the slide, and then he/she
has to write it while he/she is watching the MTM.
CSEDU2014-6thInternationalConferenceonComputerSupportedEducation
294
Besides, on one hand, the speed of this process is the
one that the student needs and, on the other hand, the
digital finishing is the one that the student wants.
These elements are achieved using the digital board.
The MTMs are based on the following
underpinning philosophy: I work (the teacher works)
/ you work (the student works). We can ask
ourselves if the actual teaching will have success or
not, both in distance learning and in the classroom
(there are not many differences between them: in
fact, they are converging). To answer this question
we can think of four scenarios, whether the teacher
works or not and whether the student works or not.
There is only one of these scenarios, where both
work, that will have success in the actual teaching.
In this scenario, the teacher makes educational
material and activities (for example, MTMs) and the
student works with them. This philosophy has
relevant advantages for the student and the teacher.
The format in which you can view an MTM is on
the web (“streaming”) or on a mobile telephone or
similar devices (3GP, MP4, etc.). Nevertheless, it is
worthwhile to point out that the optimal way of the
first viewing is on the computer after printing the
MSs, in order to fill them out, following the pace of
the digital board. On a second viewing, mobile
devices are ideal for reviewing, and this can be done
in any place (for example, going to work or to
university). With the duration of an MTM being so
short, an easy computer processing and an easy
search of contents is possible. Besides, there is a real
possibility of interchange between students through
“bluetooth”. It is necessary that the teacher chooses
an adequate size of fonts and elements in an MTM
to take into account that the MTM has to be
perfectly seen on mobile devices even with small
screen sizes. It cannot be said: “Excuse me, I do not
know if this line can be perfectly seen”.
The interconnection (or modularity) refers to the
fact that the design of an MTM has to take into
account that the MTM could be used in several
subjects (introductory courses at university,
undergraduate or postgraduate levels) taking care
also of the accessibility. The short duration of
MTMs facilitates their modularity, in contrast to
traditional lectures whose long duration do not help
to reuse them.
5 RUBRICS
In this section, we propose several rubrics to
evaluate the degree of minimalism of the slides that
are used in any audio-visual material and the degree
of MTM of any audio-visual material.
5.1 Minimalist Slides
The rubric to assess the degree of minimalism of the
slides that are used in any audio-visual material is to
give a mini-point for each of the items listed below:
1. The number of slides is less than or equal to 10.
2. The number of lines on each slide is less than or
equal to 7.
3. There is space for subtitles.
4. There is space to write on each slide.
5. The upper right corner of each slide is reserved
for the small image of the teacher.
6. The bottom right corner of each slide is reserved
for the big image of someone doing sign language.
7. There is a slide to make a summary.
8. There is a front cover slide and a back cover slide.
9. The slides are available to be printed.
The final score is to add up these mini-points,
multiply by (10/9) to get a 0-10 number. The slides
are considered MSs if the final score is bigger than
or equal to 8 and scoring at the first and last item.
5.2 Modular Teaching Mini-videos
The rubric to assess the degree of fulfilment of the
MTM features of any audio-visual material is to give
a mini-point for each of the following items:
1. It is between 5 and 10 minutes.
2. A synthesis effort is observed.
3. The slides are minimalist.
4. There is space for subtitles.
5. The teacher writes on the minimalist slides.
6. You can see well what the teacher writes.
7. A question is formulated that later on is solved.
8. A summary at the end is requested.
9. The written text can be clearly read on a mobile
device.
10. The text that the teacher writes at that moment
can be clearly read on a mobile device.
11. It can be used in several subjects.
12. The subtitles are available.
The final score is to add up these mini-points,
multiply by (10/12) to get a 0-10 number. The
audio-visual material is considered an MTM if the
final score is bigger than or equal to 8 and scoring at
the first and last item.
6 EXAMPLES
In this section, we give some examples of MTMs.
To follow completely the explanations on them, it is
TwoNewConceptsinVideoPodcasts-MinimalistSlidesandModularTeachingMini-videos
295
required to have a mathematical knowledge
equivalent to a student of approximately 14 years
old. Nevertheless, the MTMs can be applied to other
non-mathematical fields as is indicated in the
following subsections. The examples of the MTMs
described in this section and their corresponding
MSs are available at www.ia.uned.es/minivideos.
6.1 Characteristics of an MTM
In this MTM, the characteristics of an MTM are
described in terms of its duration, support,
methodology, philosophy, format, and
interconnection. In Figure 1a, an “empty” MS
(without being filled out) is shown with the
characteristics of an MTM. The same MS but “filled
in” is shown in Figure 1b at the moment of the
recording of the MTM. This MTM shows how to
introduce theoretical concepts using an MTM. In
this case, having in mind that these concepts were
the theoretical concepts of an MTM and they have
been explained in MTM format, we could say that it
is a meta-MTM. Other examples could be:
- Advice to write (tales, short notes...).
- Hints to enjoy art (painting, cathedrals...).
- Use of the social networks in Education.
- Types of literary works, musical periods...
- The importance of music in films.
- What are the origins of Philosophy?
6.2 False Proof I
Figure 1: a) Empty MS: characteristics of MTMs (left).
b) Filled MS: characteristics of MTMs (right).
In this MTM, one must pay attention to discover the
moment when an erroneous reasoning is made
in a
“proof”. At the end of the MTM the conclusion is an
absurdity, specifically that 2=1. If we are not able to
see where the reasoning is incorrect, we will have to
accept this absurd conclusion and that would not be
reasonable. This is an example of MTM where an
erroneous mathematical reasoning is made (although
apparently right) to check if the student is able to
detect that error. This same idea can be used in other
fields. For instance, detect errors when:
- Using languages (English, Latin...).
- Analysing a sentence.
- Classifying a master piece (artwork, music, ...).
6.3 Second Degree Equation
In this MTM, the formula to solve a second degree
equation is deduced. This formula is easy to
remember and easy to deduce. In the following
second degree equation, ax
2
+ bx + c = 0, it is
necessary to assume that a≠0 as explained in the
filled out MS of Figure 2b, associated to the empty
MS of Figure 2a, because otherwise the equation
would be of first degree rather than of second
degree, given by bx + c = 0. In Figure 2b, it is
indicated that one cannot divide by 0 as has been
illustrated in the MTM entitled “False proof I". This
is an example of MTM connected to another (in this
case, the MTM entitled “False proof I"). This same
idea could be applied in other fields, for instance:
- Latin/English in the Music (Enya, Carl Orff... / The
Cranberries, The Smiths...).
- Advice to make text commentaries.
6.4 John and Paul
In this MTM, we are going to solve a very simple
riddle about the number of sheep that the shepherds
John and Paul have. The riddle is as follows:
I) John tells Paul: "If you give me a sheep, I'll have
twice as many sheep as you”.
II) “However, if I give one to you, we will have the
same number of sheep”.
How many sheep had John at the beginning?
The statement I) is schematically expressed in the
empty MS of Figure 3a and its algebraic expression
in the filled out MS of Figure 3b. The statement II)
is schematically expressed in the empty MS of
Figure 4a and its algebraic expression in the filled
out MS of Figure 4b. This riddle is solved
mathematically in the MTM. However, the purpose
of this MTM is to show that it is possible to solve a
mathematical exercise through several methods
(formal vs. intuitive) and that it is important to
choose a good notation to do so. This idea could be
Figure 2: a) Empty MS with first steps of the MTM (left).
b) Filled in MS with first steps of the MTM (right).
CSEDU2014-6thInternationalConferenceonComputerSupportedEducation
296
applied in other areas, for instance:
- To show several solutions of practical cases of
criminal law, properly argued.
- To propose several algorithms to solve a specific
problem, either mathematical, computational or from
the everyday life.
- To implement the same pseudo code using
different languages of programming.
6.5 Three Daughters
In this MTM, we solve a very simple riddle although
perplexing at first sight. It is about two childhood
friends and the ages of the three daughters that one
of them has. The riddle is as follows: A man that has
three daughters says to one of his childhood friends:
“Let's see if you can guess the ages of my three
daughters, with the following clues:
I) “The product of their ages is 36”.
II) “The sum of their ages coincides with the number
of the building where we used to wait for each other
to go to school together”.”
The friend starts thinking and after doing some
calculations he says: “Something is missing.” The
other friend replies:
III) “Yes, you are right. The oldest is a pianist”.
This riddle is solved in the MTM in an exhaustive
way, listing all the possible cases for the ages of the
three daughters. The objective of this MTM is to
show that you must not surrender to a problem that
seems intractable at first.
This idea can also be applied in other situations,
for instance:
- To describe specific scientific enigmas and how
different theories have tried to explain them.
- To solve crimes with the help of forensic science.
Figure 3: a) Empty MS with the statement I) (left).
b) Filled in MS with the statement I) (right).
7 CONCLUSIONS
We have introduced the concept of “minimalist
slides” (MSs) which incorporates the advantages of
the traditional board and slides and which does not
have their disadvantages. The MSs have been
incorporated into a new type of video podcast
Figure 4: a) Empty MS with the statement II) (left).
b) Filled in MS with the statement II) (right).
creating the “modular teaching mini-videos”
(MTMs) that inherit the advantages of the MSs with
the additional benefit that they can be used at any
time and place that the student chooses. We believe
that the MTMs will be very useful in the actual
teaching covering classroom teaching, blended
learning and e-learning. In order to prove this belief
we are planning different experiments according to
the several characteristics of the MTMs.
REFERENCES
Griffin, D. K., Mitchell, D., Thompson, S. J. (2009).
Podcasting by synchronizing PowerPoint and voice:
what are the pedagogical benefits? Computers &
Education 53 (2), 532 - 539.
He, Y., Swenson, S., Lents, N. (2012). Online Video
Tutorials Increase Learning of Difficult Concepts in an
Undergraduate Analytical Chemistry Course. Journal
of Chemical Education 89 (9), 1128 - 1132.
Kay, R. H. (2012). Exploring the use of video podcasts in
education: a comprehensive review of the literature.
Computers in Human Behavior 28 (3), 820 - 831.
Loomes, M., Shafarenko, A., & Loomes, M. (2002).
Teaching mathematical explanation through
audiographic technology. Computers & Education,
38(1 - 3), 137 - 49.
Traphagan, T., Kucsera, J. V., Kishi, K. K. (2010). Impact
of class lecture webcasting on attendance and learning.
Educational Technology Research and Development
58 (1), 19 - 37.
Wieling, M. B., Hofman, W. H. A. (2010). The impact of
online video lecture recordings and automated
feedback on student performance. Computers &
Education 54 (4), 992 - 998.
TwoNewConceptsinVideoPodcasts-MinimalistSlidesandModularTeachingMini-videos
297
