Leveraging Screen Casts To Strategically Clarify Unclear Material Science Concepts

This paper presents findings from a study prompted by the desire to enhance students’ conceptual understanding of material science and engineering concepts in a large lecture introductory course. The pedagogy examined focuses on the use of online resources which students use to study selectively and at their own pace. Screencasts, recordings that capture audio narration along with computer screen images, are one such resource that can provide the rich, multimedia structure of a classroom lecture that engages students’ different learning styles. This paper compares strategies that instructors used in two iterations of the same course to identify topics on which to make supplemental screencasts, to help students understand difficult concepts. The paper further examines how screencasts in themselves may and may not contribute to student learning outcomes. The methodology is as follows. In a first course iteration, students identify concepts or topics that they did not fully understand for a unit by turning in index cards at the end of class. This approach is inspired by a classroom assessment technique advocated in faculty development literature, “The Muddiest Point” assessment. 1 Not surprisingly, the concepts students identified are topics that students have historically found difficult in this course (i.e. basis, true stress, error function, slip, lever rule, and polymer structures). However, survey data show that students reported only two topics were difficult (i.e. basis and polymer structures). Surprisingly, survey results indicate that the majority of students responding found all of the screencasts helpful regardless of whether they found a concept difficult or not. Other data suggest that the impact on student learning could be even greater, as both faculty and students learn to utilize this new resource. Addressing these concerns, in a second iteration of the course, students answer an online survey and self-report their comfort level with various course topics. These questions specifically align with the learning objectives of the unit. In this iteration, the professor develops a supplemental screencast when 30% or more of students identify a concept or topic as being unclear. This paper compares the results of these two approaches.