Effectiveness of Video Autopausing to Elicit Active Responses

Video Presentation

Authors:

• Sheharbano Jafry, Biology, UW Seattle
• Jennifer Doherty, Biology, UW Seattle

Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many college courses to shift to an online format. Many instructors have altered their teaching methods to maximize student learning. For example, some active-learning instructors have embedded autopause questions, which appear when the video stops at certain points, in recorded lectures. We wanted to understand how autopause questions could change student behavior in approaching class questions. We hypothesize that if a professor has the video “autopause” before the video provides the answers to these questions, then students will be more likely to generate their own answer prior to hearing the correct answer.

We investigated this hypothesis over two quarters of introductory biology III. Students complete “lecture follow alongs (LFAs)” assignments as they watch the video. In one quarter, students were asked to pause the video and answer the questions. In the second quarter, the video autopaused, and the students had to positively affirm they answered the question before the video continued. Only the LFA responses, not the autopause questions, are graded.

We are investigating differences in student responses to the LFAs between quarters. In our initial scoring of two LFA sets in summer and autumn quarters, about 50 percent of students copied the instructor’s own answers for about a third of the LFAs, while less than 30 percent copied in an earlier set. Looking at such responses will inform us about how students are approaching the questions and whether they are initially thinking about and forming their own answers. Our results will give insight into the effectiveness of autopause questions in changing student behavior, so that students approach the questions themselves before hearing the correct answer. If autopause questions are able to significantly change student behavior in this manner, then this method can be successfully implemented in other online courses to maximize student learning.

We investigated this hypothesis over two quarters of introductory biology III. Students complete “lecture follow alongs (LFAs)” assignments as they watch the video. In one quarter, students were asked to pause the video and answer the questions. In the second quarter, the video autopaused, and the students had to positively affirm they answered the question before the video continued.

We are investigating differences in student responses to the LFAs between quarters. In our current results, most students tend to copy the instructor’s own answers. However, there is a minority of students who write different but correct answers. There are also students who write their own answers, which are initially wrong, and then revise them to the correct ones. Looking at such responses will inform us about how students are approaching the questions and whether they are initially thinking about and forming their own answers. Our results will give insight into the effectiveness of autopause questions in changing student behaviour, so that students approach the questions themselves before hearing the correct answer. If autopause questions are able to significantly change student behavior in this manner, then this method can be successfully implemented in other online courses to maximize student learning and understanding.

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