Screencasting and its effect on the traditional lecture

The use of screencasting at James Cook University (jcu) has increased heavily over the last five years, and we have extended our resources to include complete sets of live lecture recordings captured via annotations and commentary on a tablet computer. At JCU, screencasting is now used extensively in mathematics subjects at all year levels both as lecture support and lecture replacement for entire subjects. The aim of these screencasts was to create greater flexibility for our students, engage them through a familiar medium and to encourage them to work outside of the usual lecture and tutorial times. However, many lecturers have expressed concern that increased flexibility will result in a reduction in lecture and tutorial attendance. In order to address this concern, a study was carried out on the second semester first year engineering mathematics class at JCU. A survey was used to determine the students' perspective of the impact of screencasting on their own study methods, as well as their attitudes to attendance at traditional lectures and tutorials. The results of this survey should provide some reassurance that total flexibility is not ideal and the traditional lecture still remains a valuable resource for our current body of students. References P. Galbraith. Students, Mathematics and Technology: assessing the Present. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology 37 no. 3, 2006, 277--290. doi:10.1080/00207390500321936 R. Sturdivant, P. Durham and R. Jardine. Preparing Mathematics Teachers for Technology-Rich Environments. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology 19 no. 2, 2009, 161--173. doi:10.1080/10511970802409180 C. McDougall. and Z. Karadag, Using Technology to support cognitive activities and to extend cognitive abilities:A study of online mathematical learning. In S. Swars, D. Stinson and S. Lemons-Smith, editors, Proceedings of the Thirty First Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Atlanta, Georgia, 2009. http://www.pmena. org/2009/proceedings/TECHNOLOGY/techBRR369984.pdf E. Peterson, Incorporating Screencasts in Online Teaching. Review of research in open and distance learning , 8 , no. 3, 2007. http://www.irrodl. org/index.php/irrodl/article/viewArticle/495 . M. Loomes, A. Shafarenko and M. Loomes. Teaching Mathematical Explanation Through Audiographic Technology. Computers and Education , 38 , 2002, 137--149. http://www.mendeley. com/research/teaching-mathematical-explanation-through-audiographic-technology/ B. Flanagan and B. Calandra. Podcasting in the Classroom. Learning and Leading with Technology , 33 , 2005, 20--23. http://eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ728915.pdf H. Harris and S. Park,. Educational uses of Podcasting. British Journal of Educational Technology , 39 , no. 3, 2008, 548-551. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2007. 00788.x B. Tynan and S. Colbran. Podcasting, student learning and expectations. The 23rd Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education: Who's Learning? Whose Technology? , 2006, Sydney, Australia http://www.ascilite. org.au/conferences/sydney06/proceeding/pdf_papers/p132.pdf C. Yoon and J. Sneddon. Student perceptions of effective use of Tablet PC recorded lectures in undergraduate mathematics courses. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology , 42 no. 4, 2011, 425--445. doi:10.1080/0020739X.2010. 543165 D. Mullamphy, P. Higgins, S. Belward and L. Ward. To Screencast or not to Screencast. Proceedings Engineering, Mathematics and Applications Conference, Adelaide, 2009 http://journal.austms. org.au/ojs/index.php/ANZIAMJ/article/view/2657