video production, visual pedagogy and threshold concepts Angus Macdonald Centre for Academic Practice Enhancement MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY

MDX Play Since June 2009 – over 1800 videos

Four Types of Video Content in ELearning (Robin Kay. ‘Exploring the Use of Video Podcasts in Education: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature.’ Computers in Human Behaviour. Volume 28 Issue 3, May 2012) Substitutional Supplementary Enhanced Worked Examples

Substitutional 40%

Supplementary 55%

Enhanced 2%

Enhanced/Supplementary? Enhanced/Substitutional? Over 250 videos on lecture capture server

Worked Examples 3%

Posted on December

Other Examples

OU, BBC Bitesize, Channel 4 Learning Zone

Common Craft

The Khan Academy

Coursera

RSA Animate

Open University, BBC Bitesize, Channel 4 Learning Common Craft The Khan Academy Coursera RSA Animate (Royal Society of Art)

Threshold Concepts

Threshold concepts Jan Meyer and Ray Land: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge (2003) “Threshold concepts can be considered as akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something. It represents a transformed way of understanding […] without which the learner cannot progress.”

Threshold concepts David Perkins: Constructivism and Troublesome Knowledge (2006) Troublesome knowledge: “knowledge that is ‘alien’, counter-intuitive or even intellectually absurd at face value.”

Threshold concepts Glynis Cousin: An Introduction to Threshold Concepts (2006) “Mastery of a threshold concept can be inhibited by the prevalence of ‘common sense’ or intuitive understanding of it. Getting students to reverse their intuitive understandings is also troublesome because the reversal can involve an uncomfortable, emotional repositioning.”

Examples of Threshold Concepts Imagine that you have just poured two identical hot cups of tea (i.e. they are at the same temperature) and you have milk to add. You want to cool down one cup of tea as quickly as possible because you are in a hurry to drink it. You add the milk to the first cup immediately, wait a few minutes and then add an equal quantity of milk to the second cup. At this point which cup of tea will be cooler, and why? The answer is the second cup, because in the initial stages of cooling it is hotter than the first cup with the milk in it and it therefore loses more heat because of the steeper temperature gradient Meyer and Land (2003)

Your Threshold Concepts What are your particular threshold concepts? What ideas do the students struggle with? How can this threshold concept be broken down? How could video help?

Your Threshold Concepts Think about the threshold concepts within your own subject area Is there a visual way of representing this?

Remember Be concise Put yourself in students shoes Test it on a colleague Discuss ideas and collaborate

“A good clip can truly convey more than 1000 words [...] Using video clips brings the course alive for the instructor as well as for the students.” Robin Mason and Frank Rennie, ‘Chapter 4: The Tools in Practice’, E-Learning and Social Networking Handbook: Resources for Higher Education, London: Routledge, 2008, p.126.

References Cousins, Glynis. ‘An Introduction to Threshold Concepts’. Planet, No.17, Flanagan, Mick. Threshold Concepts: Undergraduate Teaching, Postgraduate Training and Professional Development: A short introduction and bibliography Kay, Robin. ‘Exploring the Use of Video Podcasts in Education: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature.’ Computers in Human Behaviour. Volume 28 Issue 3, May 2012 Khan, Salman. ‘Let’s Use Video To Reinvent Education.’ TED Talks (video). Koller, Daphne. ‘What We’re Learning From Online Education.’ TED Talks (video). Land, Ray. Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: A Transformational Model of Learning (Presentation). (2008). docs/teachtalk/ /ray_land_presentation.pdfhttp:// docs/teachtalk/ /ray_land_presentation.pdf Mazur, Eric. ‘Confessions of a Converted Lecturer’ (video), YouTube, Meyer, Jan, and Ray Land. ‘Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practising Within the Disciplines’. Occasional Report 4, ETL Project. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, Perkins, David. ‘Constructivism and troublesome knowledge’ in Meyer J H F and Land R (eds.) Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge. London; Routledge, 2006.