Civil Engineering lab safety videos

Noboru Yonemitsu, Instructor, Civil Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
Mark Rigolo, Laboratory Manager, Civil Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
Jim Sibley, Director, Centre for Instructional Support
Yayah Nazhat, Instructor I, Civil Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
Jason Myers, Faculty Liaison, Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology
Barry Magrill, Faculty Liaison, Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology
Novak Rogic, Manager, Web Strategy, Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology
Andriana Briseño-Garzón, Flexible Learning Evaluation Coordinator, Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology
Tom Scott, Senior Producer, Information Technology
Saeed Dyanatkar, Creative Media Services, Digital Media Technologies, Information Technology
Emily-Claire McLaughlin, Creative Media Services, Digital Media Technologies, Information Technology
Sze Ting Tam, MEng student, Civil Engineering
Kwinten Van Gassen, Undergraduate RA, IBC Science
Ruslan Amarasinghe, PhD student, Civil Engineering
Adam Silvester, MASc student, Civil Engineering
Priyesh Verma, MASc student, Civil Engineering
Gaziz Seidalinov, MASc student, Civil Engineering
Achala Soysa, MASc student, Civil Engineering

Products & achievements: Instructional videos: CIVL210 (Soil Mechanics I) & CIVL311 (Soil Mechanics II); instructional websites with video clips and virtual walk-throughs: CIVL315 (Fluid Mechanics II) & CIVL316 (Hydrology and Open Channel Flow); instructional video production facility (HD camera, tripod, lighting, light box, software, sound recorder).

Intended outcomes/themes: Improved student learning experience through video instruction for Civil Engineering courses that have a laboratory component by dedicating lab time for actual hands-on elements and interaction with teaching assistants (TAs). Consistent and continuing video instruction around safety and proper use of instrumentation, which further eliminates instructional ambiguity by providing quality assurance. Increased accessibility and opportunities for students to review instructional materials as often as necessary prior to laboratory sessions.

Evaluation approach: During the project period, a total of 4 student surveys and 6 Teaching Assistant surveys were conducted. The survey in 2013 winter sessions were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of video instructions mainly in areas of material formats, style of videos, and ease of use of the materials, while the survey in 2015 was intended to find the overall effectiveness of the whole structures of additional instructional resources available for the same courses. Results were used to improve in quality and format of instructional materials. TA surveys gaged the effectiveness of additional instructional materials from the teaching team perspective.

Findings: The investment in video instruction has notably improved the learning experience for students in CE. 294 students responded to the 2013 survey (75.7% participation). The majority of students agreed that the instructional videos were helpful, increased their understanding on how to conduct experiments, and boosted their confidence in operating lab equipment. Survey results also indicated that our production quality and methods were appropriate for the purposes of this project. Although the majority of the students were satisfied with this new tools, some modifications and novel elements were introduced in the second year of the project. 247 students responded to the 2015 survey (63.8% participation). Again, our instructional materials proved to be effective for students, allowing them to perform lab experiments more effectively and to generally understand course material more fully. Students that took advantage of the video resources found the material easy to use. However, in order to maximize effectiveness of these learning tools, it is critical that we develop mechanisms to encourage students to use the instructional videos consistently prior to their lab sessions.

TAs were asked to assess the effectiveness of the newly developed instructional materials. TAs’ generally agreed that web-based video instructional materials were not only effective for student learning, but also reduced TAs’ teaching loads during the laboratory sessions. The resources reduced the amount of time TAs and instructors dedicate to describing the operation of equipment during laboratory sessions, freeing up time to assist students directly in the use of equipment and to provide more personalized assistance to individual students. This improvement was reflected in positive teaching evaluations.

Dissemination: Eventually the results of this work will be disseminated in various formats, but the analysis of outcomes is currently under review.

Sustainability: This new video instruction program will drastically increase the consistency of instruction among instructors and across the program, resulting in an equitable delivery of course material. We will continue to develop the mechanisms to ensure that web-based instructional video tools are fully utilized by students to enhance their practical laboratory experiences for the years to come. After three years of project development, students and TA feedback, video production facility implementation and RA training, we are confident that any instructional video clips for CE and possibly IGEN programs can be produced without much external help. We will continue producing videos for other courses and continuously improve both quality of video instructional materials and mechanisms to lead students for proper usage of such materials. Furthermore, as these videos have further enhanced the effectiveness of our laboratory-based curriculum, this program has the potential to attract prospective students to UBC in the future.