The effects of Instructional Video in Distance Learning in Secondary Schools in Peru Masayoshi Akahori Toin University of Yokohama March 31, 2003-04-01 Report of Research, Grants-in Aid for Scientific Research, N. 12571042 Researchers Professor Masayoshi Akahori Faculty of Engineering, Toin University of Yokohama Professor Shozo Usami Faculty of Humanities, Komazawa Women’s University Professor Alberto Palacios Pawlovsky Faculty of Engineering, Toin University of Yokohama Lecturer Hiroki Tsunogae Faculty of Engineering, Toin University of Yokohama Professor Rosemary Raygada Watanabe (cooperator) Faculty of Social Sciences Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal, Lima, Peru Yujiro Nakahata (cooperator) NHK Technical Senior Director (RE)
Preface In August of 1999, Professor Akahori was dispatched to Peru to assist in making an instructional video for a distance learning program. JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) was the sponsoring organization; at the same time, the Ministry of Education in Peru had just begun INTE (Instituto Nacional de Teleducacion). Preparations were made to develop materials and a curriculum and to train tutors to teach in distance learning classrooms of secondary schools. This idea, to use video materials for distance education in secondary schools, came from Telesecundaria, which is a distance-learning system which originated in Mexico. The program was begun all over Peru in April of 2000. The Toin University group visited a training facility outside Lima to meet the prospective tutors. We administered a survey to the tutors which asked them about their careers, their specialties, and the problems of education in their schools. The next year, 2001, the Toin Group visited two schools in Piura District, in Limon and La Islilla. First, we administered a test which measured student achievement; after giving the first test, we waited the students watching TV and re-administered the test again; the main area to be measured was their achievement after studying using videos and distance learning. We also measured their “visual literacy” since they had little exposure to TV, we needed to train them in how to understand recorded visual materials. For example, in watching a program on language “Communication” they had to grasp the fact that it was not being presented in real time; that it was recording and could be replayed freely; we had to teach them how to make connection in time between events presented that were not chronologically presented. Most important, was to make them aware of the goal or educational aim of each program. In the same year, we interviewed the parents and the students separately. In 2002, we visited nine schools in the District of Junin. Our object was to give the achievements test we had previously given at only two schools. We felt that giving the text at nine schools would yield better and more accurate data than the text given at only the two schools in Piura State. The test consisted of information on communication, science and mathematics. We also tested visual literacy. We found that video instructional materials have a clear benefit in learning. We thank for the cooperation to the Ministry of Education of Peru. We are also indebted to the tutors who visited the schools and to the parents and pupils of the schools. 1. Methodology and Object of this Research 1.1.Object There has been much research done already on video distance learning and its effectiveness in education. The results of this research show that it is very difficult to measure the effectiveness of TV learning because researchers have been unable to isolate the TV factors involved in the learning situation; in other words, the influence of visual information on learning is hard to separate from the influences of other classroom variables. However, there have been some useful articles written about the effects of video education. These articles generally hold that video motivates students; it facilitates fluency in language, primarily through expanding student vocabulary; it also expands their sense of the world by showing them different levels of reality, for example, students might learn in a science lesson about the life of ants, and by so doing the richness of experience offered by the larger outside world is clearly presented to them, children also increase their ability to communicate with each other through increased question and answer activities. As a result, their critical thinking abilities are enhanced and developed. Also, very important is the fact that students in isolated rural areas become increasingly interested in learning because video lessons hold a greater interest for them than regular classroom lesson. Peru was chosen as the site for this research because very little exposure to TV or learning through video had ever taken place in that country; in other words, it provided a relatively pristine model for research. 2. Methodology First, of course, we selected the schools to be visited and used as targets for research. We used basically six methodological approaches, hereinafter noted as (i), (ii), (iv), (v), (vi). One method (i) we used was simple observation; we also used interviews of students, teachers and parents. We also checked student achievement through pre-tests and post-tests (ii). After comparing the results we were able to get a better idea of student development. We were also interested in student motivation (iii). To facilitate this, we took videos of the students in the classroom. We set up a stationary video camera and analyzed the classroom behaviour of isolated students. Special attention was given to how long the students maintained their interest in a given video presented in a self-study period. Through this we learned that increased attention spans were characteristic of students exposed to video learning. They showed a great deal of interest in video and therefore their motivation was increased in this type of learning situation. Through interviews (iv) with parents and teachers we were able to discover that there had been significant behavioural changes in students; for example, after watching a video on communication, parents reported that their children were being more communicative at home. We also tested visual literacy (v). We prepared the tests in Japan and asked the students to watch a given program for which we had prepared the test. Finally, we used a questionnaire (vi) asking such things as which materials in self-study were most interesting –a textbook, a workbook, or a video. Masayoshi Akahori. Research Schedule The year 2000 In the first year, we mainly prepared the material we would need for the total program. We explained our goals to the Ministry of Education in Peru and got the necessary permissions to carry out our work. We administered the questionnaire to the tutor who would be involved with the program. The six-page questionnaire was mainly about their experience and their problems; we also asked about the condition of their schools and the relationship to the community. About 120 tutors answered the survey. The year 2001 We visit two schools in Piura in this year. Here we carried out the methodology mentioned above (i-vi). A already mentioned, the two schools were in the villages of Limon and La Islilla. The year 2003 In this year, as noted above, nine schools were visited as subjects of study on the mountains. Field notes – Professor Kubota Prof. Kubota noted that many tutors live in towns which are removed from the schools under study. This causes a problem when weather conditions or traffic problems keep the tutors from getting to the schools. One reason they live in towns is that the target schools are located in such rural areas that there is no accommodation available. Another reason is that they choose to live in towns for the modern conveniences available and the cultural attractions present. The tutors, who live near the schools, were also drawn to the towns on the weekends for the same reasons. Recently, tutors have been using the internet in the towns where internet case are available. This is a potent attraction for them because of the isolation of the areas studied, even though one hour on the internet is rather expensive for them. Prof. Kubota also noted that while the Ministry has spent a lot of money on buying computers for schools, it might be better to increase the number of tutors available so that each school has at precondition for any improvement in the educational programs offered in future. He also suggested that the physical conditions of the schools needed improvement; schools buildings were in need of repair and improvement. Many villages had no telephones, so there was no infrastructure to support computers. Prof. Kubota suggested that an improvement in the telephone communication facilities will be necessary before computers and the internet can be used in these areas. Since tutors are key personnel in any distance-learning/video program, they will need to be better trained in future. In using computers, it is suggested that tutors be given a basic knowledge of independently. Through the future implementation of web pages on the internet, tutors will be able to communicate their problems and solutions with others on the net. The Ministry of Education is now preparing programs so that web pages can be constructed for this purpose. The Questionnaires Hiroki Tsunogae The first question type asked about the conditions of each student’s home life and family. This question was specifically concerned with the number of people in the family; whether there was a TV set at home; whether the student worked at home to help the family; and how many hours each day students help at home. Question type number two was concern with parent’s opinions of distance education. Specifically, whether parents approved or disapproved of this type of education. It also asked how many days in a week students attended school. The third question type wanted to know how long each student spent getting to school. The next question types four asked about their study habits. Precisely, what subjects the students liked, and why students were motivated to learn. Question type five, the last question type, asked a bout how much students work at home to help their families. Students were asked if they worked at home each day for one, two or three or more hours and if they felt very tired from this. From next page, there are results of GTs of three questionnaires. 1st one is for questionnaire for tutors which conducted in March 2001, Huampani. 2nd one is also for tutors which conducted in March 2002. And 3rd one is for pupils conducted at each CPED in September 2002. If there any questions please ask by e-mail (tsunogae@cc.toin.ac.jp) Research in Piura (2001) Purpose To measure the effect of instruction using multimedia in distant middle schools in peru. Method By employing quasi-experimental methods, students are tested before and after the lesson using multimedia lesson were satisfactorily effective in increasing learning. We conducted a motivation Learning Survey in Limon and La Islilla parallel with a scholastic achievement test. The data of the research was the same as that of the achievement test and we asked for student impressions about video learning. Right after they watched the video of related subject matter, they were given the questionnaires, which were composed of eight sets of Osgood-type Attitude Yardstick Measures. In producing this questionnaire, we arranged each yardstick at random, so that students would not answer one-sidedly. But when we complied the results, the most favourable attitudes were given seven points. Then six points, thus points were diminished points gradually to one point, which was the least favourable. Thos who gave no response were accorded a score of zero. The questionnaire was in Spanish and students were asked to answer a seven-degree yardstick. We ued and ANOVA ASBC-Type Design to analyze twenty-testees by applying three categories: one was district, one was subject matter and the last were the questions on the survey. Depth interviews after they watched the video oessons This is gauge student’s reaction and impression relating to the effective domain that cannot be measured via objective recognition tests. Two instructional videocassette programs were shown to pilot students. The subjects were on social science on 24th Thursday, and on communication on 25th Friday 2001. Four pilot students were selected by the tutor as with better ability to express their opinion. We recorded their reactions while watching video programs, by a video camera. The first day, two researchers conducted the interview with four students, each researcher with two students. However, students’ responses were rather infrequent. The next day, one researcher conducted a round table talk with other four students. They were interested in a location segment of jungle villager’s life and an animated film on evolution of mankind. Finally, the interviewer asked student’s impression in participating the experiments. No student replied that they were bothered by the experiments, but they all answered. “It was very exciting experience, we enjoyed it. We will miss you because the experiments are coming to and end”. They were shy and soft-spoken, but war hearted and sensitive youngsters. Afterwords We did not include any anlysis on the difference in gender in this study, in future studies this relationship should be a topic of study. Furthermore differences between upper achievers, middle and lowers scorers. We have tried to do this on a small scale in Peru but found no significant data. When more funds are obtained to conduct such research in larger scale, the data we collected and the research design and analysis methods we employed will surely of some help to researchers in the future. Results After the above quasi-experiments were carried out in the summer 2001, it was discovered that multimedia lessons were satisfactorily effective in increasing lessons. Students knowledge and or skills were improved after the lessons and they retained that knowledge or sills even after a week. The lower scorers gained much more than upper scorers and made remarkable progress after multimedia lesson. Students reacted to the video programs used in the multimedia lessons favourably. There was very little difference in test achievements between the mountain area school and a coastal area one. There was no difference between boys and girls in test results. Among three subjects studied, mathematics as a subject was retained better than communication or science. Conclusion and recommendations It is natural that the students from the rural schools have a lower visual ability than the city students; however, from our research we found that by watching TV in school every day their skills at visual comprehension and that their ability to understand visual information and to analyse the video for the main theme was very good. We conclude that their contact with TV and visual input at schools is essential to their ability to learn from visual materials. Visual skills are an important part of modern life and even in areas that have no electricity; thought the use of other forms of power, like solar panels, students must be allowed to form these skills. We hope that in future research, we will be better able to clarify these issues, however, we feel that this pilot study is a step in the right direction in understanding visual learning materials. Research in Junin (2002) VL stands for visual literacy tests. In the year 2002, we conducted the same survey as we conducted in Piura in 2001. The result was not better than Piura except in some schools with some test items. Again, the model school was no better than other CPEDs. But we should wait one or two more years so that these students have a chance to get acquainted with visual teaching materials, and then examine their achievements levels. The 2002 year results show that the model schools students were equal to students in other schools and, so to speak, they provide a good example for researchers because one can compare them with other students from easily since they began from the same starting point as students in other locations. If the model school students had been too good in academic achievement and visual literacy tests, the comparison study would be rather difficult, if not impossible to make sense of. Purpose To measure the effects of instruction incorporating multimedia in distance learning secondary high schools. Method 1) Quasi-experimental method were employed to test the students’s scholastic achievements. 2) A visual literacy test was given to measure the degree of student recognition of visual information presented in instructional video programs. The visual literacy test was also administrated in 2001 in a regular secondary high school in the city of Piura in order to discover any differences in visual literacy between students who are able to watch commercial TV and those who watch only instructional video. 3) Additional surveys This year (2002) we have administered the above types of tests in 10 CPEDs in differente districts in Peru, including one model CPED Huacrapuquio to which three tutors were assigned and more than ten personal computers were installed for students to access to INTERNET. A typical CPED has one or two tutors and one or two personal computers installed say for, official use. This Huacrapuquio survey will show the validity of new system compared to the 20001-year survey and other survey in CPEDs in 2002. To conclude this report, we reiterate the conclusion in each section as follows: 1) We did not include any analysis on the differences in gender in this study; in the future studies this relationship should be a topic of study. Furthermore, differences between upper achievers, middle and lowers scorers should be carried out. We have tried to do this on a small scale in Peru but found no significant data. 2) We conclude that their contact with TV and visual input at school is essential to their ability to learn from visual materials. Visual skills are an important part of modern life and even in areas that have no electricity; thought the use of other forms of power, like solar panels, students must be allowed to form these skills. We hope that in future research, we will be better able to clarify these issues, however, we feel that this pilot study is a step in the right direction in understanding visual learning materials. 3) When more funds are obtained to conduct such research in larger scale, the data we collected and the research design and analysis methods we employed will surely of some help to researchers in the future. (copyright Masayoshi Akahori)
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