This paper looks at the development of low cost interactive video material for use in self-access learning which makes use of repurposed video tape and ...
Interactive Video in Self-Access Learning Development Issues Gardner, D. (1993). Interactive video in self-access learning: Development issues. In SALT (Ed.), Interactive multimedia '93 (pp. 150-152). Warrenton, VA: Society for Applied Learning Technology.
David Gardner The University of Hong Kong
This paper looks at the development of low cost interactive video material for use in self-access learning which makes use of repurposed video tape and requires relatively unsophisticated programming skills. It discusses the pedagogical choices involved in constructing the program and the methodology developed to enable teacher-friendly program development. It shows how such development can be undertaken wholly or partly by educators who are not technology specialists.
INTRODUCTION comedy and movies, the majority of its use is for passive viewing. An objective of this project was to make the viewing process more interactive and to include a greater degree of self-paced choice for the user. To produce a program in a way which could be repeated it was also necessary to set objectives for the development of a methodology which could be pursued by teachers rather than technologists. The system chosen should lend itself to working in a way that would be compatible with the blocks of erratically scattered time available to teachers. It would, therefore, need to be quick to learn and sufficiently uncomplicated not to need relearning if left untouched for a few weeks. In addition, its level of technological simplicity must facilitate rather than hinder exploitation. Finally, programs must be easily amended to enable experimentation with what for most teachers is a new medium.
Within language teaching there has been a resurgence of interest in the development of self-access facilities. These provide learners with materials which range from language learning courses through to authentic language for immersion. The degree of help given personally or through the materials varies but the ultimate aim is to develop learner independence in order to facilitate lifelong learning. Video tape is a popular resource in these centres because it is available in large quantities and costs little, however, it often tends to be viewed passively. Writers in the field of language teaching have long warned of this danger (Geddes and Sturtridge, 1982: Lonergan, 1984: Allen, 1985: Cooper et al, 1991). The project reported here arose from a desire to make the use of video in the self-access facilities of The University of Hong Kong more interactive. It documents the development of a methodology for relatively quick production of low cost, video tape-based, self-paced interactive language learning material. It also describes the production of a prototype program which has been trialled and evaluated and is ready for further development.
CHOICE OF SYSTEM
DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES The objectives in developing the prototype program fall into two categories: Pedagogical Objectives: - to capitalize on the popularity of video - to improve the learning potential of video by increasing its interactivity· Methodological Objectives: - to increase development speed - to reduce development complexity - to facilitate experimentation Observations and student interviews show that of the various media we support in self-access learning, video is by far the most popular. The purpose of this project was not to investigate the reasons for this phenomenon but to exploit it. Observations also show that while there is a high demand for video of all kinds from straight learning materials to situation
The system chosen was the aXcess tape system (described by Lambert in this volume). This system has been developed with teachers' needs in mind (Lambert and Hart, 1991). A number of its features are particularly attractive. It enables the use of video tape of which there are many fine examples in language teaching. It functions through a simple programming language which is easy to master but provides enough flexibility. Program development is realizable by individual teachers thus avoiding the need for a team of developers which would be unrealizable in many contexts. The system developers offer excellent support and have welcomed input into the development of the programming language with consequent advantages. There are a number of features of the system which appear less attractive. The most worrying is speed of delivery to the end user. In addition, tape searching and display of graphics is relatively slow; and the boot-up procedure can be frustratingly slow. Other problems are the inability to overlay graphics on the video display and the simplistic handling of user input. These drawbacks have been partially negated through programming or accepted as a fair trade-off for the advantag-
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es. Tape searching can be largely masked within the program structure. It would remain a problem in any program making consistent demands for short segments of video. The problems of graphics display and boot-up time are being addressed by the systems programmers. The inability to overlay graphics is related to the PAL TV system we use in Hong Kong and may eventually be overcome by production of a multisystem machine, that development is eagerly awaited. Simplistic handling of user input becomes frustrating to an experienced user but is a fair trade-off for the lack of complexity which makes the programming language teacherfriendly.
One outcome of this desire to emphasize user-control was the design decision concerning user input. The purpose of this program is to make users think about the story and the communication. As a result, for each question with which learners are presented they are invited to think about their answer and tb.en to press a key to see a model answer. This allows much more complex models to be used than if the computer were expected to check learner input. More importantly, it puts the onus on users to decide how well they have answered. At an advanced level of communication this is an important skill that learners must acquire.
PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
During the writing of the program there were moments of difficulty which could have been overcome more quickly through access to a skilled programmer. However, struggling with the problems often helped to clarify the purpose of what was being attempted. Attempts to show off what the system could do rather than achieve a pedagogical goal were abandoned. Solving the worthwhile problems often led to better solutions than originally envisaged but did take some time. The viability of this kind of trial and error programming for a one-off project would be questionable. If, as here, the aim is to produce a prototype for future development then it is justifiable. Teachers are often ignorant of instructional design. Large scale development projects have instructional designers and consequently teachers' input is restricted to subject expertise. The kind of small scale work described here leads to development in isolation. This could result in the perpetuation of design errors unless a detailed formative evaluation is carried out. Such an evaluation has been an important part of this project (see Hart in this volume) and has given invaluable feedback about the way the material is presented as well as the content.
The repurposed video used in this project (English At Work #38) was made by the Australian television channel SBS-TV in conjunction with the National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research at Macquarie University. It is one of a series of half-hour programs aimed at a multicultural audience. It was chosen because it contains authentic language which would be of use to the learners and because it uses a soap opera format as a vehicle for learning. Observations indicate that this format is more popular than purpose written language learning materials. The video contains a number of story lines of which one was selected as a focus. This story concerns a Lebanese couple who are trying to arrange for immigration for another family member. They consult their local member of parliament who is able to give them some help. Immigration is currently an important issue in Hong Kong, it was felt that this would make the story of interest to learners. To focus the attention of students and to make their experience more interactive the exploitation of the material was structured. The story was divided into eight selfcontained sections. Each section was preceded by an advance organizer which was intended to focus learners' attention on its key elements. At the end of each section learners' were asked questions which related specifically to the focus of the advanced organiser. Then users chose their next move. They could repeat the section but with an even more focused advanced organiser and questions. They could review vocabulary items from the section they had just seen; each item is explained, shows a further example and allows viewing in context. Alternatively, they could choose to move to the next section. No time constraints were imposed for completion of sections as the program is intended to be largely under user control. The vocabulary items in this program were all colloquial expressions which learners at an advanced level need to come to terms with. In future programs other kinds of vocabulary might be dealt with or the whole section might be replaced or complemented by other sections such as grammar, more detailed comprehension questions, etc. In genuine self-access mode we can advise, suggest or direct but never compel learners. It is for this reason that a number of choices were designed into the program, too much program-control would have prompted learners to take the ultimate decision of user-control and switch off the machine.
PROBLEMS OF PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
PEDAGOGICAL OUTCOME Capitalizin2 on the p
