..and here it is- our common report. Have fun!
ANALYSIS OF THE EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS
Written by Mariliis Lazarev, Laura Valdma, Lone Pickardt, Stine Voldsund, Tanja Carina B. Hoff
Introduction
The purpose of this report is to survey three educational videos: “Cooking Lesson”, “Computer Parts” and “How to Make Muffins” and to analyze these videos considering three aspects: educational dimensions, technical dimensions and dimensions concerning “English as a second language”.
“Cooking Lesson“
The main educational goal for this step-by-step video is to learn vocabulary related to cooking and kitchen: a pancake, a bowl, a pan, an egg, milk, a whisk, salt, sugar, flour, oil, to crack, to mix, to add, to put, to preheat, dough, to pour, to cook, to serve, a salad, a cucumber, a tomato, a cabbage, a knife, to cut. Also through this video pupils can learn how to make pancakes and salad. Pupils can see different kitchen tools with the proper names and phonetic symbols so they are able to connect words with meanings and increase their learning. Based on the goals this video is suitable in the learning phase, where students learn the new topic.
When using this video pupils can be both active and passive, it depends on the teacher and on the task they have while watching. For example if pupils are in the kitchen, they can use the video as the recipe and they will be active, but when pupils just sit in the classroom and watch the video, then they are passive.
The educational purposes were approached by showing how to make pancakes and salad and what pupils need for that. Also pupils can hear the pronunciation, see the spelling and the phonetic symbols.
The technical quality of the video was great. This video had better lighting than the others we watched and the sound was really good. The focus was on the ingredients not on the people, so everyone can clearly see what to do. As subtitles, they were a little bit too big and they took away a big part of the screen.
There was any misuse of English- the pronunciation, the spelling and the phonetic symbols were correct.
Considering all mentioned aspects mentioned we think that this video is suitable for younger pupils, maybe between ages of 10-12.
“Computer Parts”
The main educational goal for this video is to learn vocabulary related to computers: a monitor, a screen, a mouse, a keyboard, a speaker, a hard disk drive, a microprocessor, a motherboard. Also this video teaches where you should go when something is wrong with your computer. This is why this video is suitable in the learning phase, where students start to learn new topic.
When using this video pupils can be both active and passive, it depends on the teacher and on the task they have while watching.
The educational purposes were approached by showing the parts of a computer and describing what role the parts have and how these parts work. Also pupils can hear the pronunciation and see the spelling of words.
Technically, the main problem was the sound. The sound of this video was very quiet, it was almost impossible to hear what the puppet was saying. Also there should have been more action in this video to keep the pupils motivated, and the ending was odd - "there will be a test". This is not a good way to end an educational video.
The use of English in this video was really good. It was not only an informative use of the language, it was also chatty and natural. But in some places there was too much speaking about one part of computer. There was no misuse- the pronunciation and spelling were correct.
In this video a puppet was the main character, which has computer problems and this made the context of the video more fun. But at the same time it made the target group a little bit confusing- because the vocabulary was too difficult for younger pupils, but the puppet was too childish for older pupils.
„How to make muffins“
The educational goal for this video is to teach children the proper names for the kitchen tools and how to make muffins. Pupils can learn words like icing sugar, food colours, sugar, flour, water, baking powder, muffins, margarine, milk, eggs and different verbs. Based on the goals this video is suitable in the learning phase, where students learn the new topic.
Like in previous two videos the activity level of pupils depends on the teacher and on the task pupils have while watching.
The goals were approached by introducing the ingredients for the children and using a step-by-step video to make them able to do it themselves. Also pupils can hear the pronunciation and see the spelling of ingredients.
The technical quality of the video was satisfying despite of the fact that the sound sometimes disappeared, spelling was mostly correct, but the pronunciation was a little strange. There were some misuses of English, for example the pronunciation and spelling (food colours not food colouring), but all in all, it was not too bad.
The content of this video was concise, but there should have been some music playing on the background and phonetic symbols, which would have made this video easier to watch. Also in the beginning of the video pupils can hear and see the list of ingredients. Some pictures would have helped pupils to connect the words with their meaning.
Considering all mentioned aspects this video is suitable for older pupils, because there were no subtitles to read and the vocabulary was quite difficult.
Conclusion
All three videos were similar, because through these videos pupils can learn different vocabulary. Also the educational goals were approached similarly. It is difficult to decide which of these videos our favourite is because they all are best in different categories. “Cooking lesson” has the best technical quality, “Computer Parts” has the best quality of English language and “How to make Muffins” was the most concise despite of the grammar and technical errors.