Name: Tracey Dalton D10120799

Date: 11th November 2014

MSc. Applied eLearning - Stage 2 Project Milestones : A Formative Assignment for
Supervisor
Research Paper Title:
Can a blended learning approach help to overcome new learning challenges in first year?
1. Justification for Project
Background: I am a lecturer on a BA Honours degree in Interior Design & Furniture in DIT.
This is a study which assesses the use of post-lecture CAD (computer aided design)
screencasts with 16 first year students. The screencasts were produced over the last 3 years
and amount to almost fifty presently. A pilot study was carried out, with two surveys in
April/May 2014, and results were analysed. The journal paper will be a retrospective case
study with the same cohort to assess if they found that the screencasts benefitted their
learning of a new skill in first year and whether they still use them in second year.
Context & Rationale: Art & Design students come to 3rd level with prerequisite skills, which
have been reviewed at portfolio submission stage for entry. These include an ability to
draw, render, create workbooks and mood-boards, colour perception etc. Design students
tend to lack, or are unaware of the necessity to be competent in technical skills i.e. technical
drawing, surveying, model-making and AutoCAD. These are all new challenges. My paper
will concentrate on the challenge of learning AutoCAD in first year. This skill involves mainly
convergent thinking, but designers tend to be divergent thinkers. It also involves research
into cognitive thinking and the evaluation of the resource in terms of intrinsic, extraneous
and germane load (Sweller, 1988; Paas et al. 2003; Mayer, 2009). I intend to explore the
reasons why these areas are challenges to design students, through a literature search on
convergent and divergent thinking in designers (Lawson, 2005). Lawson noted the
importance of convergent and divergent thinking in designers, stating it is probably the
designer who needs these two skills in the most equal proportions.
2. Literature Critique
Jon Udell (2004), an analyst at Microsoft, coined the phrase screencasting, and has written
many papers and articles on the subject. Common strands in the literature on screencasting
in education focus on the technology itself (Sugar et al. 2010; Winterbottom, 2007),
research with large lectures groups (Green et al. 2011), assessing student creation of
screencasts (Farkas, 2013), student access and perception of screencasts (Rose, 2009),
optional usage and subsequent effect (Green et al. 2012; Grabe et al. 2008), talking with
students through screencasting (Lee et al. 2012), and implementation to scaffold learning
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and reduce cognitive load (Dalgarno et al., 2008). The literature search found that
disciplines researching the use of screencasts in education tend to be science, technology,
engineering and instructional design focussed. There was also a prevalence of the use of
quantitative, rather than qualitative methods, which may correlate with the disciplines. In
my discipline, Hardaker and Rushin (2012) have written on the use of screencasts as a
supplement to CAD teaching in fashion and textiles. However, there are shortcomings to
this paper, (acknowledged by the authors) in that it focusses too much on the software
creation.
My research can add new knowledge and/or solve a problem, in relation to screencast use
because there is not a lot of research on their use with arts based disciplines, especially
interior design. It will examine whether screencasts help to reduce anxiety in interior design
students around the learning of CAD by aligning it with cognitive load theory (Sweller, 1998;
Paas et al. 2003) and Mayers cognitive theory of multimedia learning (Mayer, 2009) and
whether the screencasts can encourage both convergent and divergent thinking (Lawson,
2005) in first years. I have reviewed previous student papers on the topic of cognitive load
theory and blended learning i.e. Stuart(2013) and Seery et al.(2011) and recognized the
predominantly cited authors such as Mayer(2001), Sweller (1988), Littlejohn(2007) among
others. I have delved more into Mayer, Sweller and Paas to gain more insight into CLT
looking at intrinsic, extraneous and germane load (Paas & Sweller, 2003) and how the
evaluation of the screencasts measures up to Mayers CLT of multimedia learning. This will
be an ongoing process of discovery in the course of the project.
3. Document Purpose and Scope for Project
This documents purpose is to show how I have progressed in my research since my
research methods module paper. The project takes place from April 2014 until July 2015.
The research, literature review, resource development, and data collection will take place
before and until December 2014. The collection, dissemination and analysis of results and
the subsequent write up of the paper will take place between January and June 2015.
4. Summary of Research Design
Research Question:
Since my research methods proposal assignment, the paper title has changed to Can a
blended learning approach help to overcome new learning challenges in first year?. This
emerged as the key question because it speaks specifically about whether the screencasts
can help students with new learning on the design course.
Objectives:

Can the screencasts enable the students to become both convergent and divergent
thinkers, helping them to master skills that involve more convergent thinking, which
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they tend to be less adaptable to? (Lawson(2005) noted the importance of

convergent and divergent thinking in designers, stating it is probably the designer
who needs these two skills in the most equal proportions.)
How do students feel about a blended approach to learning?
Would students welcome more blended approaches to learning?
What is the students user experience of the screencasts?

Methodology & Methods: I will use what Stake (as cited in Cousin, 2005, p.422) refers to as
an intrinsic case study, which will focus on the use of the screencasts for education over
one academic year. It will be a retrospective study with the current second years.
The research will take a mainly qualitative approach, incorporating the pilot study in
April/May 2014 (two surveys one mixed methods, one qualitative only (see my ePortfolio
project page) - for reference. It will focus on learning challenges in first year, the learners
user experience of the resource, and whether it helps overcome new challenges in first year.
The methods will be as follows:

A qualitative anonymous survey questionnaire, in hard copy, distributed by an

impartial party.

A qualitative focus group with approximately 3 students, but no more than 5,

which will be audio-recorded and conducted by an impartial party.

5. Information Management Strategy

The literature search on screencasting, design thinking, cognitive load theory and blended
learning came from DIT library and library database searches, Google Scholar and Arrow
@DIT. I have created a lever arch file for my 2nd year of the MSc. This is divided into weekly
lecture notes and hard copies of the literature, separated into topics as mentioned above.
There is also a section for re-cap on my research methods module and proposal assignment,
pilot survey results, relevant MSc and MA graduate journal papers and any other
information gathering I have done. I also have digital copies of most documents (except
books) and have set up files and sub-folders on my computer, in a similar format to the hard
copy file. I use bookmarking on my computer also, to keep note of relevant pages accessed
on-line. I do not use EndNote presently and tend to access previous assignment reference
lists to save new references correctly, or copy and paste keeping source formatting (if
correct!) to reduce work for myself.
6. Description of the Target User Group
The target user group are second year BA Hons. Interior Design and Furniture students. They
will be surveyed for a retrospective study on the use of a blended learning approach, using
CAD screencasts, to help overcome a new learning challenge in their first year. They were all
over 18 years in first year, at the time of the pilot study.

7. Ethics
There are not any major ethical issues in my project, but I have liaised with the DIT ethics
board over the last five months, taking on their recommendations. These include:

Obtaining consent from my head of school to carry out the survey and focus group.
Adding a note to the survey to inform students that it will be anonymous.
An impartial party will distribute the surveys in class and will also conduct the audio
recorded focus group.
A consent form will be issued to students who volunteer to participate in the focus
group.
The focus group will be randomly chosen to avoid bias in terms of collecting the
right answers for the study.

8. Project Plan

Pilot Survey: April/May 2014

Submission to DIT Ethics Board: June 11th 2014 (Clarifications issued in July and October 2014)
Questionnaire/Survey Design & Implementation: October/November 2014
Audio Interview Questionnaire Design & Implementation: November 2014
Data Analysis/Triangulation of Results: December/January 2014/15
Commence Paper - Abstract - moving on sequentially to Conclusions: February 2015

9. Target Journal
Presently, I am contemplating the Irish Journal of Academic Practice, the British Journal of
Educational Technology, the Journal of Educational Technology & Society and the Journal of
Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia as I think my research is not specific to my
discipline, but for all educators using multimedia. However, I am not ruling out anything.
However, this something that I will put a lot more thought and research into, to find the
most appropriate journal for me. When other goals in the project have been completed I
will put more time into this aspect of it.
References
Cousin, G., (2005), Case Study Research, Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 29:3,
pp.421-427
Dalgarno, B., Pradhan, S. & Lee, M.J.W., (2008), The Effectiveness of Screencasts and
Cognitive Tools as Scaffolding for Novice Object-Oriented Programmers Journal of
Information Technology Education, Vol 7, pp.61-80.
Farkas, M. (2013), Just-for-me Training Screencasting for personalized longterm learning.
Retrieved May 06, 2014 for www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org, In Practice, p.21

Green, K., Pinder-Grover, T. & Millunchick, J., (2011), The efficacy of screencasts to address
the diverse academic needs of students in a large lecture course. Advances in Engineering
Education, Winter 2011, Vol 2 Issue 3, pp.1-28.
Green, K., Pinder-Grover, T. & Millunchick, J., (2012), Impact of Screencast Technology:
Connecting the Perception of Usefulness and the Reality of Performance. Journal of
Engineering Education, October 2012, Vol 101, No. 4, pp. 717-737
Grabe, M. and Christopherson, K., (2008): Optional student use of online lecture resources:
resource preferences, performance and lecture attendance. Journal of Computer Assisted
Learning 24:110.
Hardaker,C. & Rushin, G., (2012), Development and Evaluation of the use of Screencasts as a
Supplement to Computer Aided Design Teaching in Fashion and Textiles. Retrieved June 08,
2014 from www.brighton.ac.uk - BrightONLINE student literary journal.
Lawson, B. (1997). How designers think: The design process demystified (3rd ed.). Oxford:
Architectural Press.
Lee, M. & Thompson, R. (2012) Talking with Students through Screen casting:
Experimentations with Video Feedback to Improve Student Learning. Retrieved June 08,
2014 from www.commons.gc.cuny.edu
Littlejohn,A. & Pegler,C. (2007). Preparing for blended e-learning. Oxon: Routledge Falmer.
Mayer, Richard E. (2009) Multimedia learning. Cambridge; New York : Cambridge University
Press.
Paas, F., Tuovinen, J.E., Tabbers, H. & Van Gerven, P.W.M., (2003), Cognitive Load
Measurement as a Means to Advance Cognitive Load Theory. Retrieved October 5, 2014
from: www.tandfonline.com - Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 6371
Rose, K. (2009). Student perceptions of the use of instructor-made videos in online and face
-to-face classes. Retrieved June 07, 2014 from www.jolt.merlot.org Journal of Online
Learning and Teaching, Vol 5, No.3.
Seery, M. and Donnelly, R. (2011), The implementation of pre-lecture resources to reduce inclass cognitive load: A case study for higher education chemistry. Retrieved May 16, 2014
from www.arrow.dit.ie
Stuart, A. (2013) Engaging Students Learning Through a Blended Learning Environment.
Retrieved April 21, 2014 from www.arrow.dit.ie
Sugar, W. , Brown, A. & Luterbach, K., (2010), Examining the Anatomy of a Screencast:
Uncovering Common Elements and Instructional Strategies. International Review of
Research in Open and Distance Learning. Vol 11, No.3.
Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning.
CognitiveScience, 12(2), 257-285.
Udell, J. (2004), Name that genre: Screencast. Retrieved on May 06 from jonudell.net
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