Audiovisual Media Design for Videos in Higher Education

Research Project (2015 - 2017), kindly supported by the Gebert Ruef Stiftung / Wissenschaft und Design FHNW Basel / Institut Ästhetische Praxis und Theorie in Kooperation mit der EPFL Lausanne, Universität Basel & Universität Passau

Das Projekt „Audiovisuelles Mediendesign in tertiären Bildungslandschaften“ untersucht die Produktion von Videos für die tertiäre Lehre („Massive Open Online Courses“, MOOCs) und entwickelt neue Konzepte für deren Design. An der Schnittstelle von Mediendesign, Bild- und Medienwissenschaften wird das Potenzial von MOOC-Videos in einer interdisziplinären Kooperation der Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Basel FHNW (HGK) mit der Universität Basel, der École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) sowie der Universität Passau untersucht.
MOOC-Videos variieren stark hinsichtlich ihrer ästhetischen und technischen Implementierung. Der Fokus dieses Projektes liegt bei der Evaluation und Optimierung der ästhetisch-filmischen Implementierung vor und hinter der Kamera. Die Implementierung von MOOC-Videos wird unter zu Hilfenahme von Techniken aus dem audiovisuellen Mediendesign untersucht, weiterentwickelt und experimentell evaluiert. Das Projekt beginnt mit einer bild- und medienwissenschaftlichen Analyse existierender MOOC-Videos und entwickelt darauf aufbauend ein innovatives Mediendesignkonzept zur Implementierung von Videos für die tertiäre Lehre. Hierzu werden Kenntnisse aus dem audiovisuellen Mediendesign mit Schweizer Experten reflektiert, in Entwurfsprozessen und Workshops erprobt sowie zu einem neuartigen gestalterischen Konzept für die Lehre ausgearbeitet. Parallel dazu werden in Zusammenarbeit mit Studierenden sowohl die existierenden als auch die neu entwickelten Konzepte kontinuierlich überprüft, reflektiert und evaluiert. In einem online MOOC Kurs der EPFL werden darüber hinaus die Auswirkungen der verschiedenen Mediendesign Implementationen experimentell ausgewertet. Damit will das vorliegende Projekt auch einen Beitrag zur Methodenentwicklung im Mediendesign leisten.

Obgleich das Projekt eine grundsätzlich entwicklungs- und produktorientierte Ausrichtung besitzt, soll das hohe Potenzial, das in MOOCs bezüglich der Lehrdynamik selbst liegt, nicht unberücksichtigt bleiben. MOOCs bieten die Chance, Formen der analogen und der digitalen Kommunikation, Techniken der Interaktion sowie Formate der Produktion und der Veröffentlichung im Kontext der Lehre auf eine neue Grundlage zu stellen. Das Projekt hat durch die Zusammenarbeit der EPFL, Universität Basel, der Universität Passau und der HGK Basel Signalcharakter und zeigt exemplarisch die Vorteile eines solchen Brückenschlags auf.

Differences & Commonalities Publication

Abstract:

This paper reports a comparative overview of MOOC courses from edX, Coursera, Futurelearn and Iversity. The sample covers courses published between Septem- ber 2014 and January 2015 and the comparison focuses on different video styles as well as course descriptions on the platforms.

Based upon this data set of MOOCs (N=448) this study shows noteworthy facts about the state of MOOC production. Talking Head is the most common video style overall on all four MOOC platforms (87%), followed by or in combination with presentation slides (38%).

The courses on the European platforms Futurelearn and Iversity show a highly significant difference in the amount of work effort per week description compare to the US platforms edX and Coursera. In addition, Futurelearn has the shortest course week duration compare to the other platforms. A number of further points are reported below.

Full Article: Researchgate

Data Set Overview - MOOC Courses

Data Set - MOOC Courses

Overview of the 448 MOOC courses with their corresponding Universities

EMOOCs2016_differences_commonalitiesFINA

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Data Set: Variables and Coding of 448 MOOC Videos

dataset_448moocs_lecturevideos_jreuteman

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Table 1: Comparison of course descriptions on different platforms

Course Description Intro Page	All 448 courses	edX	Coursera	Futurelearn	Iversity
1a) Number of MOOC courses	448	136	222	68	22
1b) Number of Different Universities	160	41	73	26	20
1c) Number of Different Countries	35	15	24	6	6
1d) Number of Disciplines	63	49	23	24	13
1e) Average Course Weeks (weeks)	7.95	9.1	7.92	5.21	9.95
1f) Average Number of Educators mentioned (persons)	4.3	6.1	3.6	2.4	5.7
1g) Average weekly effort (weeks)	5.1	6.1	5.2	3.2	3.2
1h) Average Intro Video Duration (min/sec)	2.25	2.21	2.29	2.11	2.40

Table 1 reports general information about the different courses advertised on the corresponding MOOC platforms. The variable 1d) was counted by the first listed discipline. Some courses list several disciplines which the course can fit to. In this case, only the first discipline was taken into account in this table. A few courses on the platforms announced for the weekly effort as a time span of several weeks (e.g. 4-6). In this case, the average of the announced weeks has been counted (e.g. 5) for variable 1f).

Table 2: Comparison of video course styles

MOOC Course, Week 3, Lecture Video	All 448 courses	edX	Coursera	Futurelearn	Iversity
2a) Average Lecture Duration (min/sec)	10min 26sec	9min 49sec	12min 36sec	5min 40sec	6min 03sec
2b) Classroom with students	7%	12%	7%	0%	0%
2c) Classroom without students	6%	7%	4%	10%	14%
2d) Presentation slides with speaker (Picture-in-Picture)	33%	26%	46%	3%	36%
2e) Presentation slides without speaker	38%	30%	48%	22%	27%
2f) Computer screen, high-lightening	29%	33%	32%	9%	27%
2g) Green-screen	26%	35%	25%	10%	22%
2h) Talking Head (summary) - Talking Head/Monochrome Background - Talking Head/Office Background	74% 20% 17%	78% 23% 24%	68% 21% 16%	81% 12% 4%	91% 23% 23%
2i) Animation	20%	19%	21%	19%	18%
2j) Split-screen	12%	13%	14%	4%	5%
2k) Outdoor (unrelated to content)	10%	9%	5%	31%	5%
2l) On location (related to content)	20%	22%	20%	22%	9%
2m) Webcam Capture	8%	7%	12%	0%	9%
2o) Several speakers	15%	16%	9%	29%	18%
2p) Off-voice speaker	16%	12%	15%	30%	9%

Most of the variables should be self-explanatory. Still, some aspects are shortly explained below:
2h) Talking Head refer to video styles, which shows a speaker in a medium-close-up, shoulder-close-up or close-up. When two people are having a conversation or interview situation, it isn’t counted as Talking Head. Talking Head with Monochrome Background describes a surrounding which has only one colour tone (e.g. white, black, blue). Talking Head with Office Background shows an office behind the speaker (e.g. book shelf). The variable 2k) Outdoor refers to videos which are produced outside. The outdoor location doesn’t refer directly to the content of the lecture. 2l) On-Location refers to places which depict the content of the lecture e.g. Agricultural lecture about farming on a farmers place. 2o) Several places attribute to videos showing different rooms, environments or places within the same video. 2p) Off-voice is defined as a speaker who is not visible at any time. If a speaker appears firstly as a Talking Head and continues talking without his image, it is not counted as off-voice. 2o) Several speakers refer to more than one speaker which can be visible in the image, or also appear as an Off-voice. 2n) Visible words describe all words or numbers, which are in any or other form visible in the image. 2j) Split screen refer to videos displaying an image with closed banners of text overlays, or separate images split in between.

http://www.eduhub.ch/articles/Video-Styles-in-MOOCs/