December 4, 2007

Students' study finds traditional video holds slight educational edge over handheld devices

As part of a service-learning project within a senior capstone course, a group of Purdue University students in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology set out to see how newer technology compared to traditional videos as a learning tool. The Purdue group conducted its study using 57 students in three third-grade classes at Columbia Elementary School in Logansport, Ind.

Based on results from their semester-long project, the group found that students learned more from watching the DVDs on television rather than on iPods.

"The purpose of this project was to get students involved in the community and give them an opportunity to research current technology in education," said Terry Burton, teacher of the course and an associate professor in the department. "It's a great way for students to utilize their computer graphics skills while providing helpful information that a school in our area can put to use."

Students Michael Ang, Adam Culp, Jared Dillon and Jon Somers were involved in the study. They are all seniors in computer graphics technology.

"Even children that age are using technology similar to iPods on a frequent basis, so we went into the project thinking that they might be more comfortable with the newer technology than a traditional video," Dillon said. "What we found was a bit surprising, but we still think portable devices can play an important role in the classroom."

Their group, which they called Mobile Learning, used four educational science videos that had been created by previous students in Burton's course in collaboration with the Department of Agronomy. Third-graders were chosen to test because the videos were created for children at that age level and younger.

The students remastered the videos to ensure uniformity and optimal quality and bundled them into a DVD package. They also transferred the videos onto six iPod Nanos, which were purchased by the group with a grant that Burton received earlier this year from Purdue.

The third-graders viewed the videos both on handheld devices and televisions, and each took a test after each video to measure how much they learned.

Students who watched the videos on television scored a mean of 6.46 points out of 8 on tests after seeing the video compared to 6.07 out of 8 for those who watched the videos on an iPod.

Dillon said the results were surprising because the team initially thought that the iPod method would be more engaging to students, leading to more effective learning.

"One factor may have been that the iPod viewing is a solitary experience, while viewing the televised videos was done in a group setting," he said. "We observed the children watching their iPods as being more easily distracted by each other."

Dillon said they asked the children which method they enjoyed more – videos or handheld devices – and the answer was clear.

"It was completely unanimous that children enjoyed viewing videos on the iPod Nano more," Dillon said.

He said that even though the small study didn't prove that iPods are more effective, they still believe that handheld devices hold a lot of promise in an educational setting.

"They are small, portable and, because headphones are required to listen to the audio portion of the video, it can allow students to watch educational videos during class without disturbing others," Dillon said.

The group members will donate the DVD package to the Logansport school and will ask them if they could use the iPods in the classroom. If they choose not to keep them, the iPods will be used for future projects in the department.

Writer: Kim Medaris, (765) 494-6998, kmedaris@purdue.edu

Sources:   Terry Burton, (765) 494-7313, tburton@purdue.edu

Jared Dillon, jmdillon@purdue.edu

Jon Somers, jssomers@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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