Work in progress : do Students Learn Better with Text or Video – or Does Media Matter?

With the advance of online Learning Management Systems (LMS) it is easier than ever to provide students content providing multiple types of media. Many contend that this generation of students prefers video to text. This paper proposes a study that will examine if first year engineering students learn more about given case studies using the recommended textbook or the video prepared by the text publisher. In addition, the study will investigate how students use either the text or video to learn information and as well as investigate the time on task, regardless of the student’s preference. This Work In Progress paper is presented with the intention of receiving feedback on the study and survey design. The purpose of this research is to better understand how students use video and recommended text to learn about case studies provided in a first year engineering course. Students are required to learn about the wonders of the industrial world in their first year engineering course. Students are tasked to learn about the wonders from the recommended text. Sometimes students choose to use to learn about the wonders from the video that is being available from the publisher of the book. In this study, it is planned to assess how much the students learn depending on their choice of media as well as study style and time on task. The students’ performance in the reflective assessment item will be combined with the survey results to determine if there are any significant effects on student learning. The results of this study are not yet known. It could be that students learn better with the video vs. the text or vice-versa. However, it may be that the most influential aspect is how long the student spent studying or if the student reviewed notes before taking the assessment. Regardless of the specific outcome of the results, the overall conclusions will be useful in helping future first year engineering course students be successful in this particular assignment and in the course over all. There are no conclusions at this time. However, regardless of the specific outcome of the results, the overall conclusions will be useful in helping future first-year engineering course students be successful in this particular assessment item and in the course over all. The results of the study can be fed forward to students so they can learn the practices that made most students successful in the assessment item.