Video material for self-study in mathematics and physics courses: from design to evaluation

This Innovative Practice Work-In-Progress article describes the implementation of video material in undergraduate mathematics and physics courses for engineering and computer science students. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to provide online material to which students can return whenever their technical and temporal resources allow. A similar need has long existed among students who support themselves by working part- or even full-time while studying towards a degree. This student group is well represented at our institution as access and outreach initiatives target professionals with vocational training in a technical field. The didactic concept of the videos as well as didactic opportunities for face-to-face lecturing in combination with online video material will be described. Students’ responses to the innovative practice were surveyed in two ways: first, through an online questionnaire administered to students of an introductory physics course. The questionnaire data is subjected to quantitative and qualitative analysis in this article, with results leading to an indication of high student satisfaction. Second, students’ experience as gathered from group interviews with students from a first-year mathematics course will be analysed. Collectively, this information sheds light on the advantages of the practice presented as well as on further improvements.