Discussion of using videos to improve student engagement and thus student deep learning

1. Delving Deeper--Using Videos to Actively Engage Students in their Development
of Deep Learning Strategies
Ida M. Jones
Learning is a process of discovery that generates new understanding
about ourselves and the world around us…[It] provides a sense of
discovery…We associate learning with the deeper processes of
influence upon our understanding [italics in original]. …Such
understanding grows from processes of reflection that reveal the
connection between things which had previously been unrecognized
or opaque to us….To learn how to explain things or events is to be
able to grasp the principles which underly [sic] and make sense of
their working and thus enable us to recognize their occurrence on
some future occasion even though the surface characteristics may
appear to be different.
Introduction
In the introductory business law course the goal of covering relevant course
content is frequently in conjunction with efforts to develop critical thinking and
analysis skills. The most common method to cover course content is to deliver
the material in a lecture format and to assess mastery through tests. Although
testing is one way to ask learners to demonstrate mastery of content and
development of critical thinking skills, educational research confirms that
examination alone tends to encourage use of surface learning strategies. Surface
learning strategies, such as memorization and objective-questions test-taking
skills do not promote deeper learning evidence by self reflection and constructing
new knowledge based on what was learned. Active learning strategies, as
represented in this article by the use of short videos, directed questioning and
group collaboration, can promote deep learning. In this manuscript the author will
discuss theories of learning, effective deep learning strategies and how this
technique can help improve learning.
Two Learning Strategies: Deep and Surface Learning
How does one measure learning? That topic has been the subject of a great deal
of research to determine what actions provide evidence of learning. To
paraphrase Ranson, quoted at the beginning of this manuscript, learning is a
process of developing an understanding and explanation of life events and
activities generated in part through reflection on the similarities and differences
among things encountered. Those strategies have been characterized, based
initially on Marton and Saljo’s 1976 study of learning strategies, into two main
types: surface learning and deep learning. Marton and Saljo’s study examined
how students’ learning strategies differed depending on the type of written tests
the students faced. Surface learning occurs when learners spend time
memorizing information in order to do well on a test or to otherwise temporarily
use the information until it is no longer needed for the immediate purpose. The
surface learning approach is thus characterized by efforts to learn just enough to

2. pass an exam or other immediate assessment, but does not reflect efforts to
develop a deeper understanding of the knowledge and its relationship to what
was learned before. Factors included in surface learning include:
• Tendency to choose the quickest way to accomplish the task
• [A}cquir[ing] the learning material without asking in-depth
questions
• [S]tudy[ing] the material in a linear manner
• [Relate to minimal aspects of material or to a problem without
showing interest or need to understand in its entirety
• [L]earn[ing] by rote by relying on memory and not on
comprehension, and
• [C]oncerned with the time needed to fulfill the learning task.
Learners who use surface learning strategies do not employ metacognitive skills,
in other words, those learners make little to no effort to engage in self-reflection,
analyze their own learning or to “think about thinking.” Learners who use surface
learning strategies attempt to balance the need to do the minimum work to avoid
failure with a desire to exert the minimum effort possible.
Learners who adopt deep learning strategies represent the opposite end of the
learning strategies spectrum. Learners who adopt deep learning strategies
attempt to manage new information by approaching it to develop a more
complete understanding of the information, to determine how that new
information can be applied and assessing how the information relates to
previously acquired knowledge. Deep learning strategies involve:
• “[The] ability to relate new information to previously acquired
knowledge
• Study[ing] different aspects of the material in order to obtain
the entire picture
• Search[ing] for a relevant meaning and a connecting point
between the learning material and daily life and personal
experiences
• [T]endency to use meta-cognitive skills
• Develop[ing] learning materials that create a basis for new
ideas
• Offer[ing] other solutions from an inquisitive-critical
perspective and […]
• Search[ing] and discover[ing] their ‘inner self.’”
Deep learning…”is based on the student’s personal commitment to the learning
process…[and evidences] intrinsic motivation [to acquire complete knowledge
and get satisfaction from the knowledge].”
Note that some of the education research supports the idea that if a student is
interested in the material or information, the student is more likely to adopt a
deep approach. Age and experience play a role when learners adopt a specific

3. learning strategy--older and more experienced students tend to adopt deep
learning strategies.
Learning environment plays a role in determining which learning strategies
students adopt. This means that most students adopt the approach that they
believe the teacher wants as demonstrated by the instructor’s positive evaluation
of that learners’ course performance. If the environment emphasizes grades on
tests, higher achieving students tend to adopt the surface learning approach. It is
the quantity, not quality that determines how performance will be evaluated.
Learners who adopt deep learning strategies make a significant investment in
learning the material and making it part of the learner’s life through application.
Surface learning involves memorizing the minimum possible in order to get by. A
computer analogy would be that deep learning involves incorporating information
into long-term memory and surface learning involves placing the information into
random access memory to be erased as soon as the computer is shut down.
Most educators seek to encourage deep learning where the learner incorporates
the new information in a way that the learner can apply it to different situations
and apply it to unfamiliar contexts. To foster deep learning, the instructor must
adopt practices that encourage students develop a learning strategy that involves
more than memorization and studying merely for the test, but that instead
encourages students to begin reflection and analysis of information to create a
new, broader, deeper comprehension.
Promoting Active Learning to Engage Students
In their seminal summary of best practices in undergraduate education, Arthur
Chickering, an award-winning educational researcher on student affairs and
student learning who works at George Mason University and Zelda Gamson, most
recently of the New England Resource Center for Higher Education, outlined key
principles to promote learning. The Seven Principles include encouraging active
learning. Active learning principles promote the idea that the best learning occurs
when students are engaged in the material and information. Publication and wide
diseemination of the Seven Principles led to additional research on active
learning which was summarized in a meta-analysis by Charles Bonwell, then
director of the Center for Teaching and Learning and a history professor at
Southeast Missouri University and James Eison, then founding director of the
Center for Teaching Enhancement at the University of South Florida. This meta-
analysis of quantitative studies focused on active learning strategies as
contrasted to other diverse teaching strategies, including case studies,
demonstrations and other methods, group collaboration, among other teaching
strategies. In their report, which began with a review of educators’ definitions of
active learning, Bonwell and Eisen defined active learning as “anything that
‘involves students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing.’”
Bonwell and Eison analyzed active learning techniques and identified several
characteristics of active learning:
1) The learner does more than listening and is engaged in the activity
2) The learner practices and/or acquires skills

4. 3) The learner is involved in analysis/higher order thinking skills
4) The learner explores his or her own attitudes and values.
As part of the meta-analysis, Bonwell and Eison determined that in some ways,
active learning is “comparable to lecture in promoting mastery but that it was
superior to lectures in promoting development of students skills in reading and
writing.” Instructors who use active learning require that “students…do more
than just listen: They must read, write, discuss, or be engaged in solving
problems. This is partly because even the most motivated students tend to lose
attention after 10-15 minutes of listening to a lecture. Most importantly, to be
actively involved, students must engage in such higher-order thinking tasks as
analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.” Active learning techniques tend to appeal to
students of many different learning preferences and achievement levels.
Although students in classes range in ages and abilities, active learning activities
based on video exercises are especially appropriate for students who attend
college immediately after high school graduation. These students who are
sometimes called "digital natives," reached adulthood watching television, music
videos, reality television shows and playing video games. Many communicate
with their friends using social media, text messaging on phones and instant
messaging systems and some argue that these students have shorter attention
spans because of multi-tasking. Visual based instruction can appeal to this group
of students and is an alternative instructional technique. Presenting many bits of
information in different formats can therefore aid student learning.
Many faculty argue that all learning is inherently active and that thus active
learning is involved whether the learner is listening to a formal presentation in a
classroom or is engaged in other education activities such as case studies,
cooperative learning, debates and similar activities. The argument is consistent
with the experience of many members of the academy. Most learned, even
thrived, in an environment where learning occurred through independent reading
and studying coupled with listening to and participating in well organized lectures.
Many faculty members presume that because that is the method through which
each of those faculty members learned that all students should be successful in
learning through that method. In addition, many instructors prefer lecturing
because that method of teaching permits the faculty to retain a measure of
control over the learning environment and the materials presented. Lecturing is
also a relatively straightforward method of presenting information. Although
effective lecturing requires that the instructor keep current in the field, lecturing
does not require additional study about pedagogy and how people learn. The
weight of the research supports that active learning techniques are part of best
practices to encourage learning because they engage students in manipulating
knowledge and thereby helping them to develop deeper learning strategies.

5. Active Questioning
Instructors can engage student in active learning activities through developing
solid questioning techniques that do more than merely ask for memorized
information. Dialogue actively engages students in reading, questioning,
considering issues from multiple perspectives and developing an internal
conversation about what was learned. “Dialogue offers the potential to approach
ideal modes of discourse…to enhance effective thinking about [organizational]
life…”to enable ‘problem-finding’ and guarding against complacency or misplace
certainty.” Just as Socrates used the inconsistency between the sophists’ moral
values and the conduct necessary to succeed in politics, instructors can use
dialogue to engage students in critically evaluating their own positions by raising
questions about the basis of their perspectives. Dialogue and questioning become
useful because it permits students to consider the inconsistencies between what
they have learned, especially in a business school context, about the “right” or
traditional answer and what might be more consistent with their conduct with
family, friends and others with whom they have relationships. Morell speaks of
that inconsistency and also of the dichotomy created with the “modular” approach
to teaching ethics. That modular approach presents ethics as a (potentially
irrelevant) subset of business subjects. Yet business ethics permeates many
aspects of decision-making. Directed questioning is a useful way to develop
questions that encourage students to engage in deep rather than surface learning
strategies.
Morrell makes his argument in support of using the Socratic technique to teach
business ethics. Morell’s analysis of the Socratic method’s effectiveness is equally
applicable to teaching business law. Business law instructors seek to teach the
students based on some black letter law, but primarily to create a clearer
understanding of the policies and critical thinking skills that can guide one to
more thoughtful, considered business decisions. Judicious use of videos, coupled
with carefully designed questions can assist students develop effective use of
deep learning strategies.
Using Videos as an Active Learning Technique to Encourage Development
of Deep Learning Strategies
The manuscript author employs an instructional strategy that involves
using relatively short videos (10-20 minutes in length) to encourage learners to
use deep learning strategies to master information. The exercise required that
students review certain course readings, review the video-related questions
distributed by the instructor, watch the video, reflect on and write short
responses to the questions, discuss the responses with one other student and
engage in a class discussion of the video. Students discussed instructor-
developed questions by first reviewing the questions, watching the video, writing
out short answers and taking notes and individual reflection and discussing their
answers with a partner with the ultimate goal of reaching agreement on
responses to all of the questions. Note that most of the students in that class are

6. sophomores. Many of the students began attending the University immediately
after high school graduation. These students are comfortable with multimedia
materials and using the Internet. The videos were selected to assist students
develop and use deep learning strategies. The most engaging, memorable,
videos were those that told a story.
The manuscript author started working on the exercise by developing questions
based on Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. The questions ranged from simple
questions about the scenario that merely required listening and watching (e.g.,
what happened) to questions that required application of higher order thinking
skills (e.g., compare and contrast). These questions were distributed as part of a
handout that students used to take notes and complete the remainder of the
exercise. The following is an example of the questions distributed to students:
1) Describe what happened. (comprehension)
2) Describe the role of the judge in this case. (comprehension)
3) Compare the role of the judge in a small claims court to the role of a judge
in a civil case. (analysis)
4) What were the terms of the contract between the business and the riders?
What is the effect when the contract was not in writing? (knowledge,
comprehension)
5) What should the business have done differently? What is the most effective
solution for this business to avoid these types of problems in the future?
(evaluation)
There are a number of sources that can be used to provide assistance to write
questions in accordance with Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. After developing the
questions, the questions were distributed to students prior to actually showing the
video. Students quickly read through the questions to prepare for watching the
video.
After students silently reviewed the questions for a few minutes, the manuscript
author showed the video. As an example, one 20-minute video used by this
author featured Judge Judy. Judge Judy is a television show in which Judge Judith
Scheindlin, a former family court judge, agrees to hear and decide disputes as an
arbitrator. The specific scenario in the video currently discussed illustrated a key
concept emphasized in the course. That concept was that “if you go to court,
you’ve already lost.” That theme has been used to discuss the benefits of
businesses accepting social responsibilities and engaging in self-regulation
instead of waiting for societal regulation and judicial decisions. Throughout the
semester, then, the author used examples to illustrate the vagaries of the court
system and the inadequacies of the regulatory system as a means of regulating
business conduct.
In the referenced video the students watch a case involving a limousine company
that had been sued by teenagers/young adults who received inadequate service.
The case presented is an interesting breach of contract scenario. It also serves
as an illustration of the difference in the role of the judge in a small claims or
arbitration case compared to the role of the judge in a trial court. Students were

7. enthusiastic about and remembered the video and the message.
After watching the video, students were asked to think about the video and to
briefly note their responses to the questions listed in the handout. The purpose of
this initial step was to encourage students to develop their use of deep learning
strategies to analyze the case by applying concepts they had previously read.
Students were given approximately 5-10 minutes to respond to the questions.
The length of time permitted was dependent on the number and types of
questions.
After the initial reflection, students were asked to discuss their responses. To
encourage everyone to discuss the material, the manuscript author used the
collaboration technique known as Think Pair Share as a way to encourage
reflection and discussion based on that reflection. Think pair Share is one way to
assist learners hone their critical thinking skills through the analysis that occurs
through active learning and collaboration. In think-pair-share students first
answer questions on their own by thinking about them and writing down their
answers. Then, the students explain their answers to one other student. After
students had engaged in this reflection and writing their answers, each student
was asked to review his or her answers with on other student. After the students
had taken turns explaining, they then worked together to develop the pair’s
response to the questions. Students were encouraged to amend their answers
based on the discussion with the other student.
In-class discussion of the scenario was the final step after the students watched
the video, reflected on and wrote answers to the question and discussed with a
small group. The full class discussion generally focused on the questions that
required application of higher order thinking skills. The manuscript author’s
experience is that after using this method, the full class discussion was much
richer and more analytical. The combination of individual writing with discussion
in small groups resulted in more contributions from a wider range of students.
Students who did not usually speak up raised their hands to respond to the
questions. The rehearsal by discussion in small groups increased nearly every
student’s willingness to contribute to the class discussion.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Encouraging students to employ deep learning strategies is important to help
students develop critical thinking skills. The method used by this author is one
way to actively engage students in critical thinking activities. There can be
challenges. Sometimes students do not willingly participate in discussions within
groups. The advantage of think-pair-share was that in a one-on-one situation,
most students make an effort to participate. As the instructor, the manuscript
author also walked through the room to check whether students were
participating in a discussion and to also answer questions. Another challenge was
that some might not seriously reflect on the questions and responses. The
manuscript author addressed that by requiring that students turn in the answers
to count as part of their class participation. The responses were quickly reviewed
to determine that the students provided some answers and were graded as pass/
fail. Another issue is that these methods take time and thus do not allow

8. coverage of the material. As noted in the Bonwell & Eisen meta-analysis, material
coverage by the instructor through lecturing does not necessarily result in
learners listening fully to lectures, even if they are motivated. If an instructor
used this instructional strategy several times during a semester, selected
different types of short videos and reviewed the reflections, more students could
become actively engaged in the post-video discussions. Overall, this has been an
effective instructional technique.