Agartan and Kumbur combined short videos with quizzes to help illustrate physical processes.
Physical laboratory courses pose special challenges for the remote instruction, and our faculty and their graduate teaching fellows have responded to the challenge. Associate Professor Caglan Kumbur and graduate teaching fellow Mr Lutfi Agartan have recorded and are delivering course-specific videos, including for MEM 311 Thermal and Fluid Science Laboratory. An online pre-lab quiz is presented to the students regarding each experiment to be conducted and the video to ensure that the students read the lab manual and view the video prior to completing the week’s lab. Sample data is provided along with a set of questions for students to consider while doing the lab report. Students are enjoying the new format: “I was very impressed with experiment video #1,” said one student. “The video itself was not too long and the editing was well done to ensure the video wouldn't remain too long.”
Agartan and Kumbur deployed shorter videos to explain theoretical principles and longer with experimental demonstrations of those principles.
Although the new course delivery system was made necessary by quarantine efforts, preparations for the change began even before the quarantine was announced: “Before the campus closure due to COVID-19 pandemic Dr. Kumbur and I talked about how we should prepare the videos (in terms of structure and flow),” noted Agartan. Lessons begin with short videos that outline theoretical principles followed by longer ones that display experiments utilizing the principle. According to Agartan, “We decided to format each lesson with an introductory video a few minutes in length where the theoretical principles of each experiment was explained with some visual content and animation followed by a 10-minute experiment video. Thee experimental video would show how to operate the equipment and how the data is collected.”
Agartan and Kumbur debuted the video lessons in the Spring of 2020 and re-deployed them in the Fall after making some modifications based on student feedback. They plan to continue to continue to refine the new format over coming terms. And, students are excited to see the new format become permanent: “ Often I think professors forget our attention span after staring at a screen for hours so a quick but thorough video like the one for this experiment is insightful and very enjoyable to watch. Thank you Lutfi!”