Samenvatting

The ‘wave’ of technology breaking over Higher Education continues to impact the interaction between lecturers and students. The increasing prevalence of video and the ease of its distribution offer lecturers the opportunity to use the medium of video to enhance their teaching in a variety of ways with many different functions. Transitioning from face-to-face teaching into ‘video teaching’ requires an active decision from lecturers to ‘catch the wave’ and there is a need for adequate support since teaching into camera requires rethinking the traditional didactic process. This research report was conducted for the lecturers of the tourism team at Inholland University of Applied Sciences, located in Diemen in The Netherlands. The group of lecturers teach on a four year HBO Tourism Management course. The pressures of ever-changing technology, the internal expectations of each new group of first-year students and the ongoing organisational developments create a dynamic and challenging working environment. Within this context, the research explores the opportunities for lecturers and students to benefit from technology by using video as a medium to complement current teaching practice. Most of the team have little or no experience of video teaching but are interested in trying this approach. To understand the specific needs of the lecturers in this context, a detailed analysis was made of their thoughts regarding video teaching and the kind of help they need to develop their video teaching skills and take advantage of the possibilities.
The context for the research was outlined through a review of literature that examines the impact of video use within Higher Education. Educational theories and approaches that support the formulation of the research questions and the nature and functions of video teaching are defined. The research follows the design research approach which establishes a set of criteria to build a prototype, which is then evaluated as part of an iterative research cycle. The main research question examines the characteristics of support needed by the tourism team to develop their video teaching skills. The specific methodology for each of the research instruments is explained along with why the specific methods have been used. A questionnaire was used to establish the current level of experience of video teaching within the team. In addition, 23 interviews (including a focus group, group interview and semi-structured interviews) were held with stakeholders including a member of the Inholland board of directors, the team manager, video teaching experts and with most of the tourism team lecturers.
Lecturers on the tourism team are already using aspects of video in their teaching but have minimal experience appearing as a teacher in video format. They want to know more about the benefits this can bring them and their students. Lecturers identified areas throughout the tourism curriculum where video teaching could be used. Questions were expressed about how to get started and how teaching via video might threaten the traditional relationship between lecturer and the student. These questions and concerns present a stumbling block for lecturers to take the first steps into video teaching to create an onscreen teaching presence. Lecturers indicated a desire to be supported in this process through a small-scale interactive workshop with peers, augmented by a series of short training web lectures watched in advance as preparation. The data collected resulted in a set of criteria used to design and build the first prototype. Experts and selected stakeholders screened the criteria and prototype for expected practicality and effectiveness. This resulted in an updated set of criteria and a second prototype based on three interactive workshops, which is presented in the results. The conclusion relates the research findings to the literature and draws parallels with previous research. Practical steps are recommended to develop and implement the first video teaching training course including a suggested timescale. A second phase outlines making the video teaching training course available to a wider group of lecturers inside and outside Inholland.