Effectiveness of Incorporating Instructional Videos with Printed Lessons

in Teaching Email Skills for The Immigrant Senior Learners

Peter VoA Capstone Presented to the Teachers College Faculty

Of Western Governors UniversityIn Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Education in Learning and Technology

Capstone Project Overview Even though there are huge sources of printed materials available for teaching

computer skills, most immigrant seniors still struggle with learning Email skills due

to their limited English proficiency, lack of computer experiences, and cognitive

aging effects. (Unable to understand and follow the step-by-step lessons)

This action research aims toward an effective instructional strategies to

incorporate instructional multimedia with the printed lessons in teaching the

emails skills to the the immigrant senior learners.

The participants will be stratified as two classrooms differentiated by the variance

“instructional multimedia” (one classroom uses printed lessons only, and the other

uses instructional multimedia incorporated with printed lessons).

Data will be collected as pre- and post-instruction data, including assessment test

scores and Likert level perceptions toward the email skills.

Pre- and Post-instruction mean test scores (quantitative) and learners' perceptions

toward email skills (qualitative) will be compared to draw conclusions.

Project Development ProcessWhy did I choose this topic?

I chose this topic because I am currently teaching basic computer skills to

the immigrant seniors who struggle understanding the English

instructional materials and software operations, due to their limited

English proficiency, lack of computer experiences, and cognitive aging.

Yet, I want to seek an effective teaching strategies that will help these

learners to overcome their learning struggles.

I wanted to find out how significant the email skills will increase when I

incorporate instructional multimedia with printed lessons, in teaching the

emails skills to the immigrant senior learners, despite the fact the English

lessons only effective to native English speaking.

I also chose this topic because I want the immigrant seniors to learn the

Email skills so they can connect & exchange texts, photos, videos, links,

various document types etc. with their loved ones, using today's hi-tech.

Project Development Process

How does my project fit into the existing

body of knowledge in the field?

A research has revealed that using instructional videos can help the

teachers to illustrate better the “one-on-one instruction with visual

explanations and procedure” (Castro, 2007, p. 189)

Other research indicated instructional videos can help the learners to

understand better the computer skills, which involved sequential steps

(Uechi, 2010, p. 14).

Another research elaborates “An instructional program integrated with

evocative digital resources provides the opportunity for instructors [or

facilitators] to reduce anxiety and to help their students make

connections and form relationships across the boundaries of classroom,

discipline, skill, and background” (Johnson, 2011, p. 9)

Project Development Process

Why is this topic important to my field?

Email technology can be a vital instrument for circumstances when the

seniors must exchange information from a long distance (on vacation, on a

field trip, notify important announcement etc.)

Email can also be a vital instrument for circumstances when the seniors

want to share family photos, videos, text messages, documents with

relatives in another part of the world.

Email can also be a vital instrument for circumstances when a friend want

to forward to other friend(s) the valuable link(s) to YouTubes, Webcam

videos, or articles.

There are other circumstances when email can be a vital instrument for

communicating in solving “human conflicts”.

Methodology

1. First, [researcher] divides the participants into two groups – group A taught

with printed lessons only, group B with printed lessons and instructional

videos incorporated (for stratified and convenience sampling)

2. [Researcher] administers an initial email skills assessment to measure how

good were the participants' email skills; and an initial Likert questionnaires

to measure how positive were their perceptions toward learning email skills,

prior to receive the instructional units. (pre-instruction assessments)

3. [Teacher] presents the instructional units for email skills.

4. [Researcher] administers the Post-Instructional assessment and Likert

questionnaires, to measure how significant will the participants' email skills

and learning perceptions increase, after receive the lessons.

5. [Researcher] draws conclusions based on the comparison of assessments'

test scores and Likerts' responses from Pre- and Post assessments between

two participant groups.

Results

Those immigrant senior learners who attended the classroom where the

teacher incorporated instructional videos with existing printed lessons, will

have increased their level of lessons and skills mastery in learning the email

skills.

The incorporation of multimedia technology with the existing instructional

materials, not only can help the immigrant senior overcome their learning

struggles, and successfully learn the email skills, but it would also benefit

the teachers.

It was clear that the learners from both classrooms indicated highly

positive perceptions toward the incorporation of instructional videos with

existing printed lessons.

Results

Send (group A)

Send (group B)

Response (group B)

Response (group B)

Forward (group A)

Forward (group B)

Attachment (group A)

Attachment (group B)

Manage Filter (group A)

Manage Filter (group B)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Initial Skill Test Scores

0% (no skill)

40% (some skill)

80% (Average Skill)

100% (Advanced Skill)

Headcount of Students' Test Scores by group and Skill

Em

ail S

kills

Pre-Instructional skills test results (only one student group A has some skill)

Post-Instructional skills test results (showing more students gained skills)

Send (group A)

Send (group B)

Response (group B)

Response (group B)

Forward (group A)

Forward (group B)

Attachment (group A)

Attachment (group B)

Manage Filter (group A)

Manage Filter (group B)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Post-Instruction Skill Test Scores

0% (no skill)

40% (some skill)

80% (Average Skill)

100% (Advanced Skill)

Headcount of Students' Test Scores by group and Skill

Em

ail S

kills

Challenges

There were several challenges in this research.

Difficulties in getting the participants involved.

Difficulties in getting the system's hardware and

software support from the computer IT groups.

Organize the instructional settings.

Preparation of instructional materials.

Obstacles & Strategies

Getting the 21 senior learners to participate in this study was an obstacle

due to their Computerphobia and language barriers.

I had to convey and explain each participant “yes, I have effective teaching strategies and you can learn the email skills” when I passed the Capstone Informed Form. And they smile.

I also told them to look for more computer skill classes in future.

Have other non-instructional volunteers to help setting up hardware and

software for internet connection was another obstacle.

I had to promise these network administrators “yes, I will not give out the router's security password and I will configure each learner's laptop”.

I also told these network administrators “yes, I will do the same for other classes in future”. And I receive support from them.

Obstacles & Strategies (cont.)

Organizing instructional settings (classrooms, projectors,

sound, tables & chairs, etc.) was challenging.

I have my wife help me organizing this obstacle. She arranges all of this so well.

My wife promised to offer same help in the future.

Preparing instructional units suitable for bilingual learners

(manual, multimedia) was challenging.

I had to think a lot when designing an effective lesson plan, making sure it will provide the right instructional stuffs.

I had to make the instructional videos by myself, due to short budget and the skill details in the lesson plans.

I will use the same strategies for future lesson plans, developing and making the multimedia, myself whenever possible.

Prediction of strategies

Effective planning strategies for lesson plans, developing

and making the multimedia, using available assistive

technology will help students and teachers success.

Being able to work with other professional in a teamwork

spirit will help the teacher get the job done smoothly.

Clear goal of instructional and performance objective will

bring fruitful results to the classroom

A details and careful learning strategies will help learners

overcome learning struggles and fully master the skills.

Strengths

Creating effective instruments for data collection and analysis was a

strength. This research deals with both quantitative and qualitative data.

The instruments were simple but effective for the researcher to use in the

data collection and analysis process.

Having effective verbal skills in delivering the lessons was another

strength.

I was the teacher and researcher, who also have the same native

language with the learners, a strength for the lesson delivery in dual

language when needed.

The incorporation of multimedia with printed lesson really helped the

learners overcome their learning struggle. The learners were able to

understand the step-by-step instructions related to the skills they learn.

The strength in this study can be applied to other computer skills classes

for the immigrant seniors in the future.

Weakness

The lessons were based on Google's Gmail features. Had the

study based on other email services i.e Yahoo, Hot mail, MSN

etc. the results might be different.

Most of the participants were from the same cultural and

native language background. Having participants from

different background might affect the result.

Almost all participants from Asia region. Having participant

from other region of the world might also affect the result

Instructional videos were created to play on DVD players or

computers. Developing these Instructional videos as stream

videos would be more useful.

Revisions

Following are revisions recommended by the researcher, if this study were replicated.

Include other email services i.e Yahoo, Hot mail, MSN etc. in the lessons delivery and student performance practice.

Include participants from different cultural and native language background.

Include participant from other region of the world.

Include instructional videos as stream videos during lesson delivery.

Increase time for the instructional units and assessments

Recommendation

This study could be improved by:

Adding to the list of participants with more immigrant seniors from different ethnics or backgrounds.

Expand the research strategies on the available assistive technology for teaching and learning settings, which could help solve the immigrant senior learners' struggles in learning new technology. It is important to look at the immigrant senior learners as the special populations in researching for instructional remedies.

Another area could be improved is to expand the study of the learners' email skills in a different environment other than the personal computer, i.e. the smartphone, the tablet, etc. Because of this improvement, the influential factors and the findings could be different.

Classroom Applications

The immigrant senior learners would appreciate the teachers who would incorporate instructional videos with the printed lessons in the delivery of step-by-step computer lessons and best practice of skills.

Breaking the lessons into small chunks would helps both the teachers and students in achieving the instructional goals

Not only to use the videos technology in immigrant adult teaching and learning, but also all other available technology because the immigrant adults are the special populations

Instructional project is not a one-man job, but a team-work job where each individual can contribute his/her talents.

References

Castro, Claudio de Moura (2007). Adult education: The victory of spontaneous action. Retrieved from http://www.claudiomouracastro.com.br/upload/Adult education.pdf

Johnson, M. (2011). Adult Learners and Technology: How to Deliver Effective Instruction and Overcome Barriers to Learning. Retrieved from http://www.umsl.edu/~wilmarthp/modla-links-2011

Uechi, N. (2010). An Instructional Video Module on Spreadsheets Accommodating the Needs of Senior Citizens. Retrieved from http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/15365