Developing Guidelines for Creating Effective Mathematics Video Podcasts for Secondary School Students
Abstract: This paper presents comprehensive, evidence-based guidelines for creating and designing video podcasts for mathematics at the secondary-school level. Sixteen design guidelines, organized into four categories (establishing context, providing effective explanations, minimizing cognitive load, and engaging students), were used to develop 59 videos and tested on 856 secondary school students. Overall, the majority of students noted that the video podcasts were useful and helped them understand mathematics better. With respect to establishing context, the evidence suggested that problem selection was appropriate and video podcasts were clear, straightforward, and detailed. Regarding the quality of explanations, many students commented on the effectiveness of the step-by-step presentation of solutions and the use of visuals to support learning. Students agreed that video podcasts were easy to read, but did not directly comment on other guidelines related to cognitive load. In addition, students noted that video podcasts were engaging and better than using textbooks. They also enjoyed working on the interactive student-problems. Finally, significant gains were observed in the self-rated knowledge categories evaluated. It is concluded that the guidelines proposed in this study are a reasonable starting point for pre- and in-service mathematics teachers to create effective video podcasts.