Development and evaluation study of a video-based blended education model

Abstract

The basis for this dissertation has been the need to create a new education model to be used in master studies in mathematical information technology at Kokkola University Consortium Chydenius. This education model has been created as the result of the design science research. The solution heavily utilizes educational technologies, especially streamed lecture videos and associated practices. The primary goal of the education model has been to make education more accessible by offering students more flexible participation opportunities. The essential goal of this dissertation is to describe and evaluate the achieved education model. The purpose of evaluating the model was to determine the functionality of the model and its impacts from the viewpoints of the model's various participants, including students, lecturers, and the educational organization. The evaluation is applied to both the functionality of the technological solutions of the education model, as well as the practices formed around these. Evaluation is carried out in various case studies reported in publications that form parts of this dissertation. The introduction section of the dissertation provides a synthesis based on these publications and presents an overall evaluation of the education model. The evaluation of the education model's functionality was performed by examining its cost efficiency, operational reliability and transparency. According to the results, the education model is highly functional in these respects. The goals set for the education solution with regard to its impacts were also achieved very successfully and were even above expectations. Accessibility was also increased to a highly favorable level. Improvements to accessibility also had positive impacts on learning outcomes. The research results indicate that, from a learning standpoint, studying with videos is at least equally effective as studying via contact teaching. In summary, it can be stated that it is possible to form an education solution based on both contact teaching and the use of videos that is meaningful for students, lecturers and the organizer of education alike. Keywords: blended learning, video lectures, learning technologies, streaming video, education model