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SOLSTICE 2007 Conference, Edge Hill University 1
Exploring Students’ Views with Video Diaries
Nuzhat Quadri and Professor Peter Bullen
University of Hertfordshire,n.1.quadri@herts.ac.uk, p.r.bullen@herts.ac.uk  ABSTRACT
Students’ views are often sought by institutions using conventional methods such assurveys, focus groups, and interviews. Students tend to be saturated by such methodsand there is a strong possibility that their views are not fully reflected. In an attempt togain a deeper insight into student behaviours, the Blended Learning Unit hasimplemented a form of feedback which could be perceived as enjoyable for participantsas well as constructive. This feedback is the popular method of video diaries used in aneducational setting.Five students were loaned a digital camcorder to show what their typical week is like atthe University. Students were given advice on what areas to focus on but there werefew restrictions on the content. Students provided feedback at the start and end of theirday in order to reflect their normal routine, and for academics to gain understanding ofstudent life. The general topics which were covered were learning and teachingpreferences, perspectives on using technology in learning, as well as commenting onhow the Managed Learning Environment (MLE) is an aid to learning. Although thenumber of students was small for this study, the project was a pilot and aimed to informa second project using various media.Students handed in recorded tapes at the end of the week from which analysis wasconducted. By viewing the videos, themes were developed and corresponding clipswere edited. The method and initial findings are discussed in further detail, coveringhow video diaries can be implemented in an educational setting and used as analternative form of feedback. The paper also covers an extension of this projectinvolving video, audio and blog diaries.
KEYWORDS
Video diaries, evaluation, feedback, students, research method.
BACKGROUND TO DIARIES: AS A RESEARCH METHOD
Surveys and focus groups are very commonly used in institutions to measure students’attitudes or gain insight into their views on various topics relating to the University.However, these methods can have limitations: surveys are very often restricted to a 5-
 
SOLSTICE 2007 Conference, Edge Hill University 2
point scale where respondents must choose a value that best represents theirviewpoint; focus groups or interviews rely on the interviewer building good rapport tomake the interviewee feel at ease when answering the questions. The questions whichare set in both surveys and interviews must account for all perspectives to represent theresponse of a participant/ interviewee. With these possible limitations, it is arguablewhether the true opinion of the respondent is achieved.Diaries as a form of research method have advantages over using surveys and focusgroups because they provide an opportunity for an individual’s personal reflection. Thecontent of such a document is likely to be more honest as the information is not beingobtained through a face-to-face method. Thus “diaries may facilitate access to verypersonal and intimate information that may not emerge in a face-to-face interview”(Willig, 2001). There are fewer restrictions on the content using diaries; and theinformation obtained is in real time, so it “reveals how events unfold prospectively”(Willig, 2001). This means that data is not lost by details being forgotten, which ispossible when commenting on topics retrospectively.The use of diaries as a research method has been used in qualitative research as partof health (e.g. Hufford, Stone, Shiffman, Schwartz and Broderick, 2002) and educationfields (e.g. Clegg, Hudson and Mitchell, 2005). This method has been used because itprovides “evaluators with ability to gain access to in-depth, detailed insights” (Cohen,Leviton, Isaacson, Tallia and Crabtree, 2006) into people’s views of the investigationarea. In these studies, diaries were produced online as opposed to on paper, because itwas considered “timely to look at developments using portfolios and to consider somecurrent practice that is attempting to use digitised technology to support individualreflection” (Clegg et al., 2005). Cohen et al.’s (2006) study used online diaries as anopportunity to interact with the participants and to keep them engaged in the diarykeeping.Online diaries are a common method where people taking part in research will producewhat is now known as a weblog (often referred to as a blog). A blog is compiled ofmainly text, but can be accompanied with other media such as photos, audio or video,however diaries can also be produced using audio or video alone.
VIDEO DIARIES AS A RESEARCH METHOD
As well as online diaries, video diaries have also been used in health (Antoniu, 2003)and education sectors (Noyes, 2004). Noyes conducted a study with school children ontheir feelings of the transition between primary to secondary school. Video diaries wereused as a method that complemented other research methods used in the study,namely observations and interviews. The data that was produced from the interviewsand observations was limited because as Noyes explains, his “continued presence inthe interviewing process understandably inhibited [this kind of] disclosure” (Noyes,2004), where the pupils were not disclosing much information about their lives outsideof the classroom. For this reason, video diaries were used so that the students could“talk more freely about their unseen day-to-day experiences” (Noyes, 2004).Even though Noyes had interviewed the students earlier in the study, the results of thevideo entries produced were described as being “far more compelling”. The childrenwere more inclined to report feelings which they hadn’t reported in an interview session
 
SOLSTICE 2007 Conference, Edge Hill University 3
and so the findings were more in-depth. The results of the video clips have beendescribed as being incommunicable on paper compared to watching the video clip,which highlights “the limitations of text/language for conveying knowledge” (Noyes,2004).In the past decade, there has been an increase of this sort of diary use in the media,with the introduction of reality TV programmes where members of the public report theirfeelings using a video camera. One of these programmes is ‘Big Brother’, which is a fly-on-the-wall approach to watching people living in a house together with certainrestrictions. The most interesting aspect of this programme is participants commentingin a “diary room” where they share their thoughts and feelings with the public. Videodiaries are also broadcast on Internet sites such as YouTube, where people can uploadand share videos. YouTube has 100 million clips viewed each day, and 65,000 newvideos are uploaded every 24 hours (Wikipedia, 2007). Video diaries is a very popularand powerful tool providing the potential for comprehensive feedback from students ontheir learning and teaching experiences and their use of technology This paperconcentrates on video diaries as a form of feedback. The successes and challengesfaced by the research team in two projects are examined, and implications of using thismethod in other institutions are discussed.
METHODOLOGY
Two projects have been conducted which involved students providing feedback onvarious aspects of learning at the University. The aim was for students to providefeedback on University life using a form of media that would allow them to expressthemselves and to have fewer restrictions on the content. The two projects had thesame basis for providing feedback, but there were differences in particular parts of themethodology. Here, the project that was conducted in 2005-06 will be described,followed by the project conducted in 2006-07.The first project involved five students from different discipline areas: Maths, ProductDesign, Accounting and Financial Management, Emergency Planning andManagement, and Music Technology. This project was conducted as a pilot study togauge how successful the use of video diaries would be as a form of feedback for theUniversity.Students were recruited in the project via StudyNet, the University’s Managed LearningEnvironment (MLE) where a news item was posted for all students to view. Studentswho took interest in the project were asked to produce a five minute clip so that theresearch team could establish how well they could communicate using a video camera.In this five minute clip, students were asked to talk about why they wanted to take partin the project. The five students who were selected to take part in the project wereasked to attend a meeting where they would be given more information about the study,such as how to use the basics of the video camera, and the nature of the project wasexplained in terms of what they were to do on a daily basis for the next five days(Monday to Friday). At the end of the meeting, the students were given a digital videocamera which was their’s to use for the week, and three digital camera tapes. Thisallowed them two and a half hours recording time for the week.
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