Video Made the Calculus Star

Abstract

We describe the use of student-generated video content to assess students' engagement with, and understanding of, problem-solving skills. In this framework, students are tasked with using technology to create videos that show them working through, and explaining solutions to, challenging calculus exercises. The videos are then posted online, accessible only to the students and instructors in the class. Such video assignments align with what recent studies have identified as effective homework practices. Indeed, results from student surveys suggest that a significantly higher level of self-regulated learning takes place in creating these videos than in completing traditional written or online homework.

Keywords:

• Video
• calculus
• homework
• self-regulated learning

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matthew A. Morena

Matthew Morena earned a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of New Hampshire. His research interests include chaotic and nonlinear dynamical systems, population modeling, and, more recently, mathematics education. He is also a 2015 inductee of Project NExT (red dot). Outside of the classroom, he enjoys traveling and hiking with friends and family.

Shelly Smith

Shelly Smith has a Ph.D. in mathematics from Arizona State University. Her research interests are primarily in combinatorics; she has led several undergraduate research projects on the Mathematics of Sudoku and is currently interested in generalizations of the Catalan numbers.

Robert Talbert

Robert Talbert holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from Vanderbilt University and has interests in undergraduate mathematics education, particularly flipped learning environments and teaching with technology. He is the author of Flipped Learning: A Guide for Higher Education Faculty (Stylus 2017) and writes on mathematics, education, and technology at his website, rtalbert.org.