Learning through videos: Are disabled students using good note-taking strategies?

Abstract

The importance of note-taking in face to face teaching and learning situations is well understood in terms of successful outcomes for the majority of students. Outcomes from interactions with online learning and the use of videos as a way of revising has been less well researched, in particular with disabled students. This paper aims to introduce the notion that not all disabled students who could use technology to support note taking necessarily find it effective although they prefer to listen and watch videos. A small survey provides an indication that students may not necessarily be making the best use of their technologies or have access to alternative ways of viewing online learning materials. Where there are options to view videos using lecture capture systems; time constraints and the quality of the videos prove to be further barriers, rather than providing a successful outcome. Despite the possibility of multi-modal/multichannel approaches there also remains very little research on the subject in particular when using more recent Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). There are, however, indications that with the increased use of transcriptions and graphical tools, these options could offer good note-taking strategies as part of a more inclusive approach for all students.