Assessing the Influence of an Online Video Tutorial Library on Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students

Abstract

Since 2013, the Mechanical Engineering Department at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) has created over 600 videos for its curriculum across 12 courses. These videos are available to the public as an open educational resource at the “ME Online” website (www.cpp.edu/meonline), which has accumulated over 8,600,000 views as of March 2021. In 2018, a brief survey was administered to 340 mechanical engineering students at Cal Poly Pomona as part of a pilot study to investigate the impact of ME Online [1]. The survey results were promising - the vast majority of students felt the video library made a positive impact on their education and helped their grades in at least one course. However, the survey did not explore the socio-emotional impact of the video library on students nor obtain specific recommendations of how the video library could be improved to enhance student success. The current study was designed to gain a deeper understanding of how ME Online influences student success and obtain ideas of how to improve ME Online. During Spring 2020, the authors studied the impact of ME Online on senior-level mechanical engineering students at Cal Poly Pomona using surveys (n = 110) and focus groups. Survey results indicated almost every student (96%) was aware of the resource and used the resource at least once, with students watching an average of 1.8 hours of video per week. At least 80% of the students rated the videos as “moderately” to “very” helpful, useful, satisfying, confidence-inducing, and enjoyable. The videos were rated as especially helpful for courses with higher failure rates. Despite the videos being highly regarded, students viewed the videos as a good supplement rather than a replacement for professors and peers when they needed help. Nearly all students (96%) provided favorable ratings about the trustworthiness of the video library and most students trusted the ME Online videos more than other videos available online. They were particularly happy when finding videos by their favorite instructors who were clear, engaging, and knowledgeable. Most students plan on using ME Online as alumni for both professional and personal reasons - 88% of the students reported they expect to use ME Online to study for licensing exams, graduate school work, professional work, and/or just to learn new things. The study also explores the potential for video libraries like ME Online to help address achievement gaps among historically disadvantaged groups. Latinx students and first-generation students used ME Online more frequently than other students, and generally rated the resource more highly than other groups. In particular, they noted the importance of being able to pause and control the pace of delivery, which is especially useful for non-native English-speaking students. The authors provide suggestions for improving video libraries such as focusing on courses that have higher failure rates, frequently reminding students about the resource, being aware of differences between the topics emphasized in a course and topics covered in the videos, and adding videos for non-major core courses such as physics.