Lights, camera, action : using wearable camera and interactive video technologies for the teaching and assessment of lab experiments

In laboratory practicals, demonstrating laboratory techniques and equipment handling to students require frequent repetition. Also, it is difficult to identify whether students understand the relationship between theoretical concepts and their practical execution. Furthermore, for exclusively online courses, students' physical presence in the laboratory is not possible so appropriate teaching and assessment alternatives need to be employed. While the medium of video offers potential for addressing these issues, creating video can require specific production expertise and equipment. This study explores how relatively inexpensive wearable camera technology may provide an alternative approach for the rapid production of lab-based videos. It describes how this technology was used by an academic from Dublin City University to video laboratory experiments relating to biomedical diagnostics. It also explains how an interactive question was embedded within the video to assess students' understanding of the concepts demonstrated. Data was drawn from student and demonstrator feedback surveys, and the experiences of the lecturer involved in this project are discussed. A number of distinct benefits of this approach were identified, including its preparatory potential akin to a flipped classroom, its rapid production time, the non-intrusive nature of the recording, the advantages over text descriptions, and the relatively low cost. The advantages and limitations of the embedded question format are also discussed. The study includes practical recommendations for other academics considering this technology and suggests further applications for potential use in laboratory learning. [Author abstract, ed]