VEC Pilot Project The Use of Video Education in Turkish Open Education Faculty |
VOL. 5, No. 1, 71-72
The large scale Video Education Center (VEC) Project affects a number of Open Education Faculty (OEF) Local Study centres throughout Turkey. The main purpose of VEC is to provide increased support to OEF students. VE is in the "Pilot Project" stage, and therefore it does not affect all the OEF's Local Student Information Bureaus (LSIB) but only 5 out of 22 of them. For the pilot project stage the field is limited with only "Foreign Language (English) Programs (FLP)." VE classes are limited to 20 students for one term (about 4 to 8 weeks). A daily session takes 2 1/2 hours including two units per session. This support is limited to OEF students only.
The objects are: to decide whether VE can be integrated into the regular functions of LSIB's without any disturbance and if VE is convenient or not; to prepare an efficient communication channel between the central faculty and the local VE classes; to provide supportive audiovisual instruction to working students and to the housebound; and to provide self-paced instructional possibilities to all OEF students registered at the mentioned LSIBs.
The first step is the preparation stage. This involves preparation of the physical environment (classes, desks, noise isolation), and the technical equipment (video players, screens, cassettes, electric and audiovisual attachments). Tutors are also prepared at this stage. Announcements are then made either by local and national press or by the storyboards of LSIBs. After announcements, registrations are done in "A," "B," and "C" levels according to the students' demands. They are asked to pay approximately 10 USD as a term fee.
At the beginning of the term a Pre-Level-Test (PLT) of 100 questions on topics relevant to the planned instruction is given to each student to establish his or her level of proficiency in English. At the beginning of each unit a Pre-Unit-Test (PUT) consisting of 10 questions covering the subjects to be addressed in the daily session is administered. Students are allowed 10 minutes to complete the test. The tutor then pushes a button and the unit appears on a screen. If he thinks it is necessary to pause or reshow a sequence he does so. As well, any student can ask that a unit be repeated. Thus, students are given the opportunity to consolidate their learning with the help of repetition. In the project, video instruction is the basic source of information and the tutor's function is supplementary.
At the end of each daily session the pre-unit-test is readministered, and at the end of each term a Post-Level-Test (PsLT) of the same 100 questions as the PLT is given to the students. Thus, the improvement in students' foreign language skills, their learning achievements over the term, and the efficiency of the VEC project can easily be measured, controlled, and clarified.
Since 1986, a significant efficiency level has been reached in using video as an instructional tool to support DE students in learning Foreign Language (English) at OEF of Anadolu University. The level of efficiency is shown in an increase of approximately 45 to 66% in students' learning achievements. Providing such an efficient learning level in the rather short time of 4 to 8 weeks can be considered an indication of success. This project demonstrates that besides being entertaining, video can be used efficiently as a means of instruction. Anadolu University Open Education Faculty was one of the early DE institutions to realize this fact, and has supported the study of the educational uses of video and promoted the pilot project reported here.