Creating Tutorial Materials as Lecture Supplements by Integrating Drawing Tablet and Video Capturing/Sharing

Abstract

We report the experience of adopting an innovative technique for creating tutorial videos which complement lectures and facilitate students' learning. Our technique relies on: 1) preparing starter pages consisting of code fragments or writings/figures on a drawing tablet; 2) illustrating complex ideas on the drawing tablet; 3) recording all computer desktop activities (e.g., development of code on a programming IDE, illustration on the drawing tablet); and 4) sharing the recorded tutorial videos with students online. Our technique has been adopted in creating tutorial series for four Computer Science and Engineering courses, ranging from the first year to the third year. Analytics of these online tutorial videos is presented to show the average amount of time which each registered student spent on watching them. Course evaluation results indicate that our technique is perceived as effective for achieving the course learning outcomes. Comparison of students' performance on complex topics (arrays and loops) also indicates a positive impact of our approach.