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2018 ASEE Mid-Atlantic Spring Conference, April 6-7, 2018 – University of the District of Columbia
Service-Learning through Student Generated Tutorial Videos
Anne Schmitz1, Nick Conklin2, and Quyen Aoh3
1 Mechanical Engineering Department, Gannon University, Erie, PA
2 Physics Department, Gannon University, Erie, PA
3 Biology Department, Gannon University, Erie, PA
Abstract
More and more, engineers need to able to convey highly technical information to a non-technical
audience. However, opportunities to develop these skills are often limited in the undergraduate
classroom setting. To help develop students’ ability to communicate to a non-technical audience,
we implemented a service-learning project whereby students in a biomedical engineering class
produced tutorial videos that demonstrated how to construct the Foldscope Microscope, an
inexpensive paper microscope developed at Stanford University. The videos were then used in a
STEM outreach program for middle school students, in which the middle school students
constructed and used a Foldscope. The majority of students felt the project enhanced a number of
communication skills and broadened their perspective of how they could use their engineering
skills to serve others.
Keywords
FoldScope, Origami Microscope, STEM Interest, Presentation Skills
Introduction
Employment is dropping in manufacturing cities, deeming them the Rust Belt [1]. Rather than
deteriorate, these cities have started to develop workforces that foster innovation and the
development of science, engineering, and technology. Now, these once-flailing cities are being
renamed Brain Belts. Our university resides in Erie, Pennsylvania, a city where many
manufacturing facilities have shut down. In fact, Erie is often cited as a typical Rust Belt city. As
a first step toward enhancing the local workforce, our university offers a week-long camp
dedicated to stimulating interest in college attendance in underserved middle schoolers. To
encourage students to enter into science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce
and help move our region towards Brain Belt development, we have added a day-long
experience to this camp. During this outreach, middle school students construct a Foldscope, a
paper-based origami microscope with the guidance of an engineer. Students then explore the
optics of and view samples with the microscope with a physicist and biologist, respectively. This
outreach not only provides a valuable service to the community, but presents a unique
opportunity for undergraduate engineering students to engage in service learning.
2018 ASEE Mid-Atlantic Spring Conference, April 6-7, 2018 – University of the District of Columbia
Engineers create innovative solutions to problems, which is an important skill to have when
converting a city from Rust to Brain Belt. However, for these solutions to be implemented,
engineers must be able to effectively communicate with a diverse audience and must participate
in increasing the general scientific and technical literacy of non-professionals. As part of our
outreach program, we wanted to provide our middle school students with tutorial videos on how
to construct the Foldscope. Therefore, we implemented a service-learning project in an
undergraduate engineering course in which students would produce a tutorial video on how to
assemble the Foldscope. The goal of the project was to engage undergraduate engineering
students to apply their engineering skills and develop their communication skills to support a
real-world community need.
Methods
Instructor- Provided Materials. We implemented a service-learning project whereby students in a
biomedical engineering class produced tutorial videos that demonstrated how to construct the
Foldscope Microscope, an inexpensive paper microscope developed at Stanford University. To
create these videos, students were given a handout that contained the following information:
• Background for the service-learning project: the STEM workforce, middle school outreach
program, and need for tutorial videos
• Foldscope article [2]
• Links to websites containing schematics for printing the FoldScope components
• Links to websites containing instructions for building the FoldScope
• Milestones for completion of the service-learning project throughout the semester
o Milestone 1: collect all the FoldScope components needed (i.e. parts printed and
cutout, acquire lens, etc.)
o Milestone 2: have a fully built and functioning FoldScope
o Milestone 3: Video of step-by-step instructions for building a FoldScope
Students were given the links for Foldscope schematics and assembly instructions only as a
starting point. This was done intentionally to meet a secondary learning objective, which was to
promote life-long learning by providing a chance to pursue information relevant to the course
material that may not be specifically addressed in lecture.
Requirements and Assessment of Tutorial Videos. Students were given instructions as to how to
make their videos. Specifically, they were instructed that their videos should be geared toward a
middle school audience, be short in length (approximately 10 min), and should be easy to
understand and avoid technical jargon. We purposely kept the instructions minimal to encourage
creative thinking. For our outreach program, we chose the one video that we felt was the most
engaging and best explained the construction of the Foldscope. Most of the student created videos
can be found on YouTube.
• Picked for outreach program: https://youtu.be/wHtVDxxKBx4
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjfvh82pv08&t=56s
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2fpUViXdsI&feature=youtu.be
2018 ASEE Mid-Atlantic Spring Conference, April 6-7, 2018 – University of the District of Columbia
Assessment of student uses of technology, communication skills, and attitudes towards service
learning. At the end of the project, students were given a survey to help us identify the following:
(1) the types of technology used to produce the videos and the motivation behind choices for
specific technologies
(2) motivation for type of format used in video (real-life demonstration vs. still slide
animation)
(3) presentation and communication skills used
(4) outcomes on students’ attitudes toward importance of effective communication with each
other and to diverse audiences
(5) outcomes on students’ attitude toward service-learning
In addition to the survey, we used information from students’ final report to assess the above and
the overall goal of the project.
Results and Discussion
Students can produce effective tutorial videos using everyday technology. Students were allowed
to choose any form of technology to create their videos. Although video recording equipment
from the university was made available, we found that students had few if any issues with
producing videos using technology that was readily available to them. Indeed many students
chose to use their camera phones to the record the video and could even edit the video on their
phone using a downloadable app such as Apple Movies or Wondershare. Fewer students chose to
use additional technology, such as animation software (Powerpoint) and graphics software
(Adobe Illustrator) to create or enhance their videos (Figure 1A). Thus it is not surprising that
enhancing professional quality was not a significant factor in choosing technology as nearly all
smartphones include high quality imaging and recording technology (Figure 1B).
Figure 1. Identification of typse of technology used (A) and factors affecting choice of technology (B) in
production of tutorial videos. n = 17 students
Students followed the guidelines given in the assignment, with one exception. Most videos were
actually three to five minutes long, much shorter than that recommended 10 minutes. Upon
2018 ASEE Mid-Atlantic Spring Conference, April 6-7, 2018 – University of the District of Columbia
viewing the videos, we found that this was actually a positive change over our recommendation
as a longer video would likely have been less engaging to middle school students.
Some students chose to make videos that demonstrated the actual assembly of the Foldscope by a
real person. Other groups chose to present their video as a series of still slides with steps written
out, figures showing each step, and little voice over. We found that both formats could be used to
produce effective tutorial videos. Ultimately though for our outreach program, we chose to use a
video where the steps were presented as still images as we felt the still images made it easier to
visualize the individual steps and pause and rewind the video during assembly.
Students develop multiple communication skills through producing tutorial videos. One of the
major goals of this project was to enhance student communications skills in multiple realms. In
addition to the technical aspects, the production of the tutorial video allowed many students to
utilize written, oral, and graphical communication skills (Figure 2A). Importantly, many students
felt that the project was an excellent opportunity to integrate all of these communication skills
(Figure 2B).
In addition to the skills above, students felt that the project enhanced their interpersonal skills
(Figure 2C). Students have to be able to effectively communicate with each other to accomplish
the various steps in making the videos. These include finding and testing the Foldscope template;
writing a script; and recording, editing, and enhancing the video.
Another important learning outcome from this project was to develop students’ ability to
communicate complex technical information to lay audiences. As science and technology
becomes ever present and permeating in our everyday lives, it is essential that those working in
STEM fields help to promote science literacy through effective communication with non-
professionals. The majority of students felt that that the project improved their ability to explain
complex concepts and instructions to lay audiences, and specifically middle school students
(Figure 2D).
2018 ASEE Mid-Atlantic Spring Conference, April 6-7, 2018 – University of the District of Columbia
Figure 2. Identification of communication skills used (A) and student attitudes of development these skills (B, C,
D). n= 17 students
Service-Learning independent of contact. Service learning is defined as an educational approach
“that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the
learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.” (National Service
Clearinghouse) STEM outreach programs are ideal outlets for service learning; however, our
outreach program took place in the summer when students are unavailable. The major goal for
this project then was to develop a method for students to take part in service learning, even if
they are unable to interact with the population being served. As part of the introduction to the
project, students were provided with information about our middle school outreach program and
the underrepresentation of students from low-income, first-generation, and minority backgrounds
in STEM fields. This information was incorporated into many of the student reports about the
project and students discussed the importance of having accessible and inexpensive technology,
such as the Foldscope, in underserved regions locally and globally. Furthermore, students felt
that this project improved their awareness of how they could use their skills to serve others
(Figure 3).
2018 ASEE Mid-Atlantic Spring Conference, April 6-7, 2018 – University of the District of Columbia
Conclusions
In this project, we have demonstrated how students can participate in service-learning through
means that do not require them to have direct contact with the population being served. Given
the high quality and ease of making videos using technology that is readily available, students
can easily produce tutorial videos for a range of STEM outreach projects. The videos can be
easily uploaded to YouTube and made accessible to many audiences. Although there were
multiple videos that were of excellent quality, we chose only one video to be used in the STEM
outreach program. During our program, several students commented on the excellent quality of
the video and we observed a number of students referring to the video during the construction of
the Foldscope. These results demonstrate that the production of tutorial videos can provide a
meaningful, service-oriented learning experience for students to develop communication,
collaborative, and critical thinking skills.
References
1. Sisson, P. From Rust Belt to Brain Belt: Can Former Industrial Cities Turn Into Future Innovation Hubs? Curbed:
Urban Planning, 2016.
2. Cybulski, J.S., J. Clements, and M. Prakash, Foldscope: origami-based paper microscope. PloS one, 2014. 9(6): p.
e98781.
Anne Schmitz
Anne Schmitz has a doctorate in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-
Madison. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the Biomedical Engineering Program at
Gannon University. She teaches bioengineering lab courses, biomechanics, and research
methods. Her research focus is computational joint modeling.
Nick Conklin
Nicholas B. Conklin received a B.S. in applied physics from Grove City College in 2001, and a
Ph.D. in physics from Penn State University in 2009. He is currently an Associate Professor and
Chair of the Physics Department at Gannon University, Erie, PA.
Quyen Aoh
Figure 3. Student attitudes about service-learning
through the producing tutorial videos.
2018 ASEE Mid-Atlantic Spring Conference, April 6-7, 2018 – University of the District of Columbia
Quyen Aoh has a doctorate in Cell Biology from the University of Virginia. She is currently an
Assistant Professor of Biology at Gannon University. She teaches Molecular & Cellular Biology
and Genetics. When she is not in the laboratory studying the cell biology of disease, she spends
her time engaging the public in science through various outreaches.