Mai Thi Thanh Tran is currently an English lecturer at Faculty of Foreign Languages, Van Lang University, Vietnam. She is interested in teaching English methods as a foreign language to various levels of learners, especially to college students. E-mail: mai.ttt@vlu.edu.vn

 

Abstract

The aim of this research paper is to determine how Edpuzzle worked when applying into teaching flipped classrooms to the first-year English at Van Lang University. Edpuzzle is an interactive-video platform adapted by the lecturers, and this paper reports on the experience of using it for other colleagues to critique and improve on. The sample for this study consisted of eighty freshmen selected from four classes. A set of questionnaires with fifteen Likert-scale items together with interviews served as instruments for data collection. The findings demonstrated that using Edpuzzle for teaching and learning through a flipped classroom was an effective way to motivate students to actively get involved in the lecture. In general, despite some inconveniences with the log-in process, the students were eager to a new means of learning but did not make good use of this collaboration tool in their learning. Also, the research paper results reveal that the participants possessed positive attitudes towards the benefits of using Edpuzzle in a flipped classroom. In contrast, they expressed an unfavorable perspective on the drawbacks of using this tool respectively.

 

Introduction

With the global trend of educational era 4.0, along with the strong development of information and communication technology, online education – also known as e-learning comes into life as a result of teaching and learning renovation. Indeed, online education, which is categorized into three common implementations: fully Internet-based learning, blended learning, and web-based supplements for face-to-face traditional learning, is not a new practice since it has been infiltrating into a vast number of schools across the globe (Gilbert, 2015). There is a plethora of robust evidence that online learning is considered a pedagogical solution that facilitates personalized learning and flexibility to acquire knowledge regardless of time and geographical locations (Guragain, 2016). In line with the educational reform policy regarding industrialization and modernization enacted by Vietnam's government in 2010, the application of e-learning, especially in the higher education context, witnessed a significant increase for learners' sake. What matters is Vietnamese e-learning is mostly in the form of blended learning, while traditional education with interactions between teachers and students is widely believed to be the most effective education method during so many years - ranging from primary schools to tertiary institutions (Le et al., 2013, p. 240).

In response to the common trend in today’s education, both teachers and learners at Van Lang University have explored the Moodle software as an e-learning tool to facilitate learning and teaching since 2015. Like many other Vietnamese universities, e-learning activities in the university are in the shape of blended learning. Particularly, a majority of the lecturers take advantage of this learning management system in uploading a series of lectures and references, giving assignments, and hosting a forum. Generally speaking, this software facilitates students’ learning by giving them more chances to keep track of the lessons, store the studying resources and discuss their concerns. At the beginning of the second semester of the school-year 2020-2021, to promote students’ self-efficacy and autonomy, a flipped classroom model by Edpuzzle, was introduced to account for 20 percent of the total teaching periods per subject. However, this teaching method was not favored by those who are not accustomed to autonomy learning and subject to technological problems. In reality, the number of students participating in these interactive video lessons was not up to 60%, not to mention the ever-increasing proportion of students' lack of log-in process. Hence, making Edpuzzle a more beneficial teaching tool is far more necessary than ever before. Surprisingly, there are no studies to find out the students’ perceptions towards the use of Edpuzzle at Van Lang University. In other words, to what extent this teaching tool is beneficial to students and what kinds of reflection students have after experiencing by themselves are not addressed formally.

This paper aimed at exploring how learners' – actually respond to learning English with Edpuzzle's aid. It also investigated how teachers at this university use Edpuzzle as a facilitator of language learning. The results gave some teaching implications for those who would like to make better use of this platform due to the drawbacks of using them revealed by the students respectively.

Research questions

1. 1. How do the first-year English majors respond to the use of Edpuzzle in a flipped classroom at Van Lang University?
   2. What can be done to improve the quality of blended learning in the application of Edpuzzle?

Literature review

Benefits of a flipped classroom

A review of recent literature on the flipped learning approach supports that a flipped classroom should be integrated into schools’ teaching programs due to it is beneficial in terms of flexibility, engagement, learning-related emotions, and personalized learning opportunities (e.g., Sojayapan and Khlaisang, 2018; Munir, et al., 2018; De-Lozier and Rhodes, 2017; Yilmaz, 2017; Panich, 2013). Specifically, in the area of flexibility and engagement, Yilmaz (2017) once emphasized the advantage of this approach as a way of self-regulation, engagement, sense of responsibility for work, teamwork and participation in classroom activities among students. Also, a flipped classroom where in- and out-of-class time is used to facilitate effective learning opportunities and perspectives is far more flexible on account of time and geographic locations, allowing learners to select the best time or place to study (Munir, et al., 2018). In other words, students enabled to easily access resources such as videos, PowerPoint lecture slides, and assignments for learning many times at many places, including at home, at a café, or even on the road. As far as De-Lozier and Rhodes (2017) was concerned, the advantages of a flipped classroom were outlined with a way of assisting in lecturing time and maximizing students' activity time, which can be used in learning cooperatively and practically with the help of online video media.

In terms of learning-related emotions, according to D’Mello, Jackson and Craig (2008), e- learning could benefit students through the enhancement of their performance, reinforces their interest in the course, and promotes their self-efficacy through active learning strategies that can be included as a result of maximized time in the classrooms. Hence, students can have continual access to materials regularly, seek help from teachers or peers, explore lessons at his/ her own pace, use preferred learning devices, and gain timely feedback in order to reflect upon their own learning.

In the review of personalized learning opportunities, with access to learning content outside the class, students can use features such as pause and rewind to privately revisit confounding information (Bergmann and Sams 2012; Doman and Webb, 2014; Hashemifardnia et al., 2018). Flexibility and the ability to adapt the learning pace with differences in individual attention were some of their reasons noted for the observed gains of the flipped classroom model (Muldrow, 2013). Additionally, when students make use of their own knowledge in the classroom, they take ownership of their own learning process and can be inspired to want to learn more about a topic because it becomes more personally interesting (Hao, 2016; Namaziandost and Nasri, 2019). Governing learning pace combined with positive personal learning experiences can result in increased success in the classroom (Wang, 2017). Abeysekera and Dawson, (2015) proposed a diagram presenting five different benefits of a flipped classroom model, including tailoring to expertise, self-pacing, sense of competence, sense of relatedness, sense of autonomy as shown in Figure 1.

 

 

Disadvantages of a flipped classroom

Like other teaching methods, a flipped classroom also has its own drawbacks since it is not likely to replace unique features, including human emotional interaction, learners’ autonomy as well as face-to-face interaction that can be found in the classroom. Also, heavy dependence on computer skills and Internet access, according to Twomey (2004), became a barrier for students to effective learning.

According to several research findings, the flipped classroom approach's anonymity drove students to be prone to cheating, which deteriorated ways of assessment and the quality of education. More importantly, a flipped classroom requires learners to actively gain knowledge on their own through the video lessons together with reading the materials, which was not effectively applicable to a multitude of those whose learning is perfunctory, and so on since it curbed learners' real watching time and reading time (Wang, 2017). In other words, a flipped classroom heavily relied on learners’ self-motivation. Indeed, some students are not as motivated as others, and this method of teaching may allow those less motivated students to get less done (Krueger, 2019).

Using Edpuzzle as a means of an online teaching tool

Looking for a solution to provide lectures to those who missed classes due to travel for athletics or activities, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams in Woodland Park, Colorado in 2007 (Bergmann, 2011) first develop online videos to flip learning. Since then, this has created a new perspective in education. Being a great formative assessment tool for teachers who run a flipped classroom, Edpuzzle has been commonly used to create an interactive learning environment by interactive video lessons. It facilitates better lesson involvement with multiple-choice questions, teacher voice-overs, and embedded links. Its key utilities lie in performing a series of activities like watching video, answering the follow-up questions and receiving instant feedback. Unlike other common videos, with the help of Edpuzzle, teachers can have a variety of options from creating their own videos or selecting online videos, embedding different types of quizzes, assigning those videos to students, and sending the video assignments to students’ email addresses by providing either access code or a link. Edpuzzle enables teachers to keep track of how many students watched the video, how long students watched, how many times they watched, when they watched it, what questions in the video students answered right or wrong. This platform is far more helpful in a flipped classroom model, which requires students to get involved into a new lecture through watching a video, reading given materials and doing the quiz. Additionally, its easy-to-use and the simple interface takes the users a very quick time to get acquainted with the tool by reading the manual guideline or being instructed once by the lecturer rather than participating in a relevant training workshop.

 

Methodology

This study was designed as qualitative research, which aimed at investigating students’ perceptions of a flipped classroom approach with the help of Edpuzzle at Van Lang University. Therefore, qualitative research instruments, specifically interviews and questionnaires, were used to collect data as they are considered effective instruments for gathering information about attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs in second language classroom research.

The respondents providing the data for this paper were eighty first-year English majors belonging to four classes at Van Lang University. Then, 15 of these participants were interviewed face-to-face to gain further insight into Edpuzzle’s use in flipped learning. Noticeably, the interview comprised mainly of the two following questions:

1. 1. What are your experiences when you study in a flipped classroom using Edpuzzle?
   2. What can be done to improve flipped classroom learning by the use of Edpuzzle?

Data analysis procedure

The study results were presented in tables, and explanations were provided accordingly.

Together with the questionnaires' data, the interviewed students' responses were presented.

Findings and discussions

 

Student attitudes towards using Edpuzzle in a flipped classroom

Table 4.1. Advantages of using Edpuzzle in flipped learning

As shown in Table 4.1, most students expressed positive attitudes towards flipped learning through Edpuzzle with higher percentages of agreement (A) and strong agreement (SA). Generally, the responses showed that most students rank the benefits of applying this teaching tool in flipped learning 4 and 5 on a 5-point Likert scale. Specifically, 86.3% was the highest proportion of participants expressing their agreement or strong agreement on the help of flipped learning through Edpuzzle in saving time to school. 82.5% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that learning through Edpuzzle gave them flexibility because they could re-watch the recorded lectures at anytime and anywhere. 81.2% could keep track with the lesson at their own learning pace since they found it easier to rewind or pause at the difficult part, while 81.2% also confirmed the convenience of flipped learning with a variety of learning aids, e.g., a laptop or even a cell phone. As far as the benefits of personalized learning opportunities, more than half of the samples, i.e., 76.3%, were stress-free from a fear of losing their face or shyness in participation.

Noticeably, 75% of the students reported that they could receive timely feedback from the lecturer on their response(s), while 73.8% of the respondents appreciated the ease of convenience to study at any place – whether at home or even at a cafe. 61.3% was the proportion revealing the students’ comfort of studying at their favorite place rather than being in a crowded classroom and being subject to the coronavirus infection. 63.7% of the students found it fascinating when they had to complete the quiz(es) during the video watching time, whereas 68.8% thought that they had some unrivalled interactive opportunities to get involve in the discussion during the video lesson.

Although flipped learning through Edpuzzle benefited students in many ways, its application was somewhat disadvantageous, according to the following findings.

Table 4.2. Disadvantages of using Edpuzzle in flipped learning

Table 4.2 reveals that the majority of participants de-appreciated flipped learning by Edpuzzle, for 86.3% of the students claimed that it was quite hard for them to acquire knowledge in such a short 5/10-minute video lesson. In addition to knowledge acquisition deterioration, 73.7% of the participants reported that they had problems logging in and creating an account for Edpuzzle. In response to the rest of the items, students who revealed their agreement or strong agreement on being tired accounted for 68.7%, while 72.5% and 71.2% admitted that they failed to watch the whole video lesson for the fact that they skipped some lesson parts, and the network connection sometimes prevented them from studying respectively.

Interview results

Question 1: What are your experiences when you study flipped learning in the use of Edpuzzle?

The first question was to find out students’ real-life experiences in flipped learning through Edpuzzle. All of the interviewees stated that it was beyond their prior anxiety of blended learning courses’ quality because they found it convenient and flexible to some extent. Ten participants from different classes shared the same response that they could study at their comfort simply with a technological device and a network connection no matter where they are. In addition, all of the interviewees appreciated the convenience of study resources in the Edpuzzle platform, which helped them rewind them over and over again to find out relevant information for the quizzes. In comparison with the traditional face-to-face learning, three out of ten students added that the lecture's content was simplified, and the teacher made it more interactive with the follow-up questions every two or three minutes. Four other students stated that answering the questions right after watching some parts of the lesson facilitated them to memorize and consolidate the lesson better and that they received the instant feedback on their response helped them know exactly what should be improved and avoid losing their face.

Nevertheless, four other samples said that they were overwhelmed with the computer skills since they could not be able to log-in into the Edpuzzle platform with the notification “No class is found”, which deteriorated them from watching the video. Apart from lack of computer skills, two of the participants complained that they could be de-motivated and quite lazy since this learning method required much autonomy. They further explained that some of their friends were not responsible for their study by the fact that they clicked the mouse quickly and skipped parts of the lesson; instead, they just had a tendency to complete the quiz as soon as possible rather than acquired knowledge from the video. More importantly, they showed their isolation because they could not communicate with their classmates in the flesh and listen to their lecture’s real voice.

Question 2: What can be done to improve flipped learning by the use of Edpuzzle?

Of all the interviewees, eight students are expressing that most teachers made good use of Edpuzzle that facilitated them to better flipped learning. As the contents of video lessons are concerned, they all agreed that the content and the organization of the lesson should be simplified and gave room for practice and discussion time. To do so, they were satisfied with the way that lecturers recorded the lessons within 10 minutes and simultaneously embedded with interactive assignments, i.e. multiple questions, and matching quizzes.

Meanwhile, one student reported that sometimes there was a technical problem, so learners needed to be guided clearly what to do step-by-step. As the participants' suggestion, the teacher should supply the guidelines fully before he or she assigned the video lessons to the learners. The other students added that sometimes their teacher looked somehow embarrassed when they talked in front of a camera and failed to give the lecture properly and successfully. These students desired their lecturers to improve their filmmaker skills with effective edition and subtitles.

 

Discussion and implications for teaching

The findings mentioned above are quite consistent with the literature on the benefits of flipped learning or blended learning. Particularly, the advantage of giving learners flexibility and convenience aligns with work by Munir’s study of flipped learning benefits and application (2018). His conclusion is that the business of blended learning is fast growing since it assists students everywhere. More importantly, the findings do not contradict the literature review on students' personalized learning (e.g., D’Mello, Jackson and Craig, 2008; Namaziandost and Nasri, 2019). Together with works in the literature review which represented some strengths that emerged from the study (e.g., frequent and timely feedback, anonymously confident participation, learning pace adjustment), the findings contribute to support the application of Edpuzzle to flipped learning as an effective solution for teaching and learning in blended learning model.

It is clear that using Edpuzzle in flipped learning received much positive feedback. Students who experienced the Edpuzzle platform reported that they gained more than expected beyond the initial fear, ranging from convenience, flexibility, and personalized learning opportunities. Nevertheless, these advantages could not outweigh a series of drawbacks, including lack of autonomy, lack of knowledge acquisition, the feeling of technological malfunction, lack of face-to-face interaction as problems occurred, as well as heavy dependence on technology and network connection.

There is no reason that more and more Vietnamese universities and even high schools and primary schools have been implementing or are about to apply Edpuzzle to assign assignment and give video lessons in their training schedule for its easy-to-use characteristics. Following the worldwide educational trend in the industrial era 4.0, to cope with the must of increasing learners’ autonomy and self-efficacy, the Vietnamese school system should take advantage of flipped learning by Edpuzzle for learners' sake. However, exploring Edpuzzle in flipped learning successfully is quite a daunting task because it is strongly supposed that traditional courses outperform blended learning, especially flipped learning, and there still exists a vast number of drawbacks. There are numerous practical solutions for both lecturers and students to overcome such difficulties.

As far as lectures are concerned, they have to create their video lesson by a plethora of helpful ways including using PowerPoint’s recording, filming through Microsoft Teams or using some professional software, i.e. Filmora to edit and improve the quality of the video. In addition, varying activities every three minutes should be carried out to ensure to stop learners from being bored and distracted. Short explanations or lectures should be followed by discussion, a short break with music, tasked-based learning, or interactive games, which creates an exciting interactive video lesson. During a 10-minute video lesson, lecturers are likely to focus on the main point and simplify some unnecessary content, even use L1 language to explain some important or difficult points.

For the sake of students, choosing the best place, which is tranquil and comfortable to study with a stable Internet connection, is an absolute must for them to absorb the lecture at their convenience. Secondly, to avoid falling behind what the teacher is saying, students should briefly refer to the required materials beforehand. In other words, students have to cultivate their self-study in an attempt to learn and explore knowledge actively. Finally, learners should use opportunities for discussion to be fully active to answer the quizzes.

 

Conclusions

With a must of educational innovation in era 4.0, schools face the challenges of requiring new approaches in education and preparing students to adapt themselves with the constantly changing working environments. Flipped learning is one of the successful means of teaching methods that best serves a convenient blended learning and increases learners’ autonomy. From the findings of this study, beyond the fear and anxiety at the first time and some difficulties in log-in process, flipped learning by Edpuzzle is favorable and receives many positive attitudes from students and should be widely used and explored.

 

References

Abeysekera, L., Dawson, P. (2015). Motivation and cognitive load in the flipped classroom: definition, rationale and a call for research. High Education Research Development. 34(1) 1-14, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2014.934336

Bergmann, J., and Sams, A. (2012). Flipping your classroom: Reach every student in every class every day. International society for technology in education.

DeLozier, S. J., & Rhodes, M. G. (2017). Flipped classrooms: A review of key ideas and recommendations for practice. Educational Psychology Re-view, 29(1), 141-151. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-015-9356-9.

Doman, E., & Webb, M. (2014). The flipped and non-flipped EFL classroom: Initial reactions from Chinese university students, ThaiTESOL journal, 27(1), 13-43.

Gilbert, B. (2015). Online Learning Revealing the Benefits and Challenges. Education Masters. p. 303.

Hao, Y.  (2016).  Exploring  undergraduates’  perspectives  and  flipped  learning  readiness in their flipped classrooms. Computers in Human Behavior, 59, 82–92.

Hashemifardnia, A., Namaziandost, E., & Shafiee, S. (2018). The effect of implementing flipped classrooms on Iranian junior high school students’ reading comprehension. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 8(6), 665–673. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0806.17

Krueger, J. (2019). Five reasons against the flipped classroom. Retrieved from the WWW: https://stratostar.com/five-reasons-against-the-flipped-classroom/

Muldrow, K. (2013). A New Approach to Language Instruction - Flipping the Classroom. The Language Educator, 11, 28-31.

Munir, M. T., Baroutian, S., Young, B. R., and Carter, S. (2018). Flipped classroom with cooperative learning as a cornerstone. Education for Chemical Engineers, 23, 25-33.

Panich, P. (2013). Flipped classroom. S R Printing Mass Product. Bangkok, Thailand.

Sojayapan, C., & Khlaisang, J., (2018). The effect of a flipped classroom with online group investigation on students' team learning ability. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.kjss.2018.02.003

Wang, T. (2017). Overcoming barriers to “flip”: building teacher’s capacity for the adoption of flipped classroom in  Hong  Kong  secondary  schools.  Research  and  Practice  in  Technology Enhanced Learning, 12(1), 6.

Yilmaz, R. (2017). Exploring the role of e-learning readiness on student satisfaction and motivation in flipped classroom. Computers in Human Behavior, 70, 251–260.

 

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