Development of a Set of Pre-class Videos for Electromagnetic Theory

Abstract

One important aspect of experiential learning is allowing students time to reflect on new concepts before the application of the material. Most commonly, this is attempted by assigning readings from a textbook, but research suggests that few students complete these readings. This discouraging fact has prompted the use of other resources, such as videos, to supplement pre-class readings in order to introduce new material. Previous work has been completed by this author to produce pre-class videos for use in an introductory circuits course. This paper extends that work to the development of pre-class videos for a senior level electrical engineering course in electromagnetic theory at Anderson University. Although the videos were developed for this course, many of the topics are also applicable to calculus-based physics courses on electromagnetics. As a result, a sophomore level Physics 2 course made use of some of the videos. To improve upon the existing resources, a set of 15 videos were created for use in an electromagnetic theory class. The videos are freely available on YouTube, without advertisements. This paper describes the conception and creation of these videos. Furthermore, this work contributes to the field of engineering education by providing a freely available set of videos that other instructors may use to increase student engagement and learning. Assessment of the initial use of these videos with a small sample group indicate that the target audience watched the videos, felt that the videos helped them do better in the course, felt better prepared for class because of the videos, and valued the videos as a resource. The results indicate that 100% would recommend the videos to students taking Electromagnetic Theory at another university, and 100% wish they had pre-class videos for their other courses. When asked how much they would pay for the resource, the average response was $45.