Students' acceptance of an educational videos platform: a study in a portuguese university

DOI: 10.4018/IJICTE.2018010107



Copyright©2018,IGIGlobal.CopyingordistributinginprintorelectronicformswithoutwrittenpermissionofIGIGlobalisprohibited.

Students’ Acceptance of an

Educational Videos Platform:

A Study in a Portuguese University

Carolina Costa, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal Helena Alvelos, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal Leonor Teixeira, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

ABSTRACT TheEducastisaneducationalvideos’platformthatcapturessimultaneouslyvideoanddigitalsupport materials.ThispaperpresentsastudyontheacceptanceofEducast,bystudents,usingtheTechnology AcceptanceModel–TAM.Thedatawascollectedthroughaquestionnaireappliedto54students whichresultswereanalyzedusingdescriptiveanalysisandnon-parametrictests.Itwasconcluded thatstudentsexpressedapositiveattitudetowardsthevariablesPerceivedEaseOfUse,Perceived UsefulnessandAttitudeTowardUsing.Thecomparisonbetweenratingsassignedtothequestionnaire itemsbythestudentswhoviewedvideorecordingsandthosethatdidnotwasperformed,anditwas foundthattheformershowedhigherlevelsofagreementwiththereferreditemsthanthelatter.Itis consideredthatintroducingsometrainingbeforestudentshavecontactwithEducastshouldbetaken intoaccount.TheresultofthisworkcanbevaluablenotonlyforresearchersontheEducationarea, butalsoforteachersthatintendtouseeducationalvideosintheirteaching/learningenvironment. KEywoRdS

Educast, Educational Video, Higher Education Institutions, TAM

1. INTRodUCTIoN TheEducastisaplatformofeducationalvideosmadeavailabletotheHigherEducationInstitutions (HEI)inPortugal.Thisplatformcapturessimultaneouslytheliveclassroomrecordinginvideoandthe digitalsupportmaterialdisplayedbytheinstructoronthecomputer.Inthepresentstudy,anexperience oftheuseofthisplatformisdescribed,inthecontextoftheCurricularUnit(CU)of‘Innovationand Entrepreneurship’,taughttoseveraldoctoralprogramsattheUniversityofAveiro(UA). Thisworkispartofaprojectthataimstoevaluatetheacceptanceoftechnologiesasameansto improvethequalityoftheTeaching/Learningprocess.Thedatawasobtainedthroughtheapplication ofaquestionnaire.Inparticular,thestudydescribedinthisarticleaimstoevaluatetheacceptance ofEducastbyagroupofstudentsfromtheUA,throughtheTechnologyAcceptanceModel(TAM) (Davis,1986).Additionally,acomparisonbetweentheratingsassignedtotheitemsbystudentsthat haveseenatleastonerecordingandthosewhohavenotseenanyvideoswasperformed.

2. ModELS oF TECHNoLoGIES ACCEPTANCE EVALUATIoN Thereareseveralmodelsthatexplaintheacceptanceoftechnologybytheusers,beingtheTAMone ofthemostused(Sharma,Joshi,&Sharma,2016).ThismodelisbasedontheTheoryofReasoned Action(TRA),inwhichtheTheoryofPlannedBehavior(TPB)isalsobased.Morerecently,the UnifiedTheoryofAcceptanceandUseofTechnology(UTAUT)wasdevelopedbasedon8models, includingtheTRAandtheTAM(Venkatesh,Morris,Davis,&Davis,2003).

2.1. Theory of Reasoned Action

TheTRAmodelwasintroducedbyFishbeinandAjzenin1975,beingwidelyusedinsocialpsychology, whenthedeterminantsofbehavior(Davis,Bagozzi,&Warshaw,1989)areconcerned.Thismodel isaverygeneralmodelandshouldbeadaptedwhentheobjectiveistostudythedeterminantsof thecomputertechnology’susebehavior(Davisetal.,1989).Itconsistsofthevariables(1)Actual Behavior,(2)BehavioralIntention,(3)AttitudeTowardBehavior,(4)SubjectiveNorm,(5)Beliefsand Evaluations,and(6)NormativeBeliefsandMotivationtoComply.Thebehavioroftheuser(Actual Behavior)isdeterminedbytheBehavioralIntention,whichinturnisinfluencedbytheAttitudeToward BehaviorandtheSubjectiveNorm.TheAttitudeTowardBehaviorisinfluencedbytheBeliefsand Evaluations,andtheSubjectiveNormbyNormativeBeliefsandMotivationtoComply(Figure1). AccordingtoTanandRamayah(2014),thismodelhasbeeneffectivelyappliedinnumerous studiesinareaslikeknowledgemanagement,medicalstudies,socialpsychologyandinformation technologyadoption.

2.2. Theory of Planned Behavior

TheTPBmodelisatheorythatexplainsindividualbehaviorandwasdevelopedbasedontheTRA. Thistheorysuggeststhatindividualbehaviorisdrivenbyintentionthatdependsonthreefactors:(1) AttitudeTowardtheBehavior,(2)SubjectiveNorms,and(3)PerceivedBehavioralControl,which, inturn,influenceeachother(Ajzen,1991)(seeFigure2). TheTPBhasbeenappliedinvariouscontextsincludingtechnology(Davis,1989,Chang,1998), andspecificallyappliedtotheuseofmobiledevicesinhighereducation(Cheon,Lee,Crooks,& Song,2012).

2.3. Technology Acceptance Model

TheTAM,developedbyDavis(1986),isthemostwidelyusedmodelwheneveritisintendedto evaluatetheacceptanceofaparticulartechnology(Venkateshetal.,2003).

AccordingtoTAM(Figure3),theActualSystemUse(ASU)ofthetechnologybeinganalyzed isdeterminedbytheAttitudeTowardUsing(ATU)thatisinfluencedbytwovariables:Perceived EaseOfUse(PEOU)andPerceivedUsefulness(PU)which,inturn,areinfluencedbyotherexternal Figure 1. TRA model (Davis et al., 1989)

variables(X1,X2andX3)(Davis,1986).Thenumberofexternalvariablesdependsonthetypeof studyperformed.Forexample,thestudyfromOumandHan(2011)usedsixexternalvariablesand theonefromKwonandWen(2010)usedfour. PEOUisdefinedasthedegreetowhichanindividualbelievesthattheuseofaparticularsystem isintuitiveanddoesnotrequiregreateffort(Davis,1986;Davis,1989).PUisdefinedasthedegreeto whichanindividualbelievesthatuseofthesystemcontributestoincreasetheperformanceofhis/her work(Davis,1986;Davis,1989;Davisetal.,1989).Itmaybeinfluencedbothbyexternalvariables orthePEOU,sincetechnologiesperceivedaseasiertousetendtobeperceivedasmoreuseful.ATU isdefinedasapositiveornegativesenseofanindividualontheuseofthesystem(Davis,1986; Davis,1989;Davisetal.,1989)andisinfluencedbyPUandPEOUvariables.Theusers’motivation isdeterminedbythethreevariablesPEOU,PUandATU. TheTAMusedinpracticalcasesiscommonlyanadaptedversionoftheoriginalmodelwhere externalvariablesareaddedaccordingtothespecificcharacteristicsoftheanalyzedtechnology (Oum&Han,2011).Thosemodelsevaluatetheacceptanceoftechnologiesbyusersofvarious tools,suchasYouTube(Yang,Hsu,&Tan,2010),Webcast(Lust,Elen,&Clarebout,2012),Video podcasting(Sanchez-Fernandez,Jimenez-Castillo,&Marin-Carrillo,2013),orinstructionalVideo (Donkor,2011).

2.4. Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology

TheUTAUT,developedbyVenkateshetal.(2003)andrepresentedinFigure4,isbasedonother conceptualmodelsoftechnologyacceptance.Thismodelconsistsoffourconstructs:(1)Performance Figure 2. TPB model (Ajzen, 1991)

Expectancy,(2)EffortExpectancy,(3)SocialInfluence,and(4)FacilitatingConditions;andalsoby 4moderatingvariables:(1)Gender,(2)Age,(3)Experience,and(4)VoluntarinessofUse. ThePerformanceExpectancyisdefinedas“thedegreetowhichanindividualbelievesthat usingthesystemwillhelphimorhertoimprovejobperformance”(Venkateshetal.,2003,p.447). Thisconstructevolvedfromothermodels’constructs,like,forexample,thePUofTAM(Venkatesh etal.,2003).TheEffortExpectancyisdefinedas“thedegreeofeaseassociatedwiththeuseofthe system”(Venkateshetal.,2003,p.450).ThisconstructincludesthePEOUoftheTAM(Venkatesh etal.,2003).TheSocialInfluenceisdefinedas“thedegreetowhichanindividualperceiveshow importantitisforotherpeopletousethesystem”(Venkateshetal.,2003,p.451).TheFacilitating Conditionsaredefinedas“thedegreetowhichanindividualbelievesthatanorganizationaland technicalinfrastructureexisttosupportthesystem”(Venkateshetal.,2003,p.453).Thefirst threeconstructs(PerformanceExpectancy,EffortExpectancy,andSocialInfluence)influencethe BehavioralIntentionandthelast(FacilitatingConditions)influencestheUseBehavior.

2.5. Comparisons of the Models that Predict the Intention to Use Technology

TheTPBmodelisanextensionoftheTRAthataddsthevariablePerceivedBehavioralControl, definedastheperceptionofapersonontheeaseordifficultyofthepracticeofaparticularbehavior (Venkatesh&Speier,1999).AccordingtotheresultofthestudyofChang(1998),TPBisbetterthan TRAinpredictingbehaviorfromintentionininformationsystemsarea(Mathieson,1991). TheTAMandTPBmodelspredictintentiontouseaninformationsystemquitewell,withTAM havingaslightempiricaladvantage.TAMiseasiertoapply,butonlysuppliesverygeneralinformation onusers’opinionsaboutasystem.TPBprovidesmorespecificinformationthatcanbetterguide development(Mathieson,1991).TPBismoredifficulttoapplyacrossdiverseusercontextsthan TAM,asTAM’sconstructsaremeasuredinthesamewayinallsituationsandTPBrequiresapilot Figure 3. Technology acceptance model (Davis, 1986)

studytoidentifyrelevantoutcomes,referencegroups,andcontrolvariables,ineachdifferentcontext inwhichitisused(Mathieson,1991). TAMassumesthatbeliefsaboutusefulnessandeaseofusearealwaystheprimarydeterminants ofuserdecisions(Mathieson,1991).Thismodelexplainsattitudetowardsusinganinformationsystem muchbetterthanTPB,andmaybethemodelofchoicewhenATUisofparticularinterest(Mathieson, 1991).TAMprovidesaquickandinexpensivewaytogathergeneralinformationaboutindividuals’ perceptionsofasystemandcanbeusedtomeasuregenerallevelsofsatisfactionacrossarangeof userswithdiverseinterests.TPBdeliversmorespecificinformation,givingmoreinsightregarding whyanindividualorgroupmightbedissatisfied.However,itiscostliertoapply(Mathieson,1991). TheUTAUTmodelisamorerecentinstrumentbasedoneightmodels(Ling,Downe,Ahmad, &Lai,2011),includingTRA,TPBandTAM.ThismodelincludestheSocialInfluencevariable whichisnottakenintoaccountinTAM(Lingetal.,2011).Mathieson(1991)considersthatthefact ofTAMnotincludingexplicitlyanysocialvariablescanrepresentadisadvantageofthismodel. 3. EdUCATIoNAL VIdEo Thevideosareimportanteducationalresourcesthatenablestudentstogetknowledgemoreefficiently andintuitivelythantext-basededucationalresources(Yu,Pedrinaci,Dietze,&Domingue,2012). Duringthelastdecades,videoshavebeenwidelyknownandfrequentlyusedinmanyHEIto conveycontentsintheteaching/learningcontext(Lujan-Mora,2012;Fernandezetal.,2011). Educationalvideoscanbedividedintothreecategoriesdependingontheiruseandpurposes: demonstrationvideos,narrativevideosandrecordedlecturesessions(Caspi,Gorsky,&Privman, 2005). Demonstrationvideosshowandexplainaprocedure.Thiscategoryofeducationalvideoscan havetwoaims:(1)allowingstudentstoassisttoproceduresthatotherwisearenotavailabletothemor Figure 4. UTAUT model (Venkatesh et al., 2003)

(2)recordingstudents’performanceforfeedbackpurposes(Caspietal.,2005).Thistypeofvideosis usedinmedicalcontext,sincemanyclinicalsituationsareunavailabletostudents(Caspietal.,2005). Demonstrationvideosareareallygoodtooltoallowandimproveautonomouslearning,becoming muchmoreeffectivethanothermethodologiesbasedonmoretraditionalmethods,suchasbooks andwrittenmanualsororalexplanations(Caspietal.,2005). Narrativevideoscorrespondtotherecordingofsituationswhereinstructorsspeakaboutasubject. Thesevideosarecommonlyusedtolearnlanguages,andare“usefulandeffectivebecausethey presentthelearnerwithafullcommunicativeandculturalcontextoflanguagealongsideitslexical andgrammaticalaspects”(Caspietal.,2005,p.32).AdmiraalandBerry(2016)describetheuse ofnarrativevideoasawaytoassessstudentsthatarebeingpreparedtobeteachersinthefuture,in termsoftherelationshipsamongtheirteachingcompetencies,thewaythosecompetenciesareused inpracticeandtheirdevelopmentovertime. Recordedlecturesessionsconsistofvideoswherealectureisrecordedandcanafterwardsbe reproducedbytheuser.Inthistypeofcommunication,instructorspresentthesubjectastheydoin class(Caspietal.,2005).Thesevideoshavebeenthemostcommonlyusededucationalvideosduring thelastdecades(Fernandezetal.,2011). Thevideorecordedlectureshavebeenmainlyusefulforthefollowingpurposes(Canessa,Fonda, &Zennaro,2009;Palmer,2007): • toreview/revisemissingpointsandconcepts • toclarifyhandwrittennotes • torecovermissedclasses • tounderstandconceptswhenlecturerswenttoofast • toprepareforexams • toavoidwritingnotesandconcentrateontheblackboard • tohelpstudentsrememberkeyconcepts • tohelptounderstandtheissues Thesevideoshavebeenleastusefulwhentheyaretoolongorcontaintoomuchinformation (Fernandezetal.,2011;Palmer,2007). Educationalvideosareusedasinstructionalmaterialinonlinelearning(Yuetal.,2012). AccordingtoPurcell(2010),amongInternetUsers,almost70%ofadults(≥18yearsold)watchor downloadvideosfrequently,beingyoungadults(between18and29years-old)theheaviestconsumers ofonlinevideos(84%). Awiderangeofeducationalvideosisavailableononlinevideoservices,likeYouTube,Vimeo, KhanAcademy,TEDandPBS(Lujan-Mora,2012).Whentryingtousethevideoine-learning,the followingrecommendationsshouldbeconsidered(Filipe&Dias,2013): • useasmallintroductoryvideoforeachtopic • produceshortvideostoencouragethelearningofcontentandenableaconnectionbetween teacherandstudent • startthecoursewithawelcomemessage,wherethelecturerpresentshimself/herselfandthe coursetostudents Theeducationalvideos,especiallyintheonlinecoursesareverywellacceptedbythestudents, becausethestudentsliketoseethevisualexpressionoftheteacherintheirrelationshipwiththe contents(Filipe&Dias,2013).However,Fernandezetal.(2011)arguethateducationalvideosmustbe incorporatedintotherestofthecoursematerials,thuspromotingamorediverselearningenvironment.

3.1. The Educast Platform TheEducastisaPortugueseserviceusedtomanageeducationalvideosfromrecordingtodistribution ofacademiccontents(Filipe&Dias,2013;Martins,Ribeiro,Ribeiro,&Dias,2012).Thisserviceis basedonatechnologyplatformforproduction,editinganddistributionofvideosthatallowstheuser tohavefullautonomythroughouttheprocess(Martinsetal.,2012).Theeducationalvideosbecome availabletostudentsthroughtheInternet(Filipe&Dias,2013). ThisserviceisapartnershipbetweenthePortugueseFoundationforNationalScientific Computing-FCCN(PortuguesemanageroftheNationalResearchandEducationTechnology technologicalnetwork),SWITCH(SwissmanageroftheNationalResearchandEducationTechnology technologicalnetwork)andtheUniversityofPorto(Filipe&Dias,2013;Martinsetal.,2012).It“… providestoallHEI’sinPortugalanintegrationintoaprofessionalstructuretosupportthelevelof productionofaudiovisualcontentfore-learningandblendedlearning.Thisstructurereliesonthe supportofprofessionalstoensurehighlevelsofserviceand,consequently,agreatconfidencetothe teachersandotheraudiovisualcontentproducersinthevariousacademiccommunitiesinPortugal…” (Martinsetal.,2012,p.2). TheplatformwaslaunchedinMarch2011(Filipe&Dias,2013)withtheadherenceof15HEIs inPortugal.Thedataafteroneyearindicatedthat28HEIshavejoinedtheprojectwith1607videos producedintegratedin311channels.Aftertwoyears,therewere37HEIsusingEducast,5882 availablevideosin748channels(Martins,Ribeiro,Ribeiro,&Dias,2013). Following,themainfeaturesofthisplatformarelisted(FCCN,2016): • toproducecultural,informative,orentertainingvideoeducationalcontents • tocapturesimultaneouslythevideoofthephysicalactionandtheslideseventuallyshown • tomanagetheeducationalcontentfromclassesrecorded • topublishthefinalvideoindifferentformats • tointegratevideosine-learningsystems,portalsandwebsites • torestricttheaccesstothecontents Althoughtherecordoflecturesisthemainuseofthisplatform,itcanalsobeusedindemonstration ornarrativevideos.Thetechnicalrequirementsnecessaryforrecordingalectureare:AppleMac computer,Firewire(H)DVcameraandtripod,microphoneorotheraudiosourceandEpiphandevice tocapturetheslidesfromanothercomputer(FCCN,2016). 4. METHodoLoGy Thisarticleaimstoevaluatetheacceptance,byagroupofstudentsoftheUA,oftherecordings ofacademiccontent(lessons)publishedinEducast,asameansofpromotingtheimprovement ofteaching/learningprocess.AsTAMwasspecificallydesignedforbeingappliedintechnology acceptanceevaluation,andhasbeenextensivelyusedandeasiertoapplythanothermodels,itwas decidedtouseTAMinthisparticularstudy. ThepracticalworkdescribedbelowwascarriedoutinthecontextoftheCU‘Innovationand Entrepreneurship’,taughttoseveraldoctoralprogramsattheUA,with70studentsenrolled.This CUwasstructuredin7lessonsof3hourseach,dividedintotwoparts.AllthelessonsofthisCU wererecordedintwovideos,onefor1st_{partandanotherforthe2}nd_{one,andweremadeavailableto} thestudentsusingtheEducast.

TheacceptanceofEducastwasevaluatedthroughtheuseofaquestionnaire,organizedintothree groupsofquestions.Thefirstoneaimedtocharacterizetherespondentsintermsofgender,age, course,occupationalstatus,availabilitytoattendclassroomlessons,andthetimespentintraveling totheuniversity.ThesecondoneaimedtocharacterizetheuseofEducastintermsofthenumberof

assistedvideosandthetypeofdeviceandformatusedtoaccessthem.Thethirdgroupofquestions aimedtocollectdataontheacceptanceoftheuseofEducastintheteaching/learningcontextand comprises9itemscorrespondingtotheTAM(Table1),measuredonascaleof1(Stronglydisagree) to5(Stronglyagree). TheitemsincludedinPEOUaimtocollectdataonthedegreetowhichstudentsbelievethat usingEducastisintuitiveanddoesnotrequiregreateffort,whiletheitemsbelongingtoPUaimto evaluatethedegreetowhichstudentsbelievethatusingEducastenhancestheirperformance.Theitems includedinATUaimtoassessthestudents’feelingstowardsusingEducastinthelearningcontext. ThecollecteddatawereanalyzedusingtheIBMSPSSStatistics22software.First,adescriptive analysiswasperformedinordertocharacterizetheparticipantsandtheuseofEducast.Afterwards, Mann-Whitneytestswerecarriedouttoverifywhethertherewerestatisticallysignificantdifferences betweenthestudentsthatviewedatleastonevideoandthosethatdidnotviewanyvideo.

5. RESULTS ANd dISCUSSIoN

Therewereobtained54answerstothequestionnaireappliedtothestudentsattendingthe‘Innovation andEntrepreneurship’CU.Theresultsarepresentedinthefollowingsub-sections:(1)characterization oftheparticipants,(2)characterizationoftheuseoftheEducast,(3)acceptanceoftheuseofEducast, and(4)comparisonoftheacceptanceofEducastbetweenusersandnon-users.

5.1. Characterization of the Participants

Regardingthecharacterizationofrespondents,itcanbenoticedthattheywere63%femaleand37% maleandthattheiraverageagewas28.4yearsold(s=5.25),beingtheminimum22yearsoldand themaximum49yearsold. Table2showsthenumberofrespondentsattendingtheCU,byPhDarea.Itcanbeobservedthat mostofthemwerefromBiology(39%). Regardingtheoccupationalstatus,itcanbeseen,inTable3,thatmostoftheparticipantswere researchers(83%),beingabout9%employedwithactivitiesoutsidetheacademicfield(Employed– others).

Table 1. Items used in the questionnaire

Construct Item PEOU PEOU1-Overall,IfindtheEducastiseasytouseforviewingtheacademiccontentsrecordings. PU PU1-Usingacademiccontentsrecordingsallowsmetohaveflexibilityintheorganizationofmystudy/ work. PU2-Usingacademiccontentsrecordingsallowsmetoreviewthematerialspresentedinclass. PU3-UsingacademiccontentsrecordingsallowsmetoretrieveclasseswhichIhadnoopportunityto attendinperson. PU4-Usingacademiccontentsrecordingsallowsmenottobeworriedabouttakingnotesinclassand thusconcentratemoreonthepresentationbythelecturer. PU5-Overall,Ifindtheacademiccontentsrecordingsusefulformylearning. ATU ATU1-Iliketheideaofbeingabletoattendcoursesusingacademiccontentsrecordings. ATU2-Ifthereisthepossibilityofusingacademiccontentsrecordingsinmylearning,Iintendtodo so. ATU3-Overall,IhaveapositiveattitudetowardsusingacademiccontentsrecordingsintheTeaching/

Table4presentsthedistributionofthenumberofrespondentstakingintoaccounttheiravailability toattendclassroomlessonsperweek.Itcanbeobservedthatmostofthestudents(72%)haveonly halfadayperweektoattendclasses(therewas1missingvalue). Whenanalyzingthetimethatstudentsspendintravelingfromtheplacewheretheyusuallyare totheUAinordertoattendtoclasses,itcanbeobservedthatitis,onaverage,31minutes(s=39.0), beingtheminimum1minuteandthemaximum180minutes.

5.2. Characterization of the Use of Educast Platform

Thedatacollectedinthequestionnaire’ssectionabouttheuseoftheEducastregardingthenumber ofstudentsattendingthelessonsandviewingthevideos’recordings,typeofdeviceusedandvideos’ formataccessedaresynthetizedinTables5,6and7,respectively.

Notethat,asalreadyreferred,thestudiedCUwasstructuredin7lessons,eachonecomposed oftwoparts,beingvideosrecordedseparatelyforeachpart.

Table 2. Number of respondents attending the curricular unit, by PhD area

Area of the PhD N Biology 21 Physical 12 Chemistry 10 Engineering* 9 Others** 2 Total 54

Legend: *Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Industrial Engineering and Management. **Energy Systems and Climate Change, and Tourism.

Table 3. Number of students per occupational status

Occupational status N Research 45 Employed–others 5 Professor 3 Unemployed 1 Total 54

Table 4. Weekly availability of students to attend classroom lessons

Availability (per week) N

1halfday 38

1dayor2halfdays 9

3halfdays 1

2daysor4halfdays 5

Thenumberofstudentsattendinglessonsvariedfrom28(52%,5th_{lesson)to42(78%,1}st_{lesson).} Inwhatconcernsthevideos’visualizations,itcanbeseenthatthenumberofrespondentsthatviewed thevideosvariedfrom17(31%,7th_{lesson,2}nd_{part)to29(54%,1}st_{lesson,1}st_{partand2}nd_part).

Regardingthestudentsthatattendedlessonsinpersonandviewedtherespectivevideos,the numberofrespondentsvariedfrom6(7th_{lesson,2}nd_{part)to19(1}st_{lesson,2}nd_{part),whilethenumber} ofstudentsthatdidnotattendedlessonsinpersonandviewedtherespectivevideosvariedfrom8 (2nd_{lesson,2}nd_{part)to19(5}th_{lesson,1}st_{part).Consideringthedevicesusedtoaccessandviewthe} videos,itcanbeobservedinTable6thatmostrespondentsusedthecomputer(94%). Takingintoaccountthevideos’formatused,Table7illustratesthatmostrespondentsusedthe Flashformat(54%),followedbyQuickTime(40%). Finally,regardingtheplacewherestudentsaccessedthevideos,itwasfoundthat60%ofthem viewedathome,15%attheUA,9%attheUAandhome,6%attheworkplace,6%attheworkplace andhome,2%atUAandworkplaceand2%atotherHEI.

5.3. Acceptance of the Use of Educast Platform

TheacceptanceoftheuseofEducastinteaching/learningcontextwasevaluatedthroughthevariables: PEOU,PU,andATUoftheTAM.

Table 5. Number of students attending the lessons and viewing videos

Attended lessons: Number of respondents that viewed the videos 1st _{part of the lesson 2}nd _{part of the lesson}

1st_Lesson Yes 42 18 19 No 12 11 10 Total 54 29 29 2nd_Lesson Yes 40 13 12 No 14 10 8 Total 54 23 20 3rd_Lesson Yes 30 9 9 No 24 15 14 Total 54 24 23 4th_Lesson Yes 39 12 14 No 15 14 14 Total 54 26 28 5th_Lesson Yes 28 8 7 No 26 19 17 Total 54 27 24 6th_Lesson Yes 32 11 10 No 22 17 16 Total 54 28 26 7th_Lesson Yes 29 7 6 No 25 13 11

Theitemsofthequestionnairethatassessacceptanceofviewofacademiccontentvideos publishedinEducast(seeTable1)wereanalyzedbasedondescriptiveanalysis–frequencies,mean, andstandarddeviation(SD)–ascanbeseeninTable8,andonagraphicalrepresentationofstatistics –boxplot,showninFigure5. Ingeneral,studentsexpressedaverypositiveattitudetowardstheitemsrelatedtothePEOU,PU andATU.ItisemphasizedhoweverthattheATUvariableistheonethathasahighermeanvalue, beingthisresultinlinewiththestudyofSanchez-Fernandezetal.(2013)thatmentionsthatthe attitudetowardusingvideopodcastspositivelyaffectstheeffectiveuseofthetool. Consideringtheparticularitems,PEOU1–“Overall,IfindtheEducastiseasytouseforviewing theacademiccontentsrecordings”(aswellasPU4,analyzednext),presentsalowermedianthanthe otheritems,revealingthatitmaybenecessarytointroducesometrainingbeforestudentshavingthe firstcontactwiththeplatform.

Table 6. Devices used to access and view the videos

Devices

Computer 51

Tablet 2

ComputerandTablet 1

Total 54

Table 7. Format used to access and view the videos

Format Flash 26 QuickTime 19 iPod 2 FlashandQuickTime 1 Total 48

Table 8. Frequencies and descriptive statistics for the items from the questionnaire

Variable Item Level of agreement Total Mean SD

1 2 3 4 5 PEOU PEOU1 0 0 8 21 23 52 4.3 0.72 PU PU1 0 2 7 13 31 53 4.4 0.86 PU2 0 3 1 13 36 53 4.6 0.80 PU3 0 0 2 5 45 52 4.8 0.47 PU4 3 6 14 13 16 52 3.6 1.21 PU5 0 1 8 12 32 53 4.4 0.82 ATU ATU1 0 2 6 10 35 53 4.5 0.85 ATU2 0 1 8 15 29 53 4.4 0.81 ATU3 0 0 4 16 33 53 4.6 0.64

Onaverage,thehighestrateditemisPU3–“Usingacademiccontentsrecordingsallowsmeto retrieveclasseswhichIhadnoopportunitytoattendinperson”,whichmaymeanthate-learning classescanbeseenasanalternativeforclassroomlessons.Itisemphasized,howeverthattheitem PU4–“Usingacademiccontentsrecordingsallowsmenottobeworriedabouttakingnotesinclass andthusconcentratemoreonthepresentationbythelecturer”haslowerclassificationsthanthe others,showingthatsomerespondents(44%)donotconsiderthatthevideocanreplacethenotes takenfromclasses,havingassignedascoreof3orlesstothatitem. Regardingtheattitudetowardsusing,itisstressedthatATU3–“Overall,Ihaveapositive attitudetowardsusingacademiccontentsrecordingsintheTeaching/Learningprocess”,hasalower dispersionthanthemajorityoftheitems,with92%oftherespondentsclassifyingitwithlevels4or 5,showingaverypositiveattitudetowersthisplatform. ThefavorableratingassignedtoitemsPU2–“Usingacademiccontentsrecordingsallowsmeto reviewthematerialspresentedinclass”,andPU5–“Overall,Ifindtheacademiccontentsrecordings usefulformylearning”,corroboratetheresultsofthestudybyCanessaetal.(2009),thatmention thattherecordingsaremainlyusefulforrevisingmissingpointsandconcepts.

5.4. Comparison of the Acceptance of Educast Between Users and Non-Users

Basedontheitemspreviouslydescribedandanalyzed,thecomparisonoftheacceptanceofEducast betweentherespondentsthatuseditatleastonceandthosewhodidnotuse,wasperformedapplying unilateralMann-Whitneytestsofhypothesiswithasignificancelevelof5%. Table9presentssomedescriptivestatisticsofthetwogroupsforeachoftheitems(seeTable 1):numberofrespondents(N),minimum(Min),maximum(Max)andmedian,togetherwiththe p-valuesoftheMannWhitneyteststhatwereperformed. TakingintoaccounttheresultspresentedinTable9,itcanbeobservedthatthecentraltendencies ofthetwogroupsdistributionsshowsignificantdifferences(5%)fortheitemsPEOU1,PU5and ATU3.Itwasalsofoundthatthegroupofstudentswhoviewedtherecordingsexhibitedhigher levelsofagreementwiththoseitemsofthequestionnairethanthegroupofstudentsthatdidnot Figure 5. Box plots of the level of agreement of each item relating to assessment of the use of Educast platform

view.Notethatsuchdifferencesmayreflectthefactthatstudentswhoviewedtherecordingshavea higherperception,overall,towardsthePerceivedEaseOfUse,PerceivedUsefulness,andAttitude TowardUsing,althoughtheydonotshowthattendencyonthemorespecificitems(PU1,PU2,PU3, PU4,ATU1andATU2).Itcanbethenconcludedthattherewasagreateracceptanceoftheuseof Educastbytherespondentsthatexperiencedthatplatformatleastoncethanbytheonesthatnever experiencedit.ThisfactisinlinewiththeresultsobtainedwithitemPU4thatrevealedtheneedfor sometrainingbeforestudentshavingthefirstcontactwiththeplatform,asmentionedpreviously, helpingtobreaktheresistancetochange,whichhappensfrequentlywithnewtechnologies.

Table 9. Descriptive statistics and p-value of Mann-Whitney tests

Used Educast N Min Max Median p-value

PEOU1 Yes 31 3 5 5 0.029 No 20 3 5 4 Total 51 3 5 4 PU1 Yes 31 2 5 5 0.138 No 21 3 5 5 Total 52 2 5 5 PU2 Yes 31 2 5 5 0.192 No 21 2 5 5 Total 52 2 5 5 PU3 Yes 30 3 5 5 0.185 No 21 3 5 5 Total 51 3 5 5 PU4 Yes 30 1 5 4 0.074 No 21 1 5 3 Total 51 1 5 4 PU5 Yes 31 3 5 5 0.047 No 21 2 5 5 Total 52 2 5 5 ATU1 Yes 31 2 5 5 0.121 No 21 2 5 5 Total 52 2 5 5 ATU2 Yes 31 3 5 5 0.051 No 21 2 5 4 Total 52 2 5 5 ATU3 Yes 31 3 5 5 0.034 No 21 3 5 4 Total 52 3 5 5

6. LIMITATIoNS Somelimitationsofthisworkarerelatedwiththesmallsamplesize(N=54)andcomposedby studentsfromonlyoneinstitution,thatalthoughattendingthesamesubject,werefromdifferent postgraduatedegrees.Inordertoovercometheeffectsofthoselimitations,itisimportant,asfuture work,toextendthisstudytootherCurricularUnitsattheUAandtootherHEI,beingthuspossibleto generalizetheconclusionsandtodetectsomeeventualdifferencesintheresults.Itisalsosuggested thattheEducastbeusedinthecontextofMassiveOpenOnlineCourses(MOOCs)asthesecourses arebasedineducationalvideorecordingsandhavealargepotentialaudience. 7. CoNCLUSIoN ThispaperanalyzedtheacceptanceofaneducationalvideosplatformusedbyHEIinPortugal– Educast,applyingtheTAM.ThestudywascarriedoutinthescopeoftheCUof‘Innovationand Entrepreneurship’whichispartofthestructureofseveraldoctoralprogramsattheUA. AquestionnaireadaptedfromtheTAMwasappliedto54studentsandtheresultsrevealedthat respondentsexpressedapositiveattitudeforthevariousitemsrelatedtothePEOU,PU,andATU. Ingeneral,thevariableATUwasthehighestratedvariable,beingthusthevariablethatimpacts moretheacceptanceoftheEducast.Consideringtheparticularitems,itcanbeseenthatonaverage PU3–“UsingacademiccontentsrecordingsallowsmetoretrieveclasseswhichIhadnoopportunity toattendinperson”isthehighestratedone.Thisresultcanbeinterpretedasstudentsconsidering e-learningclassesasanalternativeforclassroomlessons.Italsostressedthat,regardingthelower scorevaluesassignedtotheitemPEOU1–“Overall,IfindtheEducastiseasytouseforviewingthe academiccontentsrecordings”,itisconsideredthatintroducingsometrainingbeforestudentshave thefirstcontactwiththeplatformmaybeagoodpractice. ConcerningthecomparisonoftheacceptanceofEducastbetweenusersandnon-users,itwas foundthatratingscorrespondenttotheitemsthatevaluatetheoverallperceptionofeachvariable (PEOU1,PU5andATU3)presentedhighervaluesforthegroupofstudentsthatusedtherecordings thanforthegroupofthosewhodidnotuse,revealingagreateracceptanceofEducastbythe respondentsthatexperiencedthatplatformatleastoncethanbytheonesthatneverexperiencedit. Ingeneral,studentsansweredtheopenquestion,consideringthattherecordingswere“usefulto reviewconcepts”andthat“videoswerelongandshouldbedividedtofacilitatefindingaparticular content”. ACKNowLEdGMENT ThisworkwassupportedinpartbythePortugueseFoundationforScienceandTechnology(FCT-FundaçãoparaaCiênciaeaTecnologia),throughCIDMA-CenterforResearchandDevelopment inMathematicsandApplications,withinprojectUID/MAT/04106/2013.

REFERENCES

Admiraal,W.,&Berry,A.(2016).Videonarrativestoassessstudentteacherscompetenceasnewteachers.

Teachers and Teaching,22(1),21–34.doi:10.1080/13540602.2015.1023026

Ajzen,I.(1991).TheTheoryofPlannedBehavior.Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,

50(2),179–211.doi:10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T

Canessa,E.,Fonda,C.,&Zennaro,M.(2009).OneyearofICTPdiplomacourseson-lineusingtheautomated EyArecordingsystem.Computers & Education,53(1),183–188.doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.01.011 Caspi,A.,Gorsky,P.,&Privman,M.(2005).Viewingcomprehension:Studentslearningpreferencesand strategieswhenstudyingfromvideo.Instructional Science,33(1),31–47.doi:10.1007/s11251-004-2576-x Chang,M.K.(1998).PredictingUnethicalBehavior:AComparisonoftheTheoryofReasonedActionandthe TheoryofPlanned.Behavior Journal of Business Ethics.,17(16),1825–1834.doi:10.1023/A:1005721401993 Cheon,J.,Lee,S.,Crooks,S.M.,&Song,J.(2012).Aninvestigationofmobilelearningreadinessinhigher educationbasedonthetheoryofplannedbehavior.Computers & Education,59(3),1054–1064.doi:10.1016/j. compedu.2012.04.015

Davis,F.D.(1986).A Technology Acceptance Model for Empirically Testing New End-User Information Systems:

Theory and Results[Doctoraldissertation].MITSloanSchoolofManagement.

Davis,F.D.(1989).PerceivedUsefulness,PerceivedEaseofUse,andUserAcceptanceofInformation Technology.Management Information Systems Quarterly,13(3),319–340.doi:10.2307/249008

Davis,F.D.,Bagozzi,R.P.,&Warshaw,P.R.(1989).Useracceptanceofcomputertechnology:Acomparison oftwotheoreticalmodels.Management Science,35(8),982–1003.doi:10.1287/mnsc.35.8.982

Donkor,F.(2011).AssessmentofLearnerAcceptanceandSatisfactionwithVideo-BasedInstructionalMaterials forTeachingPracticalSkillsataDistance.International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning,

12(5),74–92.doi:10.19173/irrodl.v12i5.953

FCCN.(2016).Educast@fccn.Retrieved22/03/2016,fromhttps://educast.fccn.pt

Fernandez,V.,Simo,P.,Algaba,I.,Albareda-Sambola,M.,Salan,N.,Amante,B.,&Garriga,F.(2011).Low-costeducationalvideosforengineeringstudents:Anewconceptbasedonvideostreamandyoutubechannels.

International Journal of Engineering Education,27(3),1–10.

Filipe,A.,&Dias,N.(2013).EDUCAST–UtilizaçãodevídeonoEnsinosuperior,estudodecasodaUniversidade deÉvora.Paper presented at the 16º Workshop da Associação Portuguesa para o Desenvolvimento Regional

(APDR),Évora.

Kwon,O.,&Wen,Y.(2010).Anempiricalstudyofthefactorsaffectingsocialnetworkserviceuse.Computers

in Human Behavior,26(2),254–263.doi:10.1016/j.chb.2009.04.011

Ling,L.W.,Downe,A.G.,Ahmad,W.F.W.,&Lai,T.T.(2011).Determinantsofcomputerusageamong educators:AcomparisonbetweentheUTAUTandTAMmodels.Paper presented at the 3rd National Postgraduate

Conference - Energy and Sustainability: Exploring the Innovative Minds,Perak,Malaysia.doi:10.1109/

NatPC.2011.6136322

Lujan-Mora,S.(2012).Creationofeducationalvideos:toolsandtips.Paper presented at the 4th International

Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies (EDULEARN),Barcelona,SPAIN.

Lust,G.,Elen,J.,&Clarebout,G.(2012).Adoptingwebcastsovertime:Theinfluenceofperceptionsand attitudes.Journal of Computing in Higher Education,24(1),40–57.doi:10.1007/s12528-011-9052-9

Martins,S.,Ribeiro,H.,Ribeiro,R.,&Dias,N.(2012).EDUCast@fccn:AnexampleofEuropeancooperation toimplementtheproductionofAVcontentinHigherEducationInstitutionsinPortugal.Paper presented at the

EUNIS 2012,VilaReal,Portugal.

Martins,S.,Ribeiro,H.,Ribeiro,R.,&Dias,N.(2013).AcademicVideointhePortugueseHighEducation Network:theEDUCast@fccnproject.Paper presented at the EUNIS 2013,Riga,Latvia.

Mathieson,K.(1991).PredictingUserIntentions:ComparingtheTechnologyAcceptanceModelwiththeTheory ofPlannedBehavior.Information Systems Research,2(3),173–191.doi:10.1287/isre.2.3.173

Oum,S.,&Han,D.(2011).Anempiricalstudyofthedeterminantsoftheintentiontoparticipateinuser-createdcontents(UCC)services.Expert Systems with Applications,38(12),15110–15121.doi:10.1016/j. eswa.2011.05.098

Palmer,S.(2007).Anevaluationofstreamingdigitalvideoresourcesinon-andoff-campusengineering managementeducation.Computers & Education,49(2),297–308.doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2005.07.002 Purcell,K.(2010).The State of Online Video. Pew Internet & American Life Project.PewResearchCenter. Sanchez-Fernandez,R.,Jimenez-Castillo,D.,&Marin-Carrillo,G.M.(2013).Theuseofvideopodcasting tocomplementlectures:analyzingitseffectonstudents’assimilationcapacity.Paper presented at the 7th

International Technology, Education and Development Conference (INTED),Valencia,Spain.

Sharma,S.K.,Joshi,A.&Sharma,H.(2016).Amulti-analyticalapproachtopredicttheFacebookusagein highereducation.Computers in Human Behavior, 55,340-353.

Tan,C.,&Ramayah,T.(2014).Theroleofmotivatorsinimprovingknowledge-sharingamongacademics.

Information Research an International Electronic Journal, 19(1).

Venkatesh,V.,Morris,M.G.,Davis,G.B.,&Davis,F.D.(2003).Useracceptanceofinformationtechnology: Towardaunifiedview.Management Information Systems Quarterly,27(3),425–478.

Venkatesh,V.,&Speier,C.(1999).ComputerTechnologyTrainingintheWorkplace:ALongitudinalInvestigation oftheEffectofMood.Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,79(1),1–28.doi:10.1006/ obhd.1999.2837PMID:10388607

Yang,C.,Hsu,Y.C.,&Tan,S.(2010).Predictingthedeterminantsofusers’intentionsforusingYouTubeto sharevideo:Moderatinggendereffects.Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking,13(2),141–152. doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0105PMID:20528269

Yu,H.Q.,Pedrinaci,C.,Dietze,S.,&Domingue,J.(2012).Usinglinkeddatatoannotateandsearcheducational videoresourcesforsupportingdistancelearning.IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies,5(2),130–142. doi:10.1109/TLT.2012.1

Carolina Costa is a PhD student in Management and Industrial Engineering at the Department of Economics, Management and Industrial Engineering of the University of Aveiro (Portugal). She graduated in Teaching of Mathematics and in Applied Mathematics and Computation and received an MSc degree in Information Management. She has been published in several journals, books and conferences’ proceedings. Her current research interests include information technologies applied to education.

Helena Alvelos is Assistant Professor of Quality Management in the Department of Economics, Management and Industrial Engineering at the University of Aveiro (Portugal). She graduated in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering, received a MSc degree in Management and a PhD in Engineering Sciences. She has been published in several journals, books and conferences’ proceedings. Her current research interests include data analysis, quality management and statistical quality control.

Leonor Teixeira is Assistant Professor of Information Systems area in the Department of Economics, Management and Industrial Engineering at the University of Aveiro (Portugal). She graduated in Management and Industrial Engineering, received an MSc degree in Information Management and a PhD in Industrial Management. She has been published in several journals, books and conferences’ proceedings. Her current research interests include software engineering, information management and software development.