Peer tutoring using student-made screencasts

Abstract

While the flipped classroom has found much discussion recently, peer tutoring using screencast resources produced by students has not yet. In this paper, we describe student responses to the approach taken at a secondary Catholic school in Melbourne, Australia, where the mathematics teachers used the roll out of tablet PCs to all teachers and students as an opportunity to shift from teacher produced resources towards student produced resources to enhance student learning. Students were engaged in the production of short screencast videos explaining mathematical concepts. We analyse student feedback from a survey issued to all students, and focus our analysis in particular on: identifying where students go for assistance in mathematics; what benefits they see from creating these screencasts and also from watching screencasts produced by their peers; and who should create screencasts - students or teachers or both. While many students do recognise there are benefits for them, responses seem to indicate that they may not be ready to embrace student-centred education without significant guidance from their teachers and with a shift away from current perception that the teacher should do all teaching as this is what they are paid for.