Indexed Captioned Searchable Videos: A Learning Companion for STEM Coursework

• Published in: Journal of science education and technology Vol. 26; no. 1; pp. 82 - 99
• Main Authors: Tuna, Tayfun, Subhlok, Jaspal, Barker, Lecia, Shah, Shishir, Johnson, Olin, Hovey, Christopher
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Science+Business Media LLC 01.02.2017; Springer Netherlands; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Character Recognition; Education; Educational Resources; Educational Technology; Electronic Equipment; Equipment and supplies; Image enhancement; Indexing; Learning; Learning Processes; Lecture Method; Object recognition; Online Searching; Optical character recognition; Playback; Polls & surveys; Science Education; Searching; STEM Education; Students; Surveys; Teaching; Technical education; Video Technology; Lecture videos; Video search; Learning technologies; Assessment; Video segmentation; Text segmentation; Video indexing; OCR
• ISSN: 1059-0145; 1573-1839
• DOI: 10.1007/s10956-016-9653-1

Videos of classroom lectures have proven to be a popular and versatile learning resource. A key shortcoming of the lecture video format is accessing the content of interest hidden in a video. This work meets this challenge with an advanced video framework featuring topical indexing, search, and captioning (ICS videos). Standard optical character recognition (OCR) technology was enhanced with image transformations for extraction of text from video frames to support indexing and search. The images and text on video frames is analyzed to divide lecture videos into topical segments. The ICS video player integrates indexing, search, and captioning in video playback providing instant access to the content of interest. This video framework has been used by more than 70 courses in a variety of STEM disciplines and assessed by more than 4000 students. Results presented from the surveys demonstrate the value of the videos as a learning resource and the role played by videos in a students learning process. Survey results also establish the value of indexing and search features in a video platform for education. This paper reports on the development and evaluation of ICS videos framework and over 5 years of usage experience in several STEM courses.