Watch and Learn: Assessment of Online Video Tutorials

Abstract

In 2009, the University of Washington Libraries began producing online screencast tutorials as a way to support library instruction and to serve as point-of-need assistance in answering reference questions by email or chat reference. Research has shown that students are capable of learning from video tutorials, but while the usage of the tutorials has grown over time, producing them is resource-intensive. Are these videos worth our time and resources to produce and maintain? Do users actually watch and learn from them? This paper describes an assessment project of online tutorials by analyzing usage statistics, surveying and interviewing users, and piloting an in-class learning assessment.