Dr. Hagit Frenkel-Mullerad is a Senior Instructor at the Department of Biology, University of Haifa, Israel. She teaches chemistry and biochemistry courses to biology and medical science students and conservation science courses to second-degree students in the Department of Archaeology. Since the pandemic, she has started using JoVE videos in her classes to support her teaching.
Having taught for 16 years, Dr. Hagit highlights how teaching dynamics have changed in the past few years, with technology playing a significant role in this shift. Her main challenge with teaching students has been generating interest and engagement. Dr. Hagit seeks to utilize digital resources and kick-start challenging discussions with students to engage them and maintain a high level of interest during the semester.
JoVE videos have helped Dr. Hagit address challenges in her courses. She says, "The combination of quality content and short videos delivers the message comprehensively and engages our new generation of students. It helps me to generate students' interest and manage my time effectively". Here are three ways in which she uses JoVE video resources in her courses;
1. Videos as a prep tool, pre-class
Dr. Hagit integrates JoVE videos on the learning management system Moodle and assigns them to students as a pre-class activity for biochemistry labs and general chemistry courses. She uses this method to teach concepts like Gas Laws, including Charles's Law and Avogadro's Law. The JoVE Education videos include readymade science quizzes to help students prepare better for classes.
2. Videos as an in-class tool
To help students better understand the course concepts in spatial vision and manage a class effectively, Dr. Hagit uses JoVE videos as part of her in-class teaching. She says, "In chemistry, some concepts need to be presented in a spatial vision, and video resources work perfectly to do that while easily explaining the materials quickly." She also finds videos extremely helpful in teaching lab methodologies in remote classes where the students don't get to perform lab experiments. JoVE videos of lab techniques performed by real scientists enable students to understand how to apply concepts in the real world and how real lab equipment is used to perform critical procedures.
She adds, "JoVE videos are highly-valuable for biology students learning chemistry to help realize the relevance of studying chemistry as part of their biology program."
3. Videos as a post-class tool for assignments
Dr. Hagit shares relevant JoVE videos and quizzes as post-class assignments to continue her class discussions and ensure complete concept comprehension of topics covered in lectures. The video quizzes enable educators to easily create assignments using pre-made questions with deadlines and time limits. Students can also review these assignments multiple times before exams, making it a great revision tool.
According to Dr. Hagit, students like the video resources and ask to use them more often. Learning concepts through visual materials is fun for them, and they come better prepared for class. They also find that watching videos and answering quizzes is a good learning experience.
Dr. Hagit adds that the JoVE team supports her with customized playlists based on her syllabus and assists in integrating videos into Moodle. She finds JoVE customer support fast and professional.
