Interactive Videos in Online Learning: An overview with Erica Smithwick

Exploration and learning about sustainability is a rapidly evolving aspect of the Penn State educational experience. We propose to create, embed, and assess interactive video as a central component to a new online learning course at Penn State. Our tenet is that interactive video enhances learning by offering ways for students to connect tangibly with complex storytelling about socio-ecological systems, and we expand this concept to include interactive videos as a portal to a rich array of material that enlivens students’ cognitive and perceptual understanding. Thus, rather than enhancing existing text material, the video becomes the platform for questioning, student self-reflection, and rich linkages to associated content
(documents, videos). We focus on parks and associated conservation landscapes as iconic places to attract student interests in sustainability and to leverage existing strengths in visualization, landscape science, and online learning at Penn State. Our goal is to create and embed interactive video content in a new online course and to explore the effectiveness of interactive video in sustainability education.