Impact of Electrical Engineering Didactic Videos During Emergency Remote Learning

This article demonstrates that didactic videos have the potential to enhance quality perception, performance and interest in engineering education. Emergency Remote Learning (ERL) imposed challenging conditions on education, and its impact was especially noticeable in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. This is mainly due to intrinsic cognitive load associated with the high presence of abstract concepts and to difficulties to establish connections among subjects to foster generative processing. Suitable integration of multimedia resources might be beneficial in both regards. The use of didactic videos as pedagogical aid is expected to yield positive results in electrical engineering education, mitigating the impact caused by ERL situations. Using concept maps to identify key concepts in the Electrical Engineering BSc, this article proposes the creation and integration of nine videos to enhance conceptual learning and the creation of links among subjects. This study encompassed three academic years (from 2019 to 2022), covering pre-ERL, ERL and post-ERL scenarios, and considering a total sample of 157 students. By using a Mixed Methods research design, this study has demonstrated how the integration of didactic videos mitigated the negative effects of the unprecedented ERL conditions, with positive impact on students' perception on videos' implications in enhancing their interest and understanding of the subject's concepts.