Selected YouTube videos as assignments for non-major physics students: A case study

Videos are important education tools even in face to face physics teaching. Non-physics major undergraduate students taking introductory physics courses were assigned video homework as a part of flipped classroom teaching. These videos were carefully selected from YouTube which aligned with the course contents. There are a lot of excellent videos in the YouTube from reliable sources such as Khan Academy, so it may not be necessary to produce similar videos for introductory level courses. To make sure that they come to the classroom watching a given video-set, 4-5 questions from each of the video-sets were developed and each student had to submit responses to the questions online (on the blackboard management system) before class time. These video assignments were graded based completing all steps (calculation, explanation) as demanded by questions. Students’ perceptions on video assignments (such as were video homework useful for your learning?) were also collected during the semester which were very encouraging . Additionally, clicker, paper pencil (or mastering physics online) homework and worksheets in the classroom with or without learning assistants were used. Here we report results showing how these videos helped to promote active learning in large enrollment class.