Received 18 January 2016; accepted 12 April 2016; published 15 April 2016

ABSTRACT

Cooperative learning occurs when students work together in small groups on an assigned project to achieve learning objectives. A classroom assignment given in an English for Specific Purposes course namely, Workplace Communication III, exposed medical students to this method. This assignment required students to produce a Web TV program and upload it to YouTube. In completing their assignment by employing cooperative learning method, the students applied several processes and faced challenges that eventually helped them to improve their communication skills in the English language. This study aimed to identify the challenges faced and the strategies the students employed to overcome those challenges. Seventeen first year medical undergraduates who enrolled in the Workplace Communication III course were involved in this study. Semi-structured focus group interviews and reflective notes were used to collect the data for this study. The challenges faced by students are time constraint, communication and technical difficulties, and a lack of creativity and confidence. The main strategies applied included brainstorming ideas, independent learning, and practices to overcome these challenges. This study could serve as a guideline for the course designers to improve the current course.

Keywords:

Cooperative Learning, Medical Students, YouTube, Web TV Program, Independent Learning

1. Introduction

Technology such as YouTube videos provide visual imagery to extend the attention spent on a stimulus that creates stronger cues for retrieving stored information, especially to medical students who are required to retain large amounts of information (Mayer, 2010) . Therefore, in language classrooms, especially those in which the target students are potential doctors, it becomes more important to integrate the use of technology into teaching. This approach will utilize and generate students’ technical knowledge and skills as well as provide them with a supportive learning environment which nurtures their creativity and skills, especially communication skills. Thus far, several studies have investigated the benefits of using YouTube videos in the classroom (Lee & Lehto, 2013; Al-Jarf, 2012; Terantino, 2011) , but very few studies have been conducted on the same issue in the Malaysian context. Hence, there is a need to conduct a study in the local context regarding the challenges in integrating web-based project in classroom and measures taken to overcome those challenges. Due to these reasons, this paper aims to identify the challenges faced by the medical students to produce a web TV program on YouTube, as well as the strategies employed by the medical students to overcome those challenges. The questions that were utilized to guide this study were as follows: What are the challenges faced by the medical students to produce a web TV program on YouTube and what are the strategies employed to overcome those challenges? Another research question is this: What are the medical students’ suggestions to improve the current course? It is hoped that the findings of this study could provide guidelines for the course designers to improve the current course and provide relevant training or workshops for the instructors.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Theory of Constructivism

The basic idea of constructivism is that knowledge must be constructed by the learner, not the teacher (Driscoll, 2000) . It assumes that learners are actively involved in the learning process by attempting to create meaning. Marlowe and Page (2005) defined learning in the constructivist classroom as the cycle of questioning, interpreting, and analysing information, combining information and thinking to develop, build, and alter meaning and understanding of concepts, and integrating new understandings with past experiences. The current study involves students producing a web TV program which requires communication among group members to discuss and decide what program they are going to record. They also must argue and listen to others’ opinions throughout the process of producing the web TV program. Thus, this method is in line with the theory of constructivism under which education are built on the premises that knowledge is not only constructed by individuals but that it is constructed actively and involves social interaction among learners (Loyens, Rikers, & Schmidt, 2007) .

2.2. Learning Contract

The learning contract is a formal written agreement between a student and a teacher which details what is to be learnt, the resources and strategies available to assist learning, what will be produced as evidence of the learning having occurred and how the product will be assessed (Anderson, Boud, & Sampson, 1994) . The learning contract could encourage students to manage their own learning which is parallel with the concept of learners’ autonomy (Benson, 2007) . It also helps students to develop their confidence, increase their motivation in learning and improve their attitudes towards learning (Azizah, Zarina, Sharifah, & Nor Hasni, 2012; Riza & Normah, 2012) . Teachers also will benefit from the learning contract as they may be able to give attention to the needs and interests of an individual student (Jenkins & Keefe, 2001) . The learning contract could encourage both teacher and student to have a joint effort in the learning process (Selamat et al., 2011) . In this study, the learning contract (Appendix 1) guides the students and teacher about the course which it provides information about the course’s objectives, methodology, assessment guidelines, and others. The course’s objectives are participants should be able to converse confidently and fluently in both professional and non-professional settings, demonstrate good presentation skills via effective delivery and suitable language of presentation and demonstrate good teamwork and creativity in an assigned task.

Participants used the following method when carrying out the project:

1) Participants get into groups of 4 or 5 (either instructor determines or students decide).

2) Each group discusses concept/topic of their TV magazine and decide on the target audience. They have to come up with a work plan in carrying out their project.

3) Groups confer with instructor for consultation and guidance (if required) during conferencing sessions.

4) Instructor should take note of individual attitude, contribution and involvement in carrying out the task during conferencing sessions.

5) Each group prepares script, interview questions and practice the show.

6) They then record their TV show.

7) Participants upload their TV show on YouTube and the teacher awards mark using the assessment scale prepared. (Appendix 2).

8) Participants also give marks to their group members (peer evaluation).

2.3. Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning involves students working together in small groups to support each other to improve their own learning as well as others (Jolliffe, 2007) . Moreover, cooperative learning inspires students to find solutions to their problems, which motivates them to discuss, form ideas and opinions, and give feedback. Therefore, cooperative learning is effective for enhancing students’ academic achievement (Hornby, 2009) . Furthermore, cooperative learning helps students strengthen the confidence in their abilities and motivate them to be directly involved in the learning process. If learners realize that their contributions are accepted in a group and even necessary and useful in achieving the aim of the group, their self-esteem rises (Brecke & Jensen, 2007). Researches indicate that there is usually a positive relationship between cooperative language learning tasks in computer-based environments and reducing anxiety and developing communication skills (AbuSeileek, 2007; Fitz, 2006) . When students need to complete a project, they must work together to complete a particular objective, make their ideas clear to others, and extend themselves a bit to appreciate other’s perspective on solving a problem (Strickland & Feeley, 2003) . Involving a group of students in a video project creates a good platform for cooperative learning and stimulates social interaction among the learners (Goldfarb, 2002) . This presents a brilliant way of conducting communicative language teaching.

2.4. Educational Video in Classroom

Involving students in producing their own digital video is a viable option to stimulate authentic communication in the target language (Gareis, 2000) , to enhance the vocabulary retention (Sildus, 2006) , to induce more complex thinking in the target language and to encourage higher order thinking in the language (Carney & Foss, 2008) . Students can watch themselves while speaking, and so can their friends. Students will learn their mistakes from the video and people’s comments and evaluate each other. Teachers can use videos to help students become better speakers in English (Tomalin & Stempleski, 1990) . Computer-based learning also allows learners to develop and express their views and facilitates communication (Mueller-Hartmann, 2000) . An effective computer-based instruction and learning able provide an appropriate context within which technology can be used to support learner’s involvement in collaboration, authentic tasks, reflection, and constructing dialogue or script (Liaw, 2006; Oliver & McLoughlin, 2000) . Other than that, when students use technology as a tool or a support for communicating with others, they play in an active role of working with the technology in the course of researching, analysing, organizing and representing the information they have gathered for their assignment (Theodosakis, 2002) .

2.5. YouTube as a Learning Tool

The use of YouTube in the classroom as a teaching material to prompt speaking is an effective way of making learning more meaningful (Hinduja & Patchin, 2008) . Using YouTube can prompt students to present differing viewpoints, express thoughts and feelings in a healthy way, and practice critical thinking. The use of YouTube videos also has the potential to increase skill building for a variety of learners, including this generation of students, who expect to encounter technology in the classroom (Cooper, Walker, Marks, & McNair, 2011) . Additionally, videos provide alternative perspectives and explanations that support a variety of learning needs (Terantino, 2011) . In a related topic, students who speak English as a second language can benefit from watching YouTube clips as supplemental material in the classroom (Al-Jarf, 2012) . Also, in areas in which certain types of diversity might be lacking, videos can be used to introduce different social groups and perspectives, which allow students to participate in cross-cultural exchanges, and other activities (Bloom & Johnston, 2010; Glimps & Ford, 2008) . However, not all available videos are effective instructional tools. Therefore, teachers must facilitate students’ use of YouTube in the classroom. In the present study, the production of YouTube videos was intentionally assigned to students, which requiring them to discuss the material in small groups. This will become a platform for the students to learn more effectively as well as to improve their communication skills, particularly in the English language.

2.6. Related Studies

Video production has been recognized for its knowledge building capabilities and potential for application in constructivist learning (Shewbridge & Berge, 2004) . 100 students from elementary, pre-intermediate, and intermediate levels in a school in Turkey were selected to analyse how their video project assignments contributed to their English language learning process and the results showed that the students had positive perceptions on the effectiveness of the assignments for their language classes (Aksel & Gurman-Kahraman, 2014) . Another study in which a web based language learning system was employed to support college students’ English as foreign language (EFL) learning using a cross-sectional survey of 306 college students. The partial least squares method was applied to validate the measurement properties and proposed hypotheses. The findings demonstrate that college students show positive incline towards the use of the web-based language learning system for EFL courses and signify a possible benefit from its use in the long run (Chen, Yeh, & Lin, 2013) . However, a study aimed at identifying the challenges with which 42 Malaysian students of Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) are faced before, during and after stages of video production process revealed that students encountered various difficulties before, during and after production stages. In this study an interpretive analysis was done on daily journals and observations of the students producing a video of a scene of a Shakespearean play, Macbeth. Peer assessment was then applied in order to give students a chance to evaluate their peers’ work. This study suggests that TESL students should perhaps be exposed to basic video production techniques from early stages of their teacher training in order to be prepared to integrate video production in their future classes (Khojasteh, Mukundan, & Shokrpour, 2013) . Thus far, there are limited researches that have been done on medical students to explore their perception and experience of producing a video, or specifically web TV program on YouTube, in local context. This study aimed at reducing the literature gap in this domain.

3. Methodology

The research design employed by the researchers in this study is a case study in order to conduct an intensive study of a specific group of people. Merriam (2009) defines a case study as a study which is aimed at gaining a comprehensive understanding of a situation; it is a process rather than the outcome or product of the phenomena. Trochim (2006) and Merriam (2009) proposed that in a case study, a combination of research instruments should be used to corroborate the data evidence or to serve the purpose of triangulation. This study employs two data collection methods; focus group interviews and respondents’ reflective notes. The use of these methods is meant to triangulate data that is to collect information using a variety of methods. The participants were also assured that their real names would not be revealed so as not to breach their privacy (Angrosino, 2000) .

3.1. Data Collection

In order to obtain the answers to the research questions posed in the study, semi-structured focus group interviews and students’ reflective notes were utilized. Participants of this study were interviewed and the interview was recorded for the purpose of the analysis. The recordings were used to analyse in detail the information provided by the participants. The interview was paraphrased as the interview were conducted in both English and Malay language, providing all students a fair opportunity to express themselves regardless of their proficiency level in English. This helped encourage students to speak freely about their feelings and experiences. Thus, all responses used in the analysis were later translated by the researchers. At the end of the web TV project, participants need to reflect their thoughts about the challenges and strategies to produce a web TV programme on YouTube in order to enhance their communication skills. The participants’ self-reflection notes were analysed by the researchers in order to identify the students’ challenges and strategies for completing the project.

3.2. Participants

In this qualitative study, the participants are first year medical undergraduates who were enrolled in the Workplace Communication III course in National University of Malaysia (UKM). Their English proficiency level is intermediate. Their ages range between 19 to 21 years old. Seventeen participants took part in giving their responses to the class project and they are also required to reflect on it. UKM medical students are generally perceived as lacking in creativity and spontaneity when it comes to responding to the immediate needs of their patients. Content lecturers in the medical field often express grievances over the students' lack of ability to express themselves when it comes to giving a prognosis and diagnosis for patients. This problem stems from the students’ lack of confidence in expressing themselves in English as well as a lack of the communication skills.

3.3. Workplace Communication III Course

This course is designed to improve oral communication skills amongst students in order for them to achieve greater confidence, fluency and clarity when interacting with others at the workplace. It also aims to develop teamwork and nurture creativity or originality via group task activities and one of the tasks was to create and upload web TV programme into YouTube. The process taken by students in completing the task enabled them to use English in an interesting and fun social context. There were four phases of completing the task. Firstly, the participants were given a briefing on the project and instructed to discuss in small groups of five. The participants had to brainstorm and do Internet search on TV show and how to produce it. Then, a consultation with the teacher was set with the participants and feedback was given on the appropriateness of the segments. They then wrote the script, recorded, and edited their recording using video editing software. After that, participants showed the teacher their product and she would give feedback on the language and technical aspects before it is uploaded on YouTube. Finally, the TV production were evaluated and participants also wrote a self-reflection on their learning experience regarding the phases respectively before the focus group interview sessions were carried out.

4. Results

4.1. The Challenges Faced by the Participants

This section highlights the participants’ challenges in completing their web TV project. The challenges that the participants faced are themed into time constraints, communication problems, technical difficulties, lack of creativity, as well as lack of confidence.

In general, most of the participants stated that the utmost challenges to completing the project is time constraint. As medical students, they are engaged in many examinations and discussions, as well as classes to attend and these were expressed in the following statement: “Time constriction was one of the main concerns, since we had classes, exams, and discussions to prepare.” Therefore, some of there were unable to give full commitment to the project, thus affecting the whole group. “We faced difficulty as some of us cannot give their 100% commitment to accomplish the task. Some of them was busy with other program and failed to spend time for our TV show. The person failed to divide his time wisely and this causes our project to keep on dragging and till the end of the day we were left behind while the others almost finish their task.” So, to fulfil the course requirements, they have to work on the project late into the night. Unfortunately, the end result was not their best as one of the students stated that: “I believe we could’ve done a lot better if we had more time”. This difficulty was also reported by three other researchers (Khojasteh, Mukundan, & Shokpour, 2013) who conducted the study on 42 students who enrolled in a course “Literature in English Teaching Materials” from Universiti Putra Malaysia. These students were instructed to handle a group project and complete a video-making task. Some of their respondents mentioned that the constant change of mind among the group members in making decisions made them dragged the discussion. Their respondents also mentioned that lack of commitment among the group members is the major problem that resulted in time constraint.

Communication became one of the challenges faced by the students involved in this study. This was due to their awkwardness towards each other at the beginning. Eventually, throughout the process, everybody was able to fit in the group assigned (“That was when everyone was sort of contributing ideas and thoughts, though it was quite awkward to open up at first, but eventually everyone fit in very well”). This study shows that the students have problems communicating with others in English because they think that they are able to express themselves better if they speak in their mother tongue (“Because we find it difficult to express in English” and “The message is well conveyed in Malay”). This finding confirms Hening and Desy’s (2008) findings. They studied students who enrolled in Scientific and Technical Writing course at Minnesota University. Their students have similar characteristics like our students because of the diverse background. Their students were from different majors. Communication problems normally happen in the beginning of a group work especially in Malaysian context since the students come from different race, gender and economic background. They noted that project work requires the students to employ a lot of communication strategies to solve communication problems in order to achieve the goals of their group. Their students had to apply teamwork skills, critical thinking skills, and vary their levels of language use and style for dual purposes (1) to communicate among the group members and (2) to produce the script and video presentation. Another study that was carried out by Najma and Ahmad (2012) in Pakistan also highlight almost similar findings―students tend to use their native language to complete English project even though they were instructed to use English throughout the discussion in order for them to improve their English proficiency. The students tend to use their first language because they are not very proficient in English and they are more comfortable using their mother tongue.

Students also believe that they lack technical skills. Producing a web TV program require students to record, edit and upload the videos. Thus, limited knowledge in those areas would affect their project. It was clearly mentioned by the students that they did not know how to edit videos, as they do not have any experience using video editor applications or software (“Do not know how to use the tools to make the video.” and “First and foremost, all of us did not have any experience regarding video editing.”). Furthermore, to record a good video, students must be able to shoot the video from different angles. Students in this study were unable to do so because they have no camera to record the video. Instead, they used their phone cameras. As the result, the videos recorded were of poor quality or rather boring (“No professional cameraman. No gadget, we used our phone. No camera, no video cam. So the voice is not clear. We don’t have the skill to record from different angles. Our recording seemed to be very static.”). This technical challenge is also shared by Khojasteh et al. (2013) . According to them, video making requires technical skills namely sound effects, music, lights, video editing which the students hardly had any lessons or exposure on those skills. They suggested that the problems could be minimized with a good modelling. A technician should be appointed to assist the students with regard to handling the video, video editing, photographic essentials, distance, level, focus and framing the video.

Last but not least, the challenges the students faced in order to finish the project arose because they were lacked of creativity as well as confidence in their acting skills. Producing a web TV program needs students to discuss and decide with their group members what kind of programs they want to produce. Students need to come out with several ideas, suggestions, and opinions to make their TV show interesting and lively. Unfortunately, the students involved in this study felt they had little creativity. In addition, as they were not used to roleplaying or acting, it was difficult for them to be confidence with their acting skills, especially when they have to act in front of the public (“The challenge that I faced was I lack of confidence to act in front of other people. During our scene at the restaurant near Tasik Titiwangsa, I have to act in front of so many people and I was very shy.”). This situation resulted to a lot of retake of the scenes (“We had to cut out and retake a lot of scenes”).

4.2. The Strategies to Overcome the Challenges

The strategies employed to face the above challenges are themed into brainstorming sessions, group discussions, work distributions, use of gadget and the internet, independently learning, and development of new technical skills.

Brainstorming sessions in general have been recognized as a tool to produce vast quantities and varieties of ideas. During the brainstorming sessions, students discuss and exchange ideas for their project. (“We gathered and brainstormed for the appropriate ideas for the TV show. At first, we decided to do a talent show called ‘KTSN Got Talent’ with a few commercial breaks. We decided that we had to think of various interesting talents for the show and realized that we don’t really have much talent to be shown among ourselves. Therefore, we did another brainstorm and decided to act out a short drama or should I say a short film”). Brainstorming encourages all members of the group to bring in their full experience and creativity to solve a problem. Thus, group brainstorming helps students developing more in-depth ideas compared to individual brainstorming and at the same time contributes to the success of the project. Students also engaged in group discussion to complete this project. During the earlier part of the discussion, students discussed the distribution of the work and decided on the tasks of the group members for the TV show, for example: director, assistant director, script writer, technical personnel, and others. (“Each of us needs to be a director and script writer for our respected segments”). They also decided on the role they have to play in the show, namely as a host, newscaster, actor, etc. (“We distributed the tasks. Each of us got one slot to be handled. Think of what to do, what props needed, where to be done, how the shot should be taken and who’s involved”). Once everyone did their respective parts, they met again to gather all the parts (“We distribute the tasks to each group member. Then decide on the day to meet, practice, and execute”). Work or task distribution allows students to work on the smaller chunks of work. This way, work or task would seem more bearable and manageable. In addition, the benefit of this strategy is that each individual participant would be more focused on the assigned task. This allows students to express their creativity in the group they were assigned as well as improve their problem solving skill. Accordingly, participants would feel less stressed, thus resulting in a better end product (Tobias & Duffy, 2009) .

In this study, the participants were assigned to work in small groups; thus they need to discuss and work with their group members. Since they delegated the work to each member, group discussions were very important to gather the individual works and later ensure smooth progress of their project (“Met to merge the ideas and came up with the whole idea”). During the group discussions, the group members commented the individual portions of works to enhance the project by sharing more ideas (“Each one of us worked on our own part, and then during the discussion we chipped in more ideas”). In an active group discussion, students learn to work with others with mix language abilities as well as those who have difficulty with social skills. The diversity of the group members also provides a variety of responses from different perspectives to the questions rose, which in turn gives the group a result that is more complete and comprehensive. In the communication process, participants not only use their language skills but also use non-verbal communication skills such as body language, tone, and posture (Tobias & Duffy, 2009) . Upon completion of this assignment, participants also learn how to argue, accept and reject the ideas of others in a civilized manner.

Producing the web TV program requires students to use technology and gadgets. The use of technology and gadget has already become part of students’ lives, be it for personal or academic purposes. An active learning environment would enable students to become active participants in their own learning process, especially when they are involved in collaborative learning activities. This includes a wide range of activities that involve students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing, both individually and collaboratively (Weimer, 2002) . This active learning environment could also be developed with the integration of technology. Educators must be aware of the types of tools they could incorporate into their own classrooms such as the use of Skype, Facebook and YouTube, to ensure that students remain as active participants in their own learning process which results in effective learning. For this project, students make the full use of the technology available to them to discuss their group work online (“At first, we have offline discussion and then the online discussion”). Applications like Facebook, Whatsapp, and chat box are examples of such effective resources (“We use Facebook and Whatsapp” and “We use the chat box”). These applications are used because they are free with the availability of the Internet and offer convenience for sending pictures or related videos (“Easy to send pictures through Whatsapp”). The participants also made use of Google Translate and YouTube to search for materials online. An online dictionary was also used to complete this project (We use Google Translate, friends to help and edit. Sometimes, we use online dictionary. Most of the times, ask friend to help” and “Try to search in YouTube, Google and ask help from others”). Participants also made use of their smartphone cameras to record their acting when they could not access a camera (“Because we don’t have our own camera, we just use the best phone camera among us”). It is obvious that the availability of technology offers students tremendous help in working on this project.

As this web-based project is a learning component in the course, the participants had to be independent and responsible for their own learning, and the instructor serves as facilitator, providing assistance, advice, and guidance to participants whenever the needs arose. Therefore, this project provides a platform for students to experiment with the language in a realistic and authentic manner in an independent way. Participants need to sit and work together to come out with a web TV program (“We have to think and work very hard to come out with a very interesting drama without lecturer and others get boring watching it”). This is supported by Wang and Reeves (2007) who stated that students will be more motivated if they are given more autonomy in completing their assignment. In the web TV making process, participants had to choose the appropriate topic or theme. Therefore, they read and studied a lot before they can produce the appropriate script. Through this project, participants also learn how to solve problem themselves and trained themselves to be more patient when doing the same things repeatedly (“It is really annoyed me because I really to do same thing repeatedly except for studying. I cannot run from the reality, I must patience and follow the flow, so that everything will be smooth”) and achieved the goal through trial and error (“Pressing all the keyboards and then undo, undo”). They motivated themselves, which in turn leads to the opportunity for self-motivation, making positive statements, and learning to take risks (“However, we did not give up and took the challenge as an opportunity and a platform to learn from our mistakes. I believed with the saying, ‘where’s a will, there’s a way’. So we did face the problem and come out with a proper solution” and “It also encourages us to never give up and always believe that you can do it”).

The nature of project-based learning is promoting autonomous learning; thus, participants are expected to be independent and creative in exploring and experimenting within the rich stimulus environment around them, and in this study, they learned new technical skills to edit their recorded video (“We don’t have a person that is a real expert in using the video editor, but we still manage to get used of it and learnt by ourselves on how to use the video editor.”). They worked collaboratively with other group members to produce the web TV program. They asked for help from friends and other people they knew to contribute ideas on how to use video editing software (“We have approach a few people that have experience in video editing to teach us how to use the software”). All of the strategies taken by the students to overcome the challenges they faced in the completion of the task are in line with the cooperative learning approaches which create excellent opportunities for students to engage in problem solving with the help of other group members (Effandi & Zanaton, 2007) . Through this project, they acquired new knowledge of how technologies can be used to make their learning more creative, thus these findings are in line with the findings in the study conducted by Aksel and Gurman-Kahraman (2014) .

4.3. Suggestions to Improve the Current Course

One of the participants suggested during the interview session that, to improve the course, the instructor should provide a specific topic for each group. This will help students to focus on that topic, and thus reduce the discussion time on the topic. Other than that, another student suggested that it would be better if more students are assigned to a group (“If there are more people in a group, works can be delegated easier and the end product will be better”). Another participant also provided a suggestion to improve the course: “In the future, instead of having a TV show as our project for this course, maybe we can have any simulation that related to this course. For example, give opportunities to medical students go to the hospital to practice their communication as this would give the idea to them of what they would be going to when they have started their career.”.

5. Conclusion

Findings of the study indicate the challenges that the participants faced are time constraints, communication problems, technical difficulties, as well as lack of creativity and confidence. However, the participants managed to employ several strategies to overcome these challenges. Producing a video is a complex task which takes a certain period of time to complete to ascertain that the outcome of the activity is a polished product. Through the creative process, sufficient opportunities arise for the students to cooperate with their group members to work on the task, to reflect on their learning, and to explore the task from different point of views. Script writing, preparing physical props, acting, and choosing suitable locations to shoot the video are only some of the responsibility that the students need to deal with, which also promotes the learners’ ownership of their learning. It is also hoped that the students’ suggestions will be taken into consideration and provide some guidance for the course designers and instructors.

6. Implications and Significance of the Study

This study has several implications for the medical students’ communication skills training program, especially after a newspaper recently reported that 1000 medical graduates have to drop out from becoming doctors even after completed a two-year houseman ship in hospitals, and some of the reasons were the poor command of English language, lack of interest in basic medical training, and poor relationship skills with patients (Murali, 2015) . There are also pertinent issues that the instructors and course designers need to address in light of the challenges that students faced to produce a Web TV program on YouTube. It is hoped that the findings of this study could guide the course designers and provide relevant training or workshops for the instructors.

Cite this paper

Maslawati Mohamad,Izyan Safwani Ismail,Normilah Wahab,Saripah Mamat, (2016) Medical Students’ Challenges and Strategies in Producing Web TV Programs on YouTube. Creative Education,07,604-618. doi: 10.4236/ce.2016.74063

References

Appendix 1

Pusat Pengajian Umum

Learning Contract―“The TV Show”

Students’ Biodata

1. Course Information

2. Component synopsis

Students work in groups of 5 - 6 to produce their own TV programme and present it to an audience for approximately 20 - 25 minutes. Each group of learners must be independent and responsible to present a TV show that is reflective of an authentic programme for television. The programme should include features/elements, characteristics with respect to language and segments/slots of a typical TV programme and MORE!

3. Learning Outcomes (Los): At the end of this component, we will be able to:

4. Strategies/resources used in achieving Los

5. Evidences in achieving Los

6. Total hours

7. Dates of commencement/end of project

8. Location of project preparation

9. Name of lecturer/instructor

10. Assessment scale

The following is the breakdown of assessment components. Please access SPIN for the actual scale of each component.

Show & Tell―30% (Group assessment)

Conferencing―5% (Individual assessment)

Peer Evaluation―5%

11. OATH

We agree and accept all terms in this contract

Students’ signature

Appendix 2

ZZZE3042 Workplace communication iii “tv magazine”―presentation assessment scale 30%.

ZZZE3042 workplace communication iii “tv magazine” conferencing―5% (individual assessment).