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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Adv. Sci. Lett. 20, 2014–2017, 2014
1 Adv. Sci. Lett. Vol.20, 2014 2014-2017/2014/4/10/11 doi: 10.1166/asl.2014.5634
Copyright © 2014 American Scientific Publishers Advanced Science Letters
All rights reserved Vol. 20, 2014–2017, 2014
Printed in the United States of America
Enhancement of Student Motivation in Learning
through BLOSSOMS Video Activity
Nurul‘Izzati Hamizan
1
and Norasykin Mohd Zaid
2
12
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM Skudai, Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia
The purpose of this research is to determine whether motivational developments among university students are improved by
the integration of a video activity as a pedagogical tool for interactive instructions. A video educational project called
BLOSSOMS has been developed by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT), aimed for the use of high school students as an alternative to the current materials in teaching and learning.
The research objectives are to employ current tools with BLOSSOMS video activities in selected topics of the subject. This
research focuses on the activities provided in the BLOSSOMS videos that aim to add value to the meaning of the content
delivery. The perception of the students will be accessed to identify whether they show a positive development in the student’s
view of the learning process. By using a questionnaire, the researchers will determine the students’ responses on a scale of 1 to
5 based on the activities performed during the video presentation. Prior to the teaching intervention, researchers will analyze
whether the students are sufficiently motivated to be able to learn the topic at the next level and remain interested by using the
interactive instruction. Findings show that the BLOSSOMS video activity has influenced learning motivation among the
majority of respondents.
Keywords: Motivation, Blossoms Video, learning, interactive instruction
1. INTRODUCTION
There are many technology tools to choose from in
today’s high-powered environment. Yet schools still seek
to leverage their investments so as to obtain the greatest
value. One tool that serves many purposes is that of video
technology. Video cameras are teaching tools that make
the most out of a learning experience that addresses 21st
century skills and effective classroom-teaching strategies.
Context-based video instruction has been identified as a
good source by which to enhance the learning process
1
.
The benefits of using video in curriculum reach
beyond language and confidence. Students are eager to
learn because they will have an experience that is out of
the normal learning routine. They are actually engaging
and dealing with the scenario, which enhances their
cognitive development. The process of interpreting and
analyzing the video helps to engage with linear thinking.
Any time students’ areas of interest are integrated,
*
Email Address: norasykin@utm.my
their excitement for learning and promoting engagement
is enhanced accordingly. By using appropriate digital
tools and resources, engagement can leads students to
apply critical thinking skills specifically into, solving the
problems, making the decisions, managing the projects,
planning and conducting the research., . Using video
activities forces students to create connections, delve to
find deeper meaning, and create understanding.
Accordingly, students learn to analyze, synthesize, and
evaluate instead of simply parroting answers.
Wachob
2
found that the use of videos enhances
students' thinking and rational skills. He indicates that
videos are not only a movie to be watched, but can also
serve to integrate skills such as: reflection, evaluation,
critique, listening, and speaking. These critical skills,
along with higher levels of motivation, are prerequisites
to learner autonomy. Technology is not a substitute for
teaching, nor does it stand alone as a technique; however,
when integrated into other classroom practices, it can help
promote learner autonomy. Curriculum is often
Adv. Sci. Lett. 20, 2014–2017, 20
RESEARCH ARTICLE
2
considered to promote learner autonomy, as reported by
Cotterall
3
, and includes feedback and reflection that
revolves back to the input. In her model of the language
learning process, motivation is depicted as an outside,
static influence in the process.
BLOSSOMS = Blended Learning Open Source Science
Or Math Studies is a video educational project designed
in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT), and aimed towards the use of high
school students as another alternative to the current
materials in learning in Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics (“STEM”)
4
. BLOSSOMS is a tool that
can stimulate an interest in young people toward learning
mathematics, science & engineering; as well as develop
critical and creative thinking skills which can lead to a
more active and problem-based style.
It is easy to portray the motivated learners. Most of
them are eager, serious focused and keen to learn. They
also engrossed, enjoy, try hard and keep it up over the
time. The behaviour of the learners is more independent
for example they are keen in making their own decisions
without driven by external forces. Skinner and Belmont
5
stated that motivated learners are easy to identify but they
are hard to discover and difficult to be create. In emphasis
and constructs the motivation, there are multiple numbers
of models of motivation that differentiate between those
two. These consist of a series emanating from expectancy
or valence approaches. Mathieu, Tannenbaum & Salas
6
to
Keller
7
was creating ARCS (Attention, Relevancy,
Confidence and Satisfaction) model. The models
emphasized the elements of focusing and intrinsic
motivation, to carry out the tasks that are derived from the
involvement itself
8,9
.
2. PROBLEM STATEMENT
Network courses are one of the courses that are
considered as being difficult to understand. This reflects
especially upon the non-technical student with a social
science background. This is due to the blind process
happening behind the scenes, which is unable to be seen
in real time. Those involving computerized functions and
networking scopes are often too technical to explain.
Subject contents can be very basic, as the course outline
states the necessity of enabling students to understand the
concept of networking without deep explanation.
Somehow, the learning can be very difficult as the
approach used could not explain the details of the concept.
It becomes harder when the concept is created according
to human life. Hence, the model or simulation is very
helpful and it is easier to visualize the concept. At this
point, the BLOSSOMS video seeks to generate interest
and spark the imagination regarding a subject perhaps
previously thought to be dry and abstract.
Although most people would agree that the activities of
the games can be both engaging and enlightening, there is
slight compromise concerning the important
characteristics of instructional games. Garris, Ahlers &
Driskell
10
stated that, the power of games can be harness
and engaging the users if the instructional content is being
paired with certain game features as an aim to achieve the
desired instructional goals . The activities could attract
students’ attention, in addition to stimulating interest in
learning the topics and so on. In tandem with global
development, the students must be prepared to be on their
best behaviour, provide quality work and have high
motivation to be future leaders for the country in a
possible confrontational environment. Therefore, the
activities contained in the BLOSSOMS video may
enhance students’ motivation.
3. METHODOLOGY
The research was conducted using the BLOSSOMS
video program that has been implemented in the teaching
and learning process. The BLOSSOMS video used in this
research contains a subtopic of Topology from the subject
‘Application of Information Technology and
Communication’. The video was created by the Faculty of
Education team at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,
together with UTM Corporate in association with
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT. It was then
integrated with a learning process consisting of 15
students undertaking aDiploma of Islamic Studies at
UTM.
BLOSSOMS is known as shared teaching of
a “Teaching Duet” (Figure 1). In the video, there is a
“guest teacher”, it is designed to be watched in short
segments containing durations of five-minutes. This is to
allow the in-class teacher to ask his or her students
questions and conducting various exercises. After the
exercise has been completed, teachers can turn the video
back on and proceed to another segment
4
. At the end of
the teaching and learning process, the respondents were
then given the questionnaire about their perceptions
regarding the activities in the video.
The activities in the BLOSSOMS video follow the
guidelines which should ideally achieve the goal of,
specifically: promoting interest and excitement among
Figure
1
-
Blossoms Learning Video: "Is There A
Connection Between Comp
uter Network Topologies And
A Malaysian Wedding?”
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Adv. Sci. Lett. 20, 2014–2017, 2014
3 Adv. Sci. Lett. Vol.20, 2014 2014-2017/2014/4/10/11 doi: 10.1166/asl.2014.5634
students regarding the study; determining new ways of
looking at lessons; integrated in-class discussions and
hands-on activities that can be done in their own
classrooms; ensuring that the program is simple and
easily accessible to all students, including those in rural
areas; being geared to the “average” high school not
merely “advanced” schools; providing “challenges”,
questions, effective and interesting topics in each of the
segments; “lively presentation”, including challenging,
thought-provoking classroom activities.
This research has used an action research design based
on the Kemmis and Taggart Model. This model consists
of four steps in each cycle. The steps consist of, namely:
Plan, Act, Observe and Reflect
11
. Based on the model, the
researcher implements teaching strategies using
BLOSSOMS video and obtains students’ perceptions after
the activities from the video which has been done. The
quantitative data are then used to triangulate the results
from the research. The findings from the action research
will be evaluated using SPSS software.
3.1 Respondent
The respondents consist of 15 students undertaking a
Diploma of Islamic Studies at the local university. The
respondents have been chosen from among students
undertaking Part-time Diploma Program Session
2013/2014 in Semester 1 who are enrolled in the subject
“Application of Information Technology and
Communication”. The sample was composed of 12
females and 3 males who did not have a basis in any
technical subject; in other words, they were non-technical
students. Table 1 below shows the total of respondent that
involved in the research.
Table 1: Respondent Gender
3.2 Questionnaires
The questionnaire consists of 3 parts as follows. Part A
contains an explanation of the background of the
respondent; Part B details the respondent’s perceptions
towards the use of video in learning and Part C describes
the respondent’s perceptions towards the activities in the
video. The questions in Parts B and C used the Likert
Scale containing five scales consisting of a range from:
strongly disagree, disagree, agree, strongly agree and very
strongly agree. These scales are represented by the
numbers 1,2,3,4 and 5 respectively.
In Part A, respondents have been asked about their
background: for example; gender, age and race. Part B
consists of 10 questions regarding the perceptions of the
respondents towards using the video in learning. The key
points of the questions relate to topics such as:
understanding, interest, self-learning and motivation.
Part C contains 10 perception-related questions
about the activities in the video. The keywords are:
generate creative thinking, integrate critical thinking,
build teamwork and so on. In this paper, the researcher
will focus on individual activities represented by Part C;
thus, Parts A and B will be put aside momentarily.
4. RESULT& FINDING
Since the research can be categorized as non-
parametric test and the sample are less than 30 persons,
thus the researcher chooses Friedman Test to analyse the
data obtained
12
.
Table 2 shows the respondents’ perception towards
activities in the BLOSSOMS video. Based on the mean
value of each question, items7 and 8 have a higher mean
compared with others (4.53 respectively). Meanwhile,
item 2 have the lowest mean of 4.07. Even though item 2
have the lowest mean, this range of the mean is
considered as a positive range. This is due to the Likert
scale in which scales 3-5 are represented as a positive
scale. Based on these findings, the activities in the video
impart a positive impact and enhance motivation on the
part of the students.
Table 2: Respondents' Perception towards Activities
in the Video
*N = 15
While, Table 3 shows the mean rank between those 10
listed items. Based on the Friedman Test analysis, items 7,
8, 6, 10, 9 have a top rank compare to the others. The
items are covered the elements of communication skills,
inspired to manipulating the activities, building a
teamwork, interesting activities and also the activities
contains good values. The items cover the elements
towards enhancing the students’ motivation in learning
through BLOSSOMS video activity.
Gender
Frequency
Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid
Male
3
20.0
20.0
20.0
Female
12
80.0
80.0
100.0
Total
15
100.0
100.0
Descriptive Statistics
No.
Mean
Std.
Deviation
Minimum
Maximum
1.
4.40
0
.7
4
3.00
5.00
2.
4.0
7
0
.88
2.00
5.00
3.
4.20
0
.77
3.00
5.00
4.
4.20
0
.77
3.00
5.00
5.
4.33
0
.72
3.00
5.00
6.
4.4
0
0
.8
3
2.00
5.00
7.
4.53
0
.5
2
4.00
5.00
8.
4.53
0
.8
3
3.00
5.00
9.
4.40
0
.63
3.00
5.00
10.
4.40
0
.63
3.00
5.00
Adv. Sci. Lett. 20, 2014–2017, 20
RESEARCH ARTICLE
4
Table 3: Mean Rank on the Respondents' Perception
towards Activities in the Video
*N = 15
Figure 2 below shows the rank between those 10 items
in graph basis.
Figure 2: Rank of items
5. CONCLUSIONS
Results have shown that the BLOSSOMS video
applications have a beneficial impact upon enhancing
motivation levels of the students, especially towards the
activities provided. Furthermore, the behaviour of the
students can be either extrinsically or intrinsically
motivated. Intrinsic motivation is one of the stem of self-
determined learner behaviour for example the enjoyable
activities contribute towards students’ engagement.
While, based from extrinsic motivation perspective, the
learner engaging with the activity because they desires the
values of the outcome from the activity as stated by Deci
and Ryan
13
. Even though instructional games are mostly
seen as one of the ways to develop intrinsic motivation
but extrinsic motivation is also important.
The main elements that make an activities provide
intrinsically motivating consist of challenges, fantasy and
curiosity
8
. Although intrinsic motives can be more
effective compare with extrinsic rewards; both extrinsic
and intrinsic motives play an important role in
determining the behaviour of the learner. This is to
develop learners both have self-motivated and self-
directed; since the activity itself is interesting and aiming
for the outcome is important. Thus, BLOSSOMS video
activities should be implemented in every topic of the
subjects that have an abstract imagination or are difficult
to be delivered so that every student can be both self-
directed and self-motivated in relation totheir future.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia, Ministry of Education Malaysia (MoEM) and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology for their support in
making this research possible. This research was
supported by Research University Grant
(Q.J130000.2431.00G83) initiated by UTM and MoEM.
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No
Item
Mean
Rank
Based on the activities from the video in teaching
and learning pro
cess, I found that:
1. It can generate creative thinking 5.60
2. It can generate critical thinking 4.57
3.
I would be ready to face the varied
challenges
5.00
4. I can hone in on solving problems 5.17
5. It helps me to make decisions 5.37
6. It can build teamwork 5.90
7.
I can train myself in
communication skills
6.33
8.
I was inspired to manipulate
activities in the teaching and
learning process later
6.23
9.
Many good values have come out
of the activities
5.67
10.
I think the activities in the
video
are different from other activities
5.77
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Adv. Sci. Lett. 20, 2014–2017, 2014
5 Adv. Sci. Lett. Vol.20, 2014 2014-2017/2014/4/10/11 doi: 10.1166/asl.2014.5634
determination in human behaviour. New York : Plenum
[14] Mirahani Maris. (2013, January 8). MIT-UTM BLOSSOMS
project.Kuala Lumpur Campus News. Retrieved October 1, 2013,
from
http://news.kl.utm.my/buletin/index.php?option=com_content&v
iew=article&id=1589:mit-utm-blossoms-
project&catid=52:aktiviti-universiti&Itemid=148
Received: 21 January 2014. Accepted: 3 March 2014
