Keywords

14.1 Introduction

The Bachelor of Aviation degree at Griffith University is a three-year degree program consisting of 24 courses. Due to a recent computer laboratory installation, Griffith Aviation is now able to include courses in flight procedures to all students enroled. The flight procedures courses allow students to engage with the practicalities of flying a plane while in the computer laboratory. The courses aim to support students in their theory learning journey, covering the full spectrum from basic to very advanced flying that progresses when they complete all three courses. This chapter explains the research literature on ePortfolios and video creation as well as literature on the current state of the aviation industry. The chapter then goes on to present the study, including the research questions, methodology, results and discussion.

The first flight procedures course was delivered in Trimester 3, 2017–2018. This chapter describes the process of this first implementation as well as student use of reflection and video creation to enhance learning. Taught as an intensive mode course over a period of four weeks, the aims of the course were to improve student understanding of the application of flight theory which may then support their improved or accelerated flight training in future when they are completing their final flight training program, the Griffith University Graduate Diploma of Flight Management. This chapter will focus on the results of the study where students used videos of their desktop flying and then reflection to support their learning in the course.

This study was made possible due to a university-wide implementation of PebblePad with the academic from aviation being selected as part of an expression of interest process to receive a modest amount of funding which has been described previously (Allan, Campbell, & Green, 2018). As one of the university innovators (Campbell, Bourke, Trahar, & Nisova, 2017), the project lead was able to gain support through both Griffith Sciences and at a university level. The university-wide implementation has previously been described (Blair, Campbell, & Duffy, 2017) and aimed to embed PebblePad into the curriculum by academics across the university with the project considered a success after its initial implementation year (Blair et al., 2017).

14.2 Literature Review

Currently, both Airbus and Boeing are predicting high growth in the aviation industry for the next 20 years (Airbus, 2017; Boeing Commercial Airplanes, 2017a). Importantly, high growth is in the area of new pilots with Airbus expecting that 534,000 pilots will be trained globally until 2036 (Airbus, 2017), while Boeing has estimated a requirement of 637,000 pilots over a similar period, of which approximately 40% will be needed in the Asia-Pacific region (Boeing Commercial Airplanes, 2017b). Although this need has been recognized, one of the main obstacles in increasing the number of new pilots trained effectively is the huge cost of training a pilot to fulfil all training requirements. For example, completing a Graduate Diploma in Flight Management at Griffith University, which will result in a Commercial Pilot License (CPL), will cost approximately A$122,000.

Airlines are also currently attempting to address this issue in various ways. In December 2017, Qantas began the Qantas Future Pilot Program, by partnering with five Australian universities to assist in mentoring aspiring commercial pilots from an early stage in their careers and thus secure talent for the future (Qantas Airways Limited, 2018).

Although the use of computer laboratories as an aviation training device has been available for years, there is no current research in the area, suggesting its use does not attract much academic interest at present. Previous research suggests that these laboratories can be effective in both maintaining instrument rating currency and enhancing proficiency (Talleur, Taylor, Emanuel, Rantanen, & Bradshaw, 2003). The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) acknowledged its value in the regulations set out in 1997 to allow partial recognition of flight hours on these devices (McDermott, 2005). Thus, the setting-up of a computer laboratory for students to receive some training at university has some benefit, although with limited research reported in the current research literature.

14.2.1 ePortfolios for Student Learning

ePortfolio use for flight training has had very limited research conducted in this area. From the few studies that have reported research pertaining to ePortfolio use and aviation, it was generally a very small section in a larger faculty or university project. In other words, generally there has been no reported research conducted specifically on ePortfolios and aviation, which includes PebblePad (one particular application) and aviation. One example of a larger research project was reported by Cameron (2012), where the project included aviation as part of a larger university-wide implementation, but not how it was used specifically. Another project’s results, (Botterill, White, & Steiner, 2010), reported how ePortfolios were used as part of a larger graduate attribute project, but not how aviation students used ePortfolios specifically.

Although little has been reported on ePortfolio use in aviation education, much has been reported on ePortfolio use with higher education students. As has been reported in various chapters in this book and other literature (Wakimoto & Lewis, 2014), ePortfolios can be used in a wide variety of ways and can be valuable for students’ development and assessment experience as well as for sharing their work, both with other students and as part of the assessment process.

14.2.2 ePortfolios for Reflection

Previous research shows that ePortfolios can successfully be used to assist with student reflection on their learning (Chen & Light, 2010; Morales, Soler-Domínguez, & Tarkovska, 2016; Morreale, Van Zile-Tamsen, Emerson, & Herzog, 2017; Perlman, Ross, Christner, & Lypson, 2011; Siporin, 2013). In one capstone course, critical thinking skills were fostered while reflection was promoted in the course through various assignments (Morreale et al., 2017). Chen and Light (2010) suggest that using reflective practices with students allows them to transfer their skills and experiences between domains which can be a powerful factor in their learning. One study found that previously ePortfolios weren’t always used with reflection as the primary goal or motivator. In the study conducted at one university with 16 individual projects, the main goal of using ePortfolios was to support and assess student learning, as well as assist with internships and graduate employment (Landis, Scott, & Kahn, 2015). However, the study found that there was a good range of learning gains across all disciplines.

In a study, focusing on a business masters class with 80 examples of ePortfolios from the cohort demonstrated that self-regulated assessment assisted with students’ increased self-esteem and confidence once they were familiar with using the ePortfolios (Morales et al., 2016). The study also reports on evidence of students’ critical thinking as well as reflective thinking. However, only instructing students to reflect is not usually enough to allow for deep reflection, and thus, the instructor or course convenor needs to provide relevant prompts to promote students’ reflection so that deep learning is developed (Harring & Luo, 2016). Another researcher comments that although critical reflection means the students have obtained a deeper level of reflection, it is important to remember that self-regulation “involves helping students realize what a task demands and how they best learn so that they develop the ability to monitor their own behaviours, adjusting as needed to reach their goals” (Jenson, 2011, p. 58). However, once the students no longer need the scaffolds in place then they can be removed (Jenson, 2011) as students will still be able to continue with the critical reflection without the scaffolding. Thus, in this study, it was perceived that the scaffolds were extremely important and thus were in place throughout the task.

14.2.3 Using Student Created Video to Promote Reflection

It has been reported that video can be used to support meaningful student learning (Admiraal, 2014). This author suggests importantly that video recordings can be used to document a good variety of competencies and “the rich picture of student competences and practices obtained in specific contexts is assumed to provide highly valid information” (Admiraal, 2014, p. 491). He goes on to state that those who watch the material can benefit from reflection and critical thinking which can assist the learning in various ways. In another study by Lee and Wu (2006), they reported that reviewing one’s own performance once it had been recorded meant that students were better able to self-reflect, which is what this current study aimed to do through the use of specific questions that could be answered after the initial video upload.

Rosaen, Lundeberg, Cooper, Fritzen, and Terpstra (2008) investigated the use of video to promote reflection which facilitates detailed and specific noticing in students. The results suggest this use of video can allow students to better evaluate their performance from the video in order to reflect well. Importantly, students are able to view their sessions more than once which means that the reflection does not need to be based just on recall. The results of their study suggest that students are able to pinpoint areas that require improvement to then be able to focus on in future (Rosaen et al., 2008).

This literature review has led to the following research questions that were developed specifically for our study. This includes the area of reflection, as reflection is explicitly taught to the students in a meaningful way after they upload a video so that they may benefit from being scaffolded throughout the reflection process and thus benefit from the maximum learning gains available. The research questions are as follows:

  1. 1.

    How has the use of self-reflection helped the students with their flight tasks?

  2. 2.

    How has the use of the video-related tasks assisted in student learning regarding their flight tasks?

14.3 Methodology

For this, initial part of the project design-based research was used as it provides a “systematic, but flexible methodology aimed to improve educational practices through iterative analysis, design, development and implementation” (Wang & Hannafin, 2005, p. 6). As stated, this iterative process allows for the design, redesign and development of both the teaching and data collection methods for the flight procedures series of courses, which will allow for continual improvement. Importantly, this chapter reports on just the first iteration with the one course and focuses on the research questions presented above.

Ethics approval was gained for this study and all data collection methods prior to the commencement of the project. Data was collected through the use of a pre- and post-survey that was conducted in class, although participation was completely voluntary. From the 142 students enroled in the course, 49.3% (n = 70) completed the pre-survey, which asked about students’ background and prior knowledge. The post-survey was completed by 57.7% (n = 82) of the group. Questions included how many times students practised flying the circuit tasks, if they felt they had improved their flying skills and how it assisted their improvement. Not all students answered every question, so some of the percentages are pertaining to the number of students who responded to the individual question. Students were also asked if they uploaded the first video, which was optional, and how this may have helped with their learning. Thus, they were given the opportunity to reflect on their learning and to then reflection if they found it beneficial. Students were also asked about using online technologies as well as how they found PebblePad worked for them as a learning tool.

There were seven students who were interviewed with their permission. This allowed for in-depth data to be collected and has given greater perspectives on the laboratory and the tasks students were given in class and for the assessment. These interviews were audio-recorded, then transcribed and finally coded for emerging themes. The two tutors who taught in the course were also interviewed prior to the course and at the end of the course. These interviews consisted of asking about their background, and how they thought the course would be beneficial to students as well as how it was received throughout the course. These interviews were also audio-recorded, transcribed and finally coded for emerging themes.

Students were also able to give permission for their individual work to be analysed for research purposes with 50 students allowing this. These students also had completed the initial reflection section of the assignment which included the first uploaded video. This was an important aspect of data collection as it enabled the before and after tasks to be analysed for improvement which allowed improvement through practice to be identified.

To ascertain if the students improved between the first and the final practice a rubric was created (see Appendix 1) so that the first and final attempt could be analysed in a systematic way. This rubric was developed and created by the researchers (which included the Program Director of the Bachelor of Aviation who is a commercial airline pilot and designer of the course). After creation of the rubric and feedback from colleagues, a second version was created. This was then used to watch two before and after videos and to check on the rubric. Once this was complete there was further, very minor adjustment to several lines of the rubric. Finally, after evaluating two more videos the final and fourth version of the rubric was created. After this time, 22 more student videos (before and after) were analysed for a total of 24 students’ work and 48 videos. The first and final attempts were all analysed against the rubric for the five areas of “attitude flying”, “power control, speed management and flight accuracy (CMA)”, “lookout”, “circuit geometry”, and “checklists and procedures”.

14.3.1 The Computer Laboratory Set-Up

The computer laboratory was equipped with 24 student workstations and one instructor workstation, which was linked to three flat screen television displays. Thus, the instructor can demonstrate on the one workstation and all students can see the bigger displays quite easily. All workstations were also equipped with standard “Saitek” flight controls, display video recording software and Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX 2007) software (Fig. 14.1).

Fig. 14.1
figure 1

New computer laboratory set-up by Griffith Aviation

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The flight procedures course was developed to assist students to adjust from the classroom to the flight deck. The content was collected from various theoretical subjects that aspirant pilots are required to pass when pursuing a professional pilot licence, for example, aerodynamics, air law and flight planning. Only the operational material required when executing a flight has been included in flight procedures which have resulted in a highly relevant course.

Another innovative feature of the flight procedures course is the way in which teaching occurred in the laboratory. The initial course was presented in 12 × 2-h laboratory sessions, spread over six weeks. A typical session consisted of a 20–30 min PowerPoint presentation, reviewing the essential information relevant to the flight exercise of the day. This was often followed by appropriate demonstrations or pre-recorded video clips. However, the majority of class time was allocated to student practice on the workstation. In addition, by providing the students with non-timetabled access to the flight simulation workstations they were able to practise their flight skills, thereby complementing and expanding on the guided instructions and feedback received from the teaching team during scheduled tutorials.

14.3.2 Circuit Task Video Recording Assignment

Each of the course’s assessment tasks has been developed to enhance the student learning experience, although several assessment tasks were required to be completed by the students during the course. This chapter focuses on one task which was worth 30% of the total course mark and was the visual flight rules (VFR) circuit task. As part of this task, the students were required to record and upload a video clip of the screen display while they “flew” a VFR circuit on the computer. This was completed using standard commercially available recording software. Their first attempt of the circuit was recorded, but not assessed and they had an opportunity to answer associated reflective questions. Figure 14.2 shows an example location of the video upload in PebblePad.

Fig. 14.2
figure 2

PebblePad location where the video is uploaded. It can also be played back to assist with the reflection tasks

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The reflective questions were designed to extend the learning experience by focusing student attention to the important aspects of the recording and to ensure they were able to think about these aspects for future practice sessions. The topics covered included:

  • Students’ best display of flying skills, including take-off, crosswind and downwind.

  • The difficulty of checklist flows, such as before take-off, line-up, after take-off and before landing.

  • Students ranked themselves with the effect of variables on circuit geometry with one being the most difficult to control and four being the easiest. The checklist included airspeed, heading, altitude and balance.

  • Students were also asked about situational awareness.

An example of the reflective workbook is shown in Fig. 14.3. The students were able to practise as much or as little as they wanted outside of class time. Once they were ready they recorded the circuit again. This second recording formed part of the assessment task and was followed by another question set for reflection purposes which were assessed as well. These reflective questions aimed at highlighting the importance of airspeed management throughout the circuit.

Fig. 14.3
figure 3

Reflection tasks students completed upon the initial video upload

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14.4 Results

The results section will answer the two research questions. Initially, background information will be presented and then information regarding the tasks the students completed will be presented.

14.4.1 Background

From the 70 responses to the pre-survey, 73% (n = 51) were male and 27% (n = 19) were female. The survey responses by gender were similar for the post-survey. Of the 82 respondents, there were 73.2% (n = 60) male and 26.8% (n = 22) female. The results reported here are from the post-survey.

Students were asked if they were comfortable using online technologies for educational purposes with 92% (n = 69) of the 75 respondents stating they either agree or strongly agree. Students also reporting feeling confident when they use new online technologies for education with 88% (n = 66) of the 75 respondents reporting they either agree or strongly agree. This indicates that these students are generally comfortable with new software, such as using the flight simulator software that was required for the video recording and also recording their screens. They were then able to upload the video into PebblePad.

14.4.2 Student Video Uploads

Some of the student recordings were analysed after the course had finished against the rubric that was developed. Five aspects of their flying were analysed out of five for both the first video, that was uploaded when the circuit task was introduced to the students and then for the final assignment submission video. A t-test was conducted for the two videos for each of the topics, so that five two-tailed t-tests in total were conducted. These were all significant with the value of p is <0.00001. The result is significant at p ≤ 0.01. Table 14.1 shows the value of t. This shows that through practise the students were able to improve their flying skills while on the computer. This may help them in future when they learn to fly a plane.

Table 14.1 Standard deviation, first and second attempt means, with the mean difference and value of t
Full size table

The students who completed the survey reported practising the circuit task prior to submitting the assignment with 24.39% (n = 20) reporting that they practised three to five times, 26.83% (n = 22) practising six to eight times and 23.17% (n = 19) practising nine to ten times. Some students reported practising more than this and interestingly 11% (n = 9) reported practising more than 15 times. This takes considerable dedication and suggests students found the practicing beneficial.

Students reported noticing improvement when they practised the circuit task with 96.3% (n = 79) of the 82 students reporting this. Students generally reported that their flying accuracy improved or “everything”; however, some students were more specific with one stating “my circuit geometry and spacing, I got mor[e] used to my checks and felt comfortable” while another student stated “altitude stability, looking when turning, more stable airspeed” improved and yet another recorded that s/he “noticed improvement in proficiency of completing checklists and maintaining speed, altitude etc.”. One student stated that practising “allowed to identify faults during each practice run and focus on improving them during [the] next circuit”. Another stated “Practice makes perfect. Good for highlighting where I went wrong and where I did things correctly”. One more student reported “It helped me consolidate my understanding of aircraft control and the correct procedures involved with a circuit”. Finally, another student recorded “improvement was made in the time I came in outside of class. I improved on my circuit overall as I was able to work under my own conditions and use the circuits maps provided to teach myself what speeds and flaps to maintain”.

One of the teaching staff members reported that the students were practising out of class by stating “I’ve been quite amazed about the amount of extra work the kids have been doing” with the other tutor commenting about “those who put the effort in” and that they are “showing a lot of interest”.

The students reported on answering the questions when they first uploaded the first video with 95% (n = 75) reporting they did and five per cent (n = 4) stating they did not answer the questions. This is reflected in the assignment data in PebblePad with most students answering most or all of the questions as well as uploading an initial video. The students were asked in what ways it helped with their learning with 62 students responding to this question. Students often recorded that it made them think about their performance or the actual task rather than just doing the task mindlessly. One student stated “answering questions made me think more deeply about my performance and the various aspects I might not have thought of”, while another student commented that “it helped to prove the theoretical aspects of the course as you get to practice what you learn” which is quite positive.

The students were asked what worked well in terms of using PebblePad for uploading the videos with 75 responses placed into the survey tool. Overwhelmingly, student comments were positive about the upload with many students stating it made it easy to submit the assignment and that “everything worked pretty smoothly”. One student commented that “everything seemed to function logically and correctly” while another stated that “everything was easy to find, especially the video and the fact that you could watch your video while answering the questions” which allowed for ease to complete the final questions which were part of the assignment.

14.5 Discussion

This section will discuss the two research questions in relation to the results and the current literature. The first research question is: How has the use of self-reflection helped students with their flight tasks?

Students used self-reflection after uploading the first video and again after uploading the final video as part of their assessment task. The students were specifically asked about reflecting on the video using the scaffolding provided in the questions on PebblePad. Results show the students found this beneficial. This is supported by Admiraal’s (2014) work that suggests students find it beneficial in being able to watch and re-watch the material to promote reflection and in the case of this study to promote improvement in flying.

Amongst aviators, it is common knowledge that the matter of speed management in the circuit is of critical importance (Boyd, 2016; Houston, 2018). Thus, in our study, the reflective questions were very specific and pointed firmly towards the topic of speed management in the circuit which then highlighted to the students its importance. The results demonstrated that through the use of self-reflection they were able to provide high-quality answers to the questions, which then improved their learning and thus their flying as represented in the circuit videos. In other words, it appears students were made aware of the importance of speed issues through the questions provided. This leads to the presumption that well-constructed questions can be invaluable in the student’s journey of independent learning as suggested in our study.

The second research question is: How has the use of the video-related tasks assisted in student learning regarding their flight tasks?

Students have used the circuit task to create a video and upload it into PebblePad. Once this was completed they then reflected on the video using the questions provided as a scaffold. They were able to do this by watching the video as many times as they wanted and they could also record and watch other versions if they wished. Rosaen et al. (2008) report that students can be promoted in specific noticing and due to the improvement of the students with their pre- and post-video this has also occurred. This has occurred in this study which demonstrates it is worth giving specific questions to students to prompt this noticing.

An important design objective within the flight procedures course was that the assessment tasks should be instrumental in assessing student progress, but also extend and complement the learning curve. The responses from both students and teaching staff provide strong evidence that both these aims have been achieved through the use of the video recordings and the reflective questioning technique.

14.6 Limitations of the Study

This is a small study of one cohort who used PebblePad to support their learning with increased reflection through the use of an assessment task that was developed for the first time. Although this study adds to the body of knowledge, it is worth acknowledging the limited scope of the study with a small number of participants. It is hoped that further research will be conducted in future to gain greater insight into the use of the various new tools in the flight procedures computer laboratory. Such studies could investigate student cognitive load as well as student improvement in completing the various complex tasks. Research could also be conducted with larger cohorts or over multiple course iterations to add depth to the knowledge gained.

14.7 Conclusion

The flight procedures laboratory has many original features, which adds to its dynamic nature and allows for greater authentic learning by students through its unique assessment tasks. These tasks involve student self-reflection which allows for students to practise an unlimited number of times in order to improve, while reflecting on certain aspects of their flying. Thus, the content is practice focused and stimulating for the students, the presentation is captivating and the assessment tasks incorporating PebblePad are unique. The student video recordings and reflective questions have proven themselves to be a major part of this dynamic course series at Griffith University.

Thus, this study is important because the use of reflection and video creation does indeed enhance student learning. Although this could be researched further in future, the results of this study are valuable and encouraging in the field of aviation education.