1

Design of video-tutorials as an effective strategy to improve written reports in 6th

semester students from the English Language Teaching Program at Universidad de la

Amazonia

Oscar Eduardo Angel Ramirez

Research Project presented as a requirement to obtain a BA in English from

Universidad de la Amazonia

Director

Esp. Juan Carlos Ruiz Carrillo

University of the Amazonia

Faculty of educational sciences

English language teaching program

Florencia Caquet, Colombia

2017
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ACCEPTATION NOTE

The present final document has been reviewed and scored with the note of Approved
according to Art.10 paragraph 2 from the agreement 21st of October 6th, 2009, from the
CSU - Universidad de la Amazonia.

_________________________
Juror 1

__________________________
Juror 2

Neither the director nor the jurors of this final report are responsible for the ideas and
conclusions emitted within this document. They are the sole responsibility of its authors

El Director y el Jurado del presente Trabajo, no son responsables de las ideas y

conclusiones expuestas en ste; ellas son exclusividad de sus autores
Florencia - Caquet, August, 2017
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Dedication

I dedicate this work to my family. I would like to express a special feeling of gratitude to

my parents, Rosa V. Ramirez and Victor Alfonso Angel, whose love and protection made

me strong. I want to thank my wife Estefania Chica and my son Juan Steban Angel for

being the support that I need every day.

I also dedicate this project to those close friends who have supported me throughout the

process. I always appreciate your pieces of advice.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Julian Mejia, Oscar Andres Quintana and Juan Carlos Ruiz for

helping me with their ideas in this long process. One special mention to my friend Rafael

Eduardo Acevedo, this research would not have happened without his participation. I would

also like to express my gratitude towards the students of English Language Teaching

Program who decided to collaborate selflessly with the investigation.

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Content

List of Graphics ...................................................................................................................... 7

List of Pictures ........................................................................................................................ 8
List of Annexes....................................................................................................................... 9
Abstract ................................................................................................................................. 10
Resumen ............................................................................................................................... 11
Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 12
1. Problem Statement ........................................................................................................ 14
1.1. Description of the problem .................................................................................... 14
1.2 Research Question ...................................................................................................... 16
1.3 Justification ................................................................................................................. 16
1.4 Context Description .................................................................................................... 18
1.4.1. Spatial delimitation ............................................................................................. 18
1.4.2. Temporal delimitation ......................................................................................... 19
1.4.3. Historical review ................................................................................................. 19
1.4.4. Situational Analysis............................................................................................. 20
2. Objectives ......................................................................................................................... 21
2.1 General Objective ....................................................................................................... 21
2.2 Specific Objectives ..................................................................................................... 21
3. Literature Review .......................................................................................................... 22
3.1 State of the art ............................................................................................................. 22
3.2 Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................... 25
3.2.2 Written Reports for academic purposes ............................................................... 27
3.2.3 Difficulties presented when using the Internet as a tool to research information
for written reports. ......................................................................................................... 28
3.2.4 Tools to consider in the strategies to be implemented when searching information
on the Internet................................................................................................................ 31
3.2.5 The use of video-tutorials for learning ................................................................. 33
3.2.6 Last considerations ............................................................................................... 33
3.3 Normativity ................................................................................................................. 34
4. Methodology ................................................................................................................. 36
4.1 Research Design ......................................................................................................... 36
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4.2 Data Collection Instruments ....................................................................................... 37

4.2.1 Structured Questionnaire. ..................................................................................... 37
4.2.2 Interviews. ............................................................................................................ 37
4.3 Context ........................................................................................................................ 39
4.4 Participants.................................................................................................................. 40
5. Findings ......................................................................................................................... 41
5.1 First stage: Diagnostic ................................................................................................ 41
5.1.1 Questionnaire surveys. ......................................................................................... 41
5.1.2 First Interview ...................................................................................................... 50
5.2 Second stage: Creation of video-tutorials ................................................................... 52
5.2.1 The Internet vs. Libraries. Which one is better. ................................................... 53
5.2.2 Search engines. ..................................................................................................... 53
5.2.3 How to identify a reliable webpage...................................................................... 53
5.2.4 Strategies to avoid plagiarism ........................................................................ 54
5.2.5 Use of Google Scholar and Dialnet. ..................................................................... 54
5.3 Third stage: Interventions ........................................................................................... 54
5.3.1 First intervention. ................................................................................................. 55
5.3.2 Second intervention. ............................................................................................. 56
5.3.3 Third intervention. ................................................................................................ 57
5.3.4 Fourth intervention. .............................................................................................. 59
5.4 Fourth stage: Evaluation ........................................................................................... 63
5.5 Summary of the stages ................................................................................................ 66
6. Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 69
7. Recommendations ......................................................................................................... 71
References ............................................................................................................................ 72
Annexes ................................................................................................................................ 76
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List of Graphics

Graphic 1. Location of Florencia, Caquet.

Graphic 2.Location of Campus Porvenir

Graphic 3. Access to the Internet.

Graphic 4. Problems of researching information on the Internet.

Graphic 5. Problems of researching specific information on the Internet.

Graphic 6. Use of academic websites.

Graphic 7. Application of APA rules.

Graphic 8. Consequences of plagiarism.

Graphic 9. Reliability of the information found on the Internet.

Graphic 10. Degree option.

Graphic 11. Consideration of the implementation of a new subject.

Graphic 12. Information research techniques.

Graphic 13. Information about research techniques.

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List of Pictures

Picture 1. First Intervention.

Picture 2. Third Intervention

Picture 3. Fourth Intervention.

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List of Annexes

Annex 1. Transcript of the evaluation interview

Annex 2. Photographs

Annex 3. Screenshots of social networks

Annex 4. Samples of surveys

Annex 5. Scripts video-tutorials

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Abstract

During the year 2014, a survey composed of 11 questions was implemented to 58

English Language Teaching students from Universidad de la Amazonia, mainly from 5th to

9th semesters. This was seeking information about the reliability of information on the

Internet, the way the students compose written reports and the style of writing, finding lack

of knowledge about the reliable sources, how to identify trustable information, and how to

find it. Thanks to that, new learning materials, which are video-tutorials, are created as a

teaching strategy with the aim to assess the effectiveness of these ones at the moment of

improving students knowledge about academic writing, and specifically written reports. At

the end, an interview was carried out to 5 students about the videos, showing approval to

these.

KEYWORDS: Written reports, video tutorials, materials, use of the Internet.

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Resumen

En el ao 2014, se implement un cuestionario compuesto por 11 preguntas a 58

estudiantes de Licenciatura en Ingls de la Universidad de la Amazonia, principalmente de

5 a 9 semestres. sta buscaba informacin sobre la seguridad de la informacin en la

Internet, la forma como los estudiantes redactan sus reportes escritos y el estilo de escritura,

encontrando falta de conocimiento sobre las fuentes confiables, cmo identificar y

encontrar informacin segura. Gracias a ello, nuevos materiales de aprendizaje, los cuales

son video tutoriales, fueron creados como un mtodo de enseanza con el objetivo de

evaluar su efectividad en el momento de mejorar su conocimiento con respecto a la

escritura acadmica, especficamente sobre reportes escritos. Al final, se desarroll una

entrevista a 5 estudiantes, quienes mostraron aprobacin a ellos.

PALABRAS CLAVE: Reportes escritos, video tutoriales, uso de la Internet.

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Introduction

Nowadays, the Internet is the most popular source used to access to any kind of

information. This is mainly due to its speed to find and show thousands of sites that contain

relevant information related to the subject of the inquiry. Taking into consideration this

principle, system engineers have created many search engines such as Google, Ask,

AltaVista, Bing among others to facilitate the exploration and collection of data -

documents, images, and all files that can be uploaded. According to Rtiva, Pedreros and

Nez (2012), The Internet has broken communication obstacles and has made a new form

of information exchange (p. 11). Often, making an inquiry on the Internet is an easy task;

people can get it just by putting the adequate words into a search bar. Unfortunately, the

fact that search engines are easy to access and use, do not guarantee that everybody is

successful doing a search. In fact, in some cases, the problem is not the search but the

inappropriate use of the material consulted from the web.

There are many ways to benefit from the Internet in education. One of them is to

promote good habits among students and teachers about how to use the web responsibly to

reduce the problems that people face when they have to manage information. In some

cases, universities do not provide an academic space where students can be instructed to

search and manage information needed for the development of their college studies. The

Universidad de la Amazonia gives short inductions to students about the usage of database

from the library and other web sites that have an agreement with the institution. However,

there is not a subject in the curriculum of the English Language Teaching Program that

instructs students in the correct use of the Internet to ensure an integral education during

their careers.
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Based on the above mentioned, and as a requirement to qualify for a BA in English

from Universidad de la Amazonia, the researcher decided to work with sixth semester

students of the night shift from the English Language Teaching Program during the second

semester of 2015. The general aim was to raise awareness through workshops using video-

tutorials about different strategies for consulting useful information from the Internet.

These means were created and developed by the author. First, the researcher produced five

video tutorials that were published in YouTube for being used later in a classroom as a

teaching material.

Some advantages and disadvantages of the use of Internet as a source of information

were presented in the first video. The explanation about the function of some important

tools that belong to the search engine Google was treated in the second video. The third

video-tutorial was related to the identification of websites with reliable and false

information. The next video was about plagiarism and some strategies to avoid it. In order

to conclude this work of production, the fifth video-tutorial series was created thinking

about the need to search academic information in specialized search engines such as

Google Scholar and Dialnet.

After the videos were edited, the author implemented four workshops with students

from the 6th semester, attending the subject History, Civilization, and American literature,

in order to promote good search habits on the Internet and to properly use the acquired

information to produce written reports. Moreover, a learning community on Facebook was

created in order to allow students to comment and evaluate the video-tutorials and other

aspects related to this project.

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1. Problem Statement

1.1. Description of the problem

The classrooms at Universidad de la Amazonia are spaces of constant knowledge

interchange. Thus, both students and teachers must be aware of the latest information

concerning to their subjects of study. Students who want to obtain the bachelor degree as

English Language Teachers must demonstrate for nine semesters the best of their abilities

to reach their goal. On this section, the main difficulties that students in the ELTP have to

write academic reports are going to be outlined, including aspects such as the Internet

research habits, the lack of appropriate research infrastructure, the lack of support material

for writing and guidance and counseling for writing of academic reports, including research

reports.

Every single class, students need to look up information constantly to develop their

academic activities. In fact, Rtiva, Pedreros and Nez (2012), establish that the use of

some information from websites for classroom exercises not only gets students closer to the

reality but also gives both teachers and students the opportunity to exchange learning.

During the year 2014, the author implemented a survey composed of 11 questions to

58 English students from the night shift, mainly from 5th to 9th semesters. The intention was

to retrieve data about the searching habits on the Internet, the usage of the information they

found and the main difficulties they had to write academic reports. After analyzing the

result of this survey emerged important conclusions. Students do not trust 100% in the sites

where the information is obtained from. They did not know that webpages with org or

Edu included in their URL are more reliable than others which have extensions like
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com or net. Another conclusion of that previous survey was that despite students

understanding of the implications of plagiarism; they did not know how to use the APA

rules which are one of the most common formats used to present proper written reports

taking into account the copyright.

The implementations of good techniques of information research are important for

students from different backgrounds. Nevertheless, the English Language Teaching

Program curricula from Universidad de la Amazonia do not offer research courses to teach

aspects of investigation and use of information from different sources such as the Internet,

Books, Online Databases, and so on. Some teachers give short instructions about how to

search information properly to their students because the majority of them think that all

students have already mastered this process effectively. However, this process should be

developed consciously in order to ensure the appropriate understanding of such important

aspect.

Another issue that affects the production of academic documents is the lack of

specialized classrooms to develop research activities in the English Language Teaching

Program. There is an English laboratory in the Universidad de la Amazonia, equipped with

more than 30 computers, with good the Internet connection, but they are used mainly to

develop activities related to learning the four English language skills. Unfortunately, this

classroom is not used to develop investigations in a deep way; the computers do not have

specialized research software for analysis such as Atlas T.I., or SPSS, among others, and

there are no specialized research engines installed either.

Also, one of the main problems related to the scarce of academic production in the

ELTP is the lack of teachers support in the process of drafting research proposals, in the
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development of the degree papers and in the presentation of research reports. There are not

many teachers available to counseling. If they do, a lot of time passes between each

counseling, this is because they do not receive any type of economic remuneration for these

hours.

Not all the teachers from the English Language Teaching Program develop research

proposals and, unfortunately, there are few spaces dedicated to sharing the results of their

work and the dissemination of academic production of these studies.

1.2 Research Question

How can the design of video-tutorials about the proper use of the Internet influence

the written reports of the sixth semester students of the English Language Teaching

program from Universidad de la Amazonia?

1.3 Justification

This project is associated with the ownership of the knowledge about technology

that youth should have. That was the main challenge: to show the importance of knowing

good habits to find and manage information on the Internet in 6th semester students from

the English Language Teaching Program. Besides, it sought to encourage the use of the

Internet as a source of information showing the different advantages of it and the different

strategies that should be applied to its proper use in order to be used in writing activities.

This research helped students of 6th semester from the English Language Teaching

Program at Amazonia University. Additionally, the audiovisual aids developed are intended

to benefit more population through the open-to-everybody Facebook page and the YouTube
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channel so that everyone can have the access to this work from high school students,

teachers, workers and so on.

This research had a repercussion in future research studies as ICTs are increasingly

advancing and they somehow command the future of the education of college students, not

only to Universidad de la Amazonia but also to all college students in the world.

This research helped to solve problems related to the handling of information

obtained from the Internet and the subsequent use that should be given to it. The

audiovisual material that was designed helped students from 6th semester of the English

Language Teaching Program at Universidad de la Amazonia to identify reliable web pages

to make their queries, they found useful tips to avoid plagiarism and improve the

experience when they need to use search engines specialized in academic material such as

Google Scholar and Dialnet.

The creation of material to support the production of written report strengthened

research in the English Language Teaching Program because it provides students with

practical tools to obtain relevant information; this helps the academic writing practices to

communicate the results of their investigations.

Finally, this research gave the chance to students from English Language Teaching

Program to put into practice some video-tutorials about the correct use of the Internet and

the advantage to use this information to create written reports. The idea was to measure

how students through workshops, where the videos were used, improved their writing

skills, especially academic ones as it was essential for them and considering the fact that

they would possibly have to write an academic text to get the BA they seek.
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1.4 Context Description

It is necessary to comprehend the general descriptions where this research study took

place.

1.4.1. Spatial delimitation. The research project was carried out at Universidad de la

Amazonia, Campus Porvenir located in Florencia, Caquet, which is situated in the southeast

of Colombia. (See graphic 1, Location of Florencia Caquet).

Graphic 1. Location of Florencia, Caquet.

Taken from Google maps (2017).

The Campus Porvenir of Universidad de la Amazonia is located in the 17th street,

17th diagonal 17 With Kr 3F, Porvenir neighborhood of Florencia, Caquet. (See graphic

2.Location of Campus Porvenir).

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Graphic 2.Location of Campus Porvenir.

Taken from Google maps (2017).

1.4.2. Temporal delimitation. This research project was developed during the months

of August, September, November, and December of 2015 with an intensity of three hours per

week. In addition, it took time of January, February, and March of 2017 with an intensity of

four hours per week.

1.4.3. Historical review. According to the official web page of Universidad de la

Amazonia (www.uniamazonia.edu.co), this public institution had its origin in the Instituto

Tecnolgico Universidad Surcolombiana (ITUSCO) whose headquarters were in the city of

Neiva, Huila, Colombia.

In Florencia began its activities in 1971 offering four programs at a technological

level: mathematics, social sciences, accounting, and topography. Through the law 13 of

1976 ITUSCO became the Universidad Surcolombiana, consequently, the ITUSCO-

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Florencia was converted to its branch, whose activities were directed from three faculties:

Education Sciences, agricultural sciences and sciences accounting and economics.

In 1982, with the law 60 of December 30 approved by the president of the

Republic, Dr. Belisario Betancur Cuartas, the branch of the Universidad Surcolombiana is

converted to the Universidad de la Amazonia.

This University is official, national and its mission, vision, objectives, functions,

and policies are designed to contribute to the sustainable development of the Amazon

region. The challenges and commitments are fully known, not only which are derived from

the existing statutes that have to do with the development programs consistent with the

particularities of the region, with the qualification of human talent through the

dissemination of scientific and technological knowledge, and research in the Amazon, but

that has imposed the World Declaration on higher education in the 21st century: Vision and

action, approved by UNESCO in October 1998. The statement expands the horizon and

work of higher education for the next millennium, in ways which are already working:

accreditation, coverage, access to University, internationalization, new educational

technologies.

1.4.4. Situational Analysis. Students from 6th semester from the English Teaching

Program at Universidad de la Amazonia were adults interested in improving their skill to

search information on the Internet to enrich the production of their written reports. The

participants were between eighteen and twenty-one years old. The study was developed

from August to November of 2015 in classrooms of Universidad de la Amazonia where it

had fans, TVs, acrylic board and wood chairs.

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2. Objectives

2.1 General Objective

To design video-tutorials as an effective strategy to improve written reports in students

of 6th semester enrolled in the English Teaching Program (Night Shift) at Universidad de la

Amazonia.

2.2 Specific Objectives

To create video-tutorials focused on the use of the Internet to find trustable

information in academic writing.

To train students about the proper use of the information found on the Internet and

how to identify reliable websites with veridical data.

To create awareness in students about the consequences of plagiarism and the lack

of information management skills in their writing compositions by showing

adequate strategies that can solve such problem.

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3. Literature Review

3.1 State of the art

In this part, it is necessary to mention several studies carried out by different

academic researchers about the use of videos in education.

International
There is an article written by Dr. Ismail Cakir (2006) named: The Use of Video as

an audio-visual material in foreign language teaching classroom. This author gives reasons

for video implication in FLT classrooms. He states that two minutes of video can provide

an hour of classroom work because the video makes meaning clearer in a form that is not

possible with words. Besides, students can concentrate on the content in detail and interpret

what has been said because they have the opportunity of press the bottom of play as

many times as possible. The author arguments that another important part of video

methodology is the fact that even without hearing the language spoken clues to meaning

can be picked up from the vision alone.

Philip J. Guo, Juho Kim, and Rob Rubin (2014): How Video Production Affects

Student Engagement: an Empirical Study of MOOC Videos. This article presents an

empirical study of how video production decisions influence student engagement in online

academic videos. They used information from 6.9 million video watching sessions across

four courses of study on the edX MOOC (Massive Online Open Courses) platform. They

measured engagement by how long students were watching each video and whether they

tried to reply post-video assessment difficulties. The main findings were that shorter videos

are much more engaging, that talking-head videos are more engaging, that even high-
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quality pre-recorded classroom lectures might not make for engaging online videos, and

that students engage differently with lecture and tutorial videos.

In addition, Guo, P. Kim, J. and Rubin, R. (2014) based on findings of their research

wrote some recommendations to help teachers and video producers take better advantage of

the online video format. One of them is to record the instructors head and then introduce

into the presentation video at appropriate times. Try to film in a casual environment where

the instructor can make good eye contact since it costs less and might be more efficient than

a professional studio. Invest in pre-production effort, even if instructors require recording

direct classroom lectures. The final recommendation is an invitation for instructors to bring

out their original enthusiasm, convince them that speaking fast is proper, and edit pauses

and unnecessary words in post-production. This work was an important theoretical base to

develop the production of the video-tutorials for the present research which were uploaded

in GABUNET channel of Youtube.

National

Puentes, S. (2014) Use of network videos for the learning of the independence of

Colombia. The intention of this pedagogic project was to verify if the implementation of a

methodology in a learning environment through the use of existing videos in the network,

facilitates the learning about the causes that gave rise to the independence of Colombia,

with students of 4 of basic primary education. The information was collated through

surveys and written evaluations. The study concluded that the use of videos is somehow a

tool that helped to generate contextualization and deepening of aspects of learning, as it

happened in the previous knowledge phase, where the students strengthened their

knowledge about some aspects relevant to the topic discussed. Different from the study
 24

applied at Universidad de la Amazonia, the participants of this research were children from

primary and the investigator used some animated videos to catch their attention.

Rodriguez, E. and Rodriguez, O. (2014) Enhancing writing skills with seventh

graders at a public school through online workshops. This action research reports the

experience achieved with seventh graders in the English as a foreign language classroom at

a public school. The project suggests the inclusion of a virtual environment to teach English

as a foreign language through the implementation of five online writing workshops which

were placed in the platform Edmodo. Data was collected to show how the implementation

of those five online workshops enhanced learners of seventh grade to progress in their

writing skills. The research findings revealed that the implementation of online activities

showed the students an easier and enjoyable example to follow; they made the students felt

self-confident to improve their writing skills. Additionally, after the implementation of the

online workshops, learners began to improve their vocabulary as well as to enrich sentence

construction and spelling. It is clear that this work is not related to video-tutorials but the

study sought to improve the writing skills using a virtual platform, in this case, Edmodo.

Although the study developed at Universidad de la Amazonia benefited participants with a

higher level of writing, the purpose was quite similar.

Local

Astudillo, E. (2014) Application of educational videos in the teaching and learning

of the physical concept of strength with students of fifth grade, Institucin Educativa

Ciudadela Siglo XXI, Florencia (Caquet) -Colombia. Systematization of the pedagogical

experience. In this project with the mediation of educative videos, a new didactic strategy

for the learners was brought to the classroom, which not only transformed their way of
 25

learning but also became an effective tool for teaching; because helped significantly for the

improving of the communication between the teacher and the student. According to

Astudillo, E. (2014) the proper management of technologies in education will always make

a difference in any educational context, and this implies that they have to be used not only

as a tool in the classroom but also as a mean by which the student is motivated to have a

positive attitude towards the study of any knowledge.

3.2 Theoretical Framework

3.2.1 The uses and benefits of the Internet and ICT in this era. The internet is

the large system of connected computers around the world which allows people to share

information and communicate with each other using email, in agreement with Oxford

University Press (n.d.). Nowadays, the Internet is one of the most important tools because

of its versatility and its ease of use. The purposes of the Internet are multiple and they offer

different services to people in different aspects such as entertainment, communication,

business, education and so forth. Moreover, public and private businesses use the Internet

to provide a closer service to their clients like technical assistance or home orders. In other

words, the Internet is considered as one of the most powerful tools nowadays because of its

variety of functions like entertainment or business. Thus, the Internet is an aspect that

should be taken into account as an important network than empowers the activities in which

it is involved.

Because of the Internet, scientists and technicians worldwide have developed what

we newly know as ICT, which means Information and Communication Technologies, that

basically consists of all the devices we use to share information and communicate with each
 26

other (Cambridge University Press, n.d.). Most schools and colleges use them for

educational purposes.

However, one of the main functions of the Internet is to be a source of researching

information. The latter has a significant effect on education due to different reasons: new

teaching methods (virtual education or e-Learning), improvements in research and the data

collection. Furthermore, students and teachers of secondary and superior levels look for

information on the Internet more than in libraries or bookstores. Some advantages of using

the Internet as an information source are the rapid of finding data; the great amount of

information that can be collected about a specific topic; costs savings represented in the

lack of necessity of buying books, and so on. Lpez (2007) states that the development of

ICT, especially the Internet, has resulted in passing of an era when information was scarce,

expensive and inaccessible to another where it is abundant, easy to access, easy to share

and, in many cases, free (translated by the author, para. 1).

Furthermore, using the Internet to find information represent benefits resulting in

different materials and information we can collect from it. Maglione and Varlotta (no date)

consider that people find many information on the Internet like books, diaries, magazines,

music, movies, documentaries, posts, articles of opinion and so on; besides, on the web,

many people - journalists, organizations, great thinkers and so on - use the Internet as a

space to show their ideas, thoughts, and productions because the Internet is a great reservoir

of data (translated by the authors; p. 9). The great amount of information on the Internet is

the result of the information, opinions, and thoughts shared by many people around the

entire world.
 27

This last aspect is evident in social networks like Facebook or websites like

YouTube which are ideal places to share your thoughts and knowledge with many people.

Thus, the Internet is considered as the net of nets because of its complexity and the whole

information it contains that is useful for many people around the world. Besides, social

networks are one of the different mediums that people use to be in touch with the rest of the

world. A study made by Valenzuela (2013) states that 127 million of Latin-American

people over the age of 15 have visited a site of social networks from home or work in April

2012 (para. 13, Translated by the authors). Hence, social networks are a powerful

educational tool to share knowledge with many people who use these web pages.

On the other hand, one of the functions of the Internet is its capacity to collect

information which is used for different purposes such as Academy. However, it is

necessary to identify reliable information from the Internet and use it in the correct way

regarding the academic guidelines of educative institutions like universities or colleges.

Thus, the implementation of strategies to accomplish the last aspects is necessary in order

to avoid the problems that are described in the following chapter.

3.2.2 Written Reports for academic purposes. Written reports like summaries or

essays are some of the varied things that students should develop in educative institutions.

Writing for academic purposes is different than other writing activities that are not related

to Academy or education. Kroll (As cited in Ziga and Macias, 1997) consider the

following:

In English for academic purposes orientation, writing is the production of prose

that will be acceptable at academic institutions, and learning to write is part of

becoming socialized in the academic community finding out what is expected and
 28

trying to approximate it. Three elements must be considered: the writer, the reader

and the text. The writer is pragmatic and oriented primarily towards academic

success meeting standards and requirements. The reader is also a member of the

academic community who has well-developed schemata for academic discourse and

has views of what is appropriate. The text is a response to a particular task type that

falls into a recognizable genre (p. 315).

As it was previously said, written reports respond to a particular assignment that

should satisfy the requirements of the academic community. According to the University of

Leicester (2009), a written report as a composition with specific information and evidence

that is the object of analysis and application to a particular issue or problem (para. 3). Thus,

it is necessary to consider different sources to have plenty of useful information in order to

create excellent written reports. The Internet provides an easy access to that information.

Hence, the importance of managing such tool by students is necessary to create reasonable

arguments to validate an idea in a written report.

3.2.3 Difficulties presented when using the Internet as a tool to research

information for written reports.

Lack of information management and Plagiarism. The Internet is an indispensable

tool to improve written reports because they can provide reliable information to strength

students arguments and points of view. However, the use of the Internet seems not easy for

many people. Many students present difficulties when searching information on the web.

Problems like Plagiarism or the misunderstanding of data are the results of the students

deficiency when they have to consult information on the web. The latter is demonstrated in

students written reports which, in many cases, lacks originality and planning (Park, 2010).
 29

In addition, despite the advantages of using the Internet, some specialists still

complain that the use of the Internet in this kind of activities is not adequate. Cuevas

(2001) asserts that some teachers and other professionals believe that the ease of access to

information is prejudicial because of students trend to copy and modify different sources;

this last aspect does not allow students to assimilate new knowledge about what they search

because they just copy and paste what they find (Translated by the authors; Introduction,

para. 4). Nevertheless, the use of the Internet should be well oriented with the teaching of

different techniques related to information research in order to show the benefits of its use.

To summarize, the use of the Internet has been controversial, but its use should be well

oriented to ensure its effectiveness.

One of the main problems that students face is the lack of management and the

misunderstanding of the information they collect. Moreover, this problem begins to be

more notorious when the students are in higher levels of education. Van Brammer (1995)

asserts that as students advance in their education, the academic standards become higher

because they - after being college students - are expected to have their own ideas and

explain them with their own words; if they just copy the material they find, they are not

demonstrating understanding of what they read (Introduction, para. 2). Such problem

culminates in the act of plagiarism, which is one of the main problems that academic

community faces every time. Carroll and Appleton (2001) defines plagiarism as the act of

gaining a personal reward from others work in different aspects of assessment like

enhancing professional or personal reputation by using the work of other people with no

acknowledge (p. 13)

 30

Nevertheless, it is necessary to identify the main reason for students trend to

plagiarize. Newton (1995) defines four common reasons to explain plagiarism in students:

disordered research methods, reliance on inappropriate guides of reference, the

misunderstanding of the logic when using references and weak skills in writing (para. 2).

Briefly, the lack of writing abilities and the misunderstanding of the academic rules result

in plagiarism which is one of the main concerns students face in academic activities like

written reports.

Information research issues in students. There are lots of information on the

Internet. Thus, it is necessary to know different strategies to ensure the success in the

research of that information. Maglione and Varlotta (n.d.) states that to be able to access

that amount of information, it is necessary in addition to the required equipment like

computers and the Internet connection to acquire certain strategies that permit the

students to find the information they are looking for and to determine whether that

information is pertinent and reliable (translated by the author, p. 9). Those steps seem to be

easy to achieve, but the majority of problems related to the use of data researched on the

web - i.e. plagiarism and the lack of reliability of sources used in as a reference in academic

papers- are the result of the lack of consideration of such steps. The application of strategies

(like knowing how to use search engines, online databases, and specified magazines or

avoiding plagiarism) to identify the correct information is the key to have success in

researching information.

Indeed, most students do not have good habits to research information on the

Internet. They actually use the basic search engines instead of searching in academic or
 31

organizational webpages. International Data Corporation (as cited in Barker, 2010) found

that at least 50% of the times, searchers do not find the information they are seeking.

Conversely, there are other tools that can be used to have success in researching

information on the Internet like Online Library Databases and specialized search engines in

different areas of knowledge like eFinalcialBot -Search Engine focused on Businesses- or

Academic and Scholar Seek Education -Search Engine focused on Academy- (Introduction,

para 1.). Summarizing, the use of different sources to research information on the web will

ensure the success to find the desired data.

Lack of reliability in the information found by the students. Another problem

related to the use of the Internet as a source to find information - discovered in the surveys

developed by the researcher - is the reliability of such data because students do not know

whether the collected info is reliable or not. We synchronize with Vedder and Wachbroit

(2003) who states that the reliability of the information on the Internet has become a

problem which has been increasing in importance due to a lot of people who use the

Internet to gather information (p. 211). Besides, we agree with Bongbong (2010) who

emphasizes that academic writers should differ reliable sources of information from

unreliable ones because of the educational institutes obligation to not accept references

from unreliable sources (para. 3-4). Hence, it is important to advise students to use credible

sources like books (and e-books), journals, scientific magazines, and peer reviewed articles

in order to make their academic papers much more credible.

3.2.4 Tools to consider in the strategies to be implemented when searching

information on the Internet. The implementation of good strategies is necessary to solve

the common problems related to the use of information from the Internet. Previously, it was
 32

mentioned that the amount of data that the Internet saves is considerable. Thus, it is

necessary to know the adequate tools that people can use to obtain that information like

search engines. Ortzar (1998) defines search engines as tools which discover files

containing the keywords typed by the user (Search Engines, para, 2, Translated by the

author). Google and Yahoo are examples of these tools and are used by many people

around the world due to its popularity and apparent usability. Hence, the appropriate use of

this kind of tools is a necessary strategy that will ensure good results in the research of

information for academic purposes.

However, there is much information in those search engines that are not useful for

the user. Cantabria University (2007) establishes different problems derived from the

effects of the web and the Internet in the way in which information is sought like the large

amount of unnecessary information, the lack of abilities to find the correct information

available in the web or the amount of time wasted to find such information (p. 3). Hence, it

is important to know how to use this tool to take advantage of it. On the other hand, the use

of different search engines, their variations (such as Google Images, Videos, Scholar

Google, etc.) and the use of different tricks such as quotation marks to find specific

words, advanced searches, and others - helps the user to ensure a wide variety of results that

can be classified depending on users necessities.

Furthermore, it is necessary to consider not only other types of tools such as

virtual libraries, online databases, journals or meta-search engines but also the use of each

one depending on the information features the user needs. For example, online databases

are useful to find information related to academic papers like essays, reports, and abstracts.

Besides, there are different online databases depending on the field of knowledge they work
 33

with (Arts, Engineering, Science, Education, and so on) Conversely, online databases

provide other benefits that are meaningful for users into universities. Reach Canada (n.d.)

states that databases allow users to manage and use a large amount of information easily

(para. 1). Moreover, the user has the possibility to arrange the information to save them for

a future use. Thus, the socialization of this tool is mandatory in order to improve students

skills to elaborate excellent academic papers.

3.2.5 The use of video-tutorials for learning. Bengoechea and Medina state that

the use of short video-tutorials is an attractive educational resource for young students,

widely familiar with these formats similar to that used in YouTube (2013). Other

investigators interested in the study of the use of video-tutorials were Jimenez and Marn

(2012) who established that it is evident that the attitude of students towards multimedia

tools and usefulness of video-tutorials influence positively the ability to assimilate and

acquire more learning in a particular subject. Based on the previous information, we can

notice the importance that video-tutorials have been getting in classrooms giving the

opportunity to teachers and learners to explore a new way of knowledge through

technology.

3.2.6 Last considerations. In conclusion, the appropriate use of the Internet as a

source of researching information could generate good results in students who have to deal

with written reports in their academic activities. One of the objectives of this research was

to show students from Universidad de la Amazonia the importance of applying appropriate

strategies in order to improve their written reports by using the Internet as an information

source. Those strategies consist on the implementation of tools (such as search engines,

online databases or specified virtual magazines) and some awareness campaigns about
 34

plagiarism or online information reliability. The use of those strategies will prevent

students from risks like plagiarism which is severely punished in the academy.

3.3 Normativity

This research project was done in Florencia, Caquet. It is necessary to consider the

political aspects of this place, as they are important for the development of this project.

First, The Colombian Political Constitution (1991) affirms that education is a right

that cannot be vulnerable and it is a responsibility of the state to guarantee it because this is

the main access to knowledge and science, according to the article 67.

Continuing with the national laws, we find the General Education Law (115 in

1994) that regulates all the general aspects of the Colombian education, the diverse levels,

the types of education, the administrative organization, and other aspects. It is important to

highlight this document because this law states the main considerations of educational

levels after high school, -or what Colombians know as superior education (education that

forms technicians, technologists, professionals, specialists, masters, and doctors)-. At this

point, we have to clarify that thanks to this law, careers like English Language Teaching

exist in Universidad de la Amazonia.

Referring to the University of Amazonia, the Law 60 of 1982 (1982), consolidated

what was previously as one brand from Universidad Surcolombiana, in the transition to

Universidad de la Amazonia. This makes the last one independent, so this is now

considered a public university that gives access to all people in the country, especially

population from the province of Caquet and all its municipalities.

 35

For the creation of programs at Universidad de la Amazonia, the Ministry of

Education through Resolution 3836 (2011) created the Program of English Language

Teaching, with 122 credits distributed to 42 subjects and 9 semesters (average: 5 subjects

per semester). The internal university law of creation Acuerdo 25 of 1999, that according

to normativity, this had the permission to create it and start offering the program to all

people in general.

Finally, within the curriculum plan that the ELT program has, it can be found two

subjects related to writing:

- General English Composition

- English Academic Composition.

This last one is mainly focused on academic writing, and it raises awareness about

plagiarism. Unfortunately, this subject does not teach how to search safe and trustable

information effectively.
 36

4. Methodology

4.1 Research Design

This study proposal was developed under the principles of Action Research which,

according to Tripp (2005), is principally a strategy for the development of professors as

investigators so that they can use their research to enhance their teaching and thus their

students learning.

Ferrance (2000) defines Action Research as the disciplined investigation was done

by a teacher with the intent that the research will inform and modify his or her practices in

the future. This author also claims that the problem of investigation in Action Research is

one that the teacher assumes as visible in his or her classroom.

The Great School Partnership (2014) points out that Action Research refers to an

extensive variety of evaluative, investigative, and analytical research methods designed to

diagnose difficulties or weaknesses, whether organizational, academic, or instructional, and

help teachers develop practical solutions to face them quickly and efficiently.

Now, this approach permitted an introspective research where students from a

specific semester were analyzed in terms of academic writing and all of this would be

registered through reflections that were done in every single class. This is also a reflection

for teachers who have plagiarism issues with students and would like to improve this kind

of situations.

Finally, it is important to mention that the results of this research were mixed

because qualitative and quantitative data were collected through the data collection

instruments that are going to be mentioned and explained in the following page.
 37

4.2 Data Collection Instruments

The mixed data was collected in the second academic semester of 2015 through the

following instruments.

4.2.1 Structured Questionnaire. According to the University of Sheffield (2014),

this technique is based mainly on closed questions which produce information that can be

analyzed quantitatively for patterns and trends. The agenda is entirely predetermined by the

evaluator and provides little flexibility for respondents to qualify their answers.

This data collection instrument was the first one used, considering that it was necessary to

know, from students involved in all the nine semesters. their perceptions about 1) their

facility to access the Internet, 2) their current knowledge about searching reliable

information, and 3) to diagnose the main problems they present when searching

information on the Internet. For this, 6 closed questions and 2 mixed ones were used to find

the information required for this kind of research. Oppenhaim (1992) affirmed that the

sample (which in this case are 58 people divided into 29 men and women) could highly be

an accurate representation of the population. The main intention was to cover all those who

had presumably studied composition subjects

4.2.2 Interviews. According to Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2008), Interviews

involve asking questions and getting answers from participants in a study. Interviewing has

a variety of forms including individual, face-to-face interviews and face-to-face group

interviewing. The asking and answering of questions can be mediated by the telephone or

other electronic devices (e.g. computers) interviews can be structured or semi-structured. In

structured interviews, the interviewer asks each respondent the same questions. The
 38

questions are elaborated before the interview, and often have a limit of response

categories. On the other hand, in semi-structured interviews, the interviewer creates and

uses an 'interview guide.' This is a list of questions and themes that need to be treated

during the chat, usually following an order.

This second one was used to 1) diagnose if students used libraries instead of websites

to find reliable information, 2) if they actually trusted the information they could eventually

find, and 3) why they preferred searching on the web instead of going to libraries. The

results of this interview were used to create the first video-tutorial that later would be

socialized with students from the sixth semester, and at the same time to analyze if students

who were producing academic reports knew how to find trustable information. Here it is

important to establish that these interviews were done with ninth semester students from

2015, first promotion. (For this, check the video in the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtUj4kkb6TE).

4.2.3 Observations. According to Baker (2006), the observations allow the

researcher to analyze people in their native environment in order to comprehend things

from their perspective. Observation demands the investigator to spend a lot of time in the

field with the chance of adopting different roles in order to gain a more comprehensive

understanding of the community being studied.

In this last one data collection instrument, four classes were required to observe the

students who were studying American History, Literature, and Civilization. Besides, it was

necessary to create a learning group on Facebook (a page called Gabunet because of the

YouTube Channels name) which was a space to evidence how the participants received the

material and their opinions about the project. This complemented the process because they
 39

provided valuable data that would permit better analysis and so to close this stage

satisfactorily.

4.3 Context

This investigation was developed at a public university at Porvenir neighborhood of

Florencia, Caquet. This institution Universidad de la Amazonia - has been serving a huge

population from the south of Colombia since 1982. Furthermore, Universidad de la

Amazonia has the mission to contribute to the formation of qualified staff to face the

challenges of the third millennium with quality education, broad and democratic at the

undergraduate level, postgraduate level and others (Universidad de la Amazonia, Translated

by the author, 2013, para. 1). The English Language Teaching Program was created to form

competent English educators for teaching English language in any context of the

Colombian territory, during nine semesters this academic space gives orientation in

pedagogy and linguistics to those students who want to become professional English

Language teachers.

The English Language Teaching Program has nine semesters in both day and night

shifts. The Program counts with 42 subjects, classified in 3 areas of formation and 6 fields

of formation. The program counts with an exclusive Laboratory to practice the different

English Language skills and they have access to 5 classrooms with TV to the development

of classes. In 2015, second promotion, there were two groups of the sixth semester.

However, this project was developed with the night group. The night group was selected to

develop this case study (that at that moment had 23 students) with an age range of 18 and

21 years old. There were ten (10) male students and thirteen (13) women. Twenty (20) of

them could access the Internet easily; nevertheless, not all of them considered that they are
 40

successful when searching information. Furthermore, despite those students knew the

meaning of plagiarism; some of them did not know how to use the APA rules for citation.

To finally add, it is important to say that five participants were involved in the study,

despite the fact that the research was developed with all the students, considering the

aspects that were mentioned in the section of participants.

4.4 Participants

Through the diagnostic phase, it was considered that five participants should have

been part of this study, two women and three men between 18 and 21 years old (they are all

of the full legal age, according to Colombian laws so it was not necessary to write consent

letters for participation. However, it was essential to let them know that their identities were

not going to be revealed). They were selected to be participants in this investigation

because they showed similar characteristics: 1) they were very interested in the project

since the first day of presentation before starting the workshops, 2) they had the Internet at

home and could access the web easier than other classmates, 3) they had an account on

Facebook, 4) they liked watching videos on You Tube, and 5) they all were students from

sixth semester so they were studying English academic composition. This was such a great

advantage because they would be the most attentive people to the research.
 41

5. Findings

5.1 First stage: Diagnostic

For the development of this phase, it was necessary to use two data collection

instruments: questionnaire surveys and filmed interviews. Each one is going to be

explained with the conclusions below. They both are relevant because this is the

demonstration of a research problem about the use of reliable information to write reports

effectively. However, it was also necessary to diagnose which strategy they like to

implement to overcome that problem.

5.1.1 Questionnaire surveys. For the case, this data collection instrument was used on

September 2014. Eleven questions were asked to 58 people from 5th semester onwards,

regarding the fact that they studied composition subjects from that period. Now, each

question is going to be shown below with the respective analysis.

Question 1: To this question, 51 of the 58 students surveyed answered that they had

access the Internet, but 7 o answered they had not access easily (See graphic 3, Access the

Internet).

Graphic 3. Access the Internet.

Do you have easy access the

60 internet?

40
Yes
51
20 No

7
0
 42

The majority of students can access the Internet easily. People nowadays can buy a

phone and get data for their phones thanks to the advance of technology. They can also

acquire a broadband the Internet monthly plan for the comfort of people at home. This is

anyhow good because they can have not only books but the Internet.

Question 2: As it is seen in the graphic, 49 of the 58 students expressed that they did

not have problems to research Information on the Internet. However, 9 accepted to have

problems in this area (See graphic 4, Problems of researching information on the Internet).

Graphic 4. Problems of researching information on the Internet.

Do you consider that you have problems

to research information on the Internet?
60
50
40
Yes
30
49 No
20
10
9
0

Most of the students considered that they did not have problems when researching

information. This is something somehow worrying because they did not make differences

between information taken from commercial webpages and information taken from

academic ones. In other words, they were not researching well by assuming that they were

taking data from commercial webpages (pages finishing in .com.) as a way to support

written reports.
 43

Question 3: According to the results obtained, 17 of the 58 students answered that the

information found was not clear or understandable when they tried to research specific data

on the Internet, 18 established that they had problems finding web sites related to the

information they were looking for. Moreover, 19 considered that the sites that they used for

searching were not reliable (See graphic 5, Problems of researching specific information on

the Internet).

Graphic 5. Problems of researching specific information on the Internet.

What problems do you find when you have to

research specific information on the Internet?
20
The information
18 found is not clear or
16 understandable
14
I can't find sites
12 related to the
10 information I am
18 19
17 looking for
8
The sites where I find
6 the information are
4 8 not reliable

2
Others
0

Students considered that most problems about searching information were sources

are not reliable. Here is clear that the first question has no validity and it is concluded that

they did not know how to search information successfully. When they selected that the

information was not clear or understandable it is estimated that the data is not clear because

information is complex, depending on the topic and so the case. For example technological

issues (programming and related topics). Another explanation is the fact that there is too

much information that students would not easily study and comprehend. Additionally,
 44

when they assumed that the Information is difficult to find there are some cases where

information about one specific topic is limited and possibly people have to pay to access

that knowledge.

Question 4: When they were asked about the use of academic web sites for

searching 24 of the 58 students recognized to use at least one. On the other hand, 34

students admitted do not use these sources (see graphic 6, Use of academic websites).

Graphic 6. Use of academic websites.

Do you visit academic websites when you

research information on Internet?
40

30
Yes
20
34 No
10 24

One reason to do not use academic web sites is that not all students know about the

existence of this kind of source. They use Google as a possible reliable site but if people do

not use the key words or the specialized search engines to investigate the results are not

specific and students end up getting information of any web page.

Question 5: The question about the problems in the application of APA rules in their

writing assignments 27 of the 58 students accepted to have some difficulties using in this

aspect. On the other hand, 19 answered that they did not have problems with APA rules.
 45

However, 12 learners claimed that they did not know what APA rules are (see graphic 7,

Application of APA rules).

Graphic 7. Application of APA rules.

Do you have problems in the application

of APA rules in your writing assignments?
30
25 Yes
20
No
15
27
10 19
You don't know
5 12
what APA rules are
0

At least the middle of the respondents had problems related to APA rules. This

becomes worse when 12 more students affirmed not to know those ones. This was

something to worry about because students from 5th semester onwards were interviewed.

They were supposed to know these rules, but the answer was negative. Only 19 manifested

and managed APA rules properly.

Question 6: This question was about the consequences of the plagiarism and 55 of

the 58 students answered that they knew about the aftermaths of this academic crime, just 3

students manifested ignore this situation (see graphic 8, Consequences of plagiarism).

Graphic 8. Consequences of plagiarism.

 46

Do you know which the consequences of

plagiarism are?
60
50
40
Yes
30 55
No
20
10
3
0

The fact that the majority of students knew about the consequences of plagiarism

does not mean that all of them knew how to avoid it. In some cases, students are conscious

of this academic crime nevertheless seek the way to cheats on for obtaining better grades in

their subjects.

Question 7: According t the results, 22 of the 58 students considered the information

that they found on Internet was reliable, 12 answered the contrary. But, 21 did not know and

3 did not care if was reliable or not (see graphic 9, Reliability of the information found on

the Internet).

Graphic 9. Reliability of the information found on the Internet.

Do you think the information you find on

the Internet is reliable?
25

20
Yes
15 No
10 22 21 I don't know

5 12 I don't care
3
0
 47

Despite the most common answer was to agree with the premise I trust the

information I find, there were so much more people who did not trust, did not know and

even did not care about that. Besides, in many cases is not easy to establish the reliability of

information found on the Internet because of a large amount of plagiarized content in all

areas of knowledge.

Question 8: About the degree option of the 58 students selected that prefer teaching

practice, 9 of the 58 chose degree work. On the other hand, 23 of the 58 wanted seminary

and 17 of the 58 advanced semester (see graphic 10, Degree option).

Graphic 10. Degree option.

Once you finish all the subjects in the

career, what degree option would you
select?

25
20 Teaching Practice
15 Degree work
10 23
17 Seminary
5 8 9 Advanced Semester
0

Students from English Language Teaching Program have always preferred to take

seminaries or advanced semesters instead of writing a project or doing a teaching practice.

This is easy to verify comparing the number of virtual theses available for downloading

corresponding to the English area at online catalog (OPAC) from the official web page of

Universidad de la Amazonia with the number of students graduated through seminaries in

the last years.

 48

Question 9: Based on the results, 47 of the 58 students considered that is necessary

the implementation of a subject to know good study habits and information research in the

English Language Teaching Program. However, 11 answered the contrary (see graphic 11,

Consideration of the implementation of a new subject).

Graphic 11. Consideration of the implementation of a new subject.

Do you consider that the implementation of a

subject to know good study habits and
information research is necessary in the
English Language Teaching Program
curriculum?
50

Yes
47
No
11
0

These university students considered that it was necessary to implement a subject

that teaches the good habits for the search of information, although they had received some

training previously. Nevertheless, they affirmed they would like to receive online training

(video tutorials) and in class training (workshops).

Question 10: In this question, 52 of the 58 students recognized that they wanted to

receive more information about research techniques. On the other hand, 6 did not desire

receive that training (see graphic 12, Information research techniques).

 49

Graphic 12. Information research techniques.

Would you like to know more about

information research techniques?
60
50
40
Yes
30
52 No
20
10
6
0

Although most of the students did not want to develop an extended investigation to

obtain a degree, they considered important to receive extra information about research

techniques because in some subject of the English Language Teaching Curriculum written

reports often are requested.

Question 11: In the last question they had the possibility to select more than one

option. When they were consulted about the interest about the strategies for knowing more

about research techniques 27 of the 58 students selected Classroom and workshops 21

Websites and blogs, 18 personalized chats 12 Speeches or congress and 28 Video-

tutorials (see graphic 13, Information about research techniques).

 50

Graphic 13. Information about research techniques.

In the case you are interested to know more about

information research techniques, which strategy
would you prefer?
30
25 Classroom Workshops
20 Websites/Blogs
15 28 Personalized chats
27
10 21 Speeches or Congress
18
5 12 Video tutorials

Students always think in the more comfortable way for receiving instructions that

are way workshops and video-tutorials were the options more prominent. Additionally,

websites and blogs are intrinsically related to the use of the Internet and give the chance to

students of working out site the University just accessing to a modern device.

5.1.2 First Interview. This second data collection instrument to diagnose the

problem was used on June 6th, 2015. It was applied to 13 people (7 men and 6 women), all

of them were taking a seminar with an emphasis in communication to get the degree of

English Language Teachers, and all of them belonged to the ninth semester. This interview

was based on four opened questions and the interviewed people were recorded in audio and

video formats while answering the questions. The summary of this activity is found in the

video of Gabunet uploaded in Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtUj4kkb6TE)

from minute 1:09 to 4:22. The questions were:

 51

A) Which is the resource you use more when seeking academic information: libraries

or the Internet?

In the first question, all the interviewed people manifested they used the Internet to

search information for academic purposes, arguing that it was easy, fast and effective to

find information through this resource. Besides, they expressed that information they could

find was clearer, and in some cases, they said they did not have time to move from home to

libraries for consulting information. In addition, most of them had this service in their

houses. For few people, the kind of webpage was important (if the information was relevant

or not according to academic criteria), and just one person considered the possibility to look

up information on books in cases where that person would not find information on the web.

B) When was the last time you visited the library?

When students were asked about the last time they visited libraries, the question was

somehow funny to most of the respondents because libraries were a place that they rarely

visited. For some, they visited libraries one week before; for some others, months or even

years when the last time they visited libraries, like one female students case who expressed

she did not visit libraries since school time. Not all the people that informed they visited a

library stated that they did it by their will, so they were forced by professors to do it for

academic purposes. Some of the reasons they expressed about not going to libraries was

because they did not have time to do so, and sometimes the information was obsolete.

C) What advantages and disadvantages you may find when seeking information on the

web?
 52

In terms of the third question, the most mentioned advantages of using the Internet

were the ease to access it from diverse devices, how the Internet could save a lot of time

and the existence of trustable information from universities, authorities and government

webpages. The amount of unreal information, the increasing number of webpages (some of

them generate hesitation, so there are few possibilities to prove that information is reliable)

and the duplicity of information that can generate disinformation were the most mentioned

disadvantages. Another aspect to consider was the variety of opinions, regarding the fact

that everybody can upload information on the web, as in Wikipedia, that seem to be

trustable, but it does not. Overusing the Internet was also another disadvantage that one

student affirmed because books are being forgotten.

D) Do you consider that information you find on the Internet is reliable?

Finally, when students were consulted about information reliability, the majority of

them coincided that not all the information is trustable, and false in most cases. In addition,

most of webpages are commercial and not academic ones. They considered that

information could be reliable depending on the kind of webpage, so they suggest checking.

5.2 Second stage: Creation of video-tutorials

Before the intervention classes, and according to the proposed schedule, it was

necessary to devote some time for the recording and editing of all the videos. It took

approximately four hours per video for filming and three hours daily during seven days for

the edition. 120 hours were devoted in total. Scripts were designed with sequential content

that linked all aspects about an appropriate use of the Internet for searching.
 53

Five video-tutorials were necessary to encompass the different aspects of writing.

Below, each video will have its respective explanation of content.

5.2.1 The Internet vs. Libraries. Which one is better. This video starts introducing

the new YouTubers and showing interviews to nine-semester students from the English

Language Teaching program at Universidad de la Amazonia. These interviews were carried

out before, in the diagnostic section. Afterwards, YouTubers mention the conclusions about

the interviews, and they relate the answers from the interviews to real situations that make

students find information from the Internet rather than libraries. Then, the YouTubers

comment the advantages and disadvantages of using the Internet. Eventually, they say that

using the Internet has somehow improved the way in which people find information, so

they invite their viewers to know how to search information on the web in next video. (To

watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtUj4kkb6TE)

5.2.2 Search engines. The video starts with the greetings from YouTubers, who say

the objective of the video. The concept of search engines is explained and they point out

some tips when searching information. This video is quite long due to the number of tips.

As an example, students use google.com to show those tips. (To watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMgT7-Glen4).

5.2.3 How to identify a reliable webpage. The third video-tutorial begins with a

sketch where one of the YouTubers is in front of a laptop using it, and he complains about

the lack of information from the web. Suddenly, one external voice starts to talk to him,

saying that he will help him with his situation. Then, the YouTubers show some examples

about misunderstandings due to fake webpages. Finally, they share some tips to avoid
 54

mistakes like the ones they have mentioned before and improve writing. (To watch this

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQRKj5iZ1yE).

5.2.4 Strategies to avoid plagiarism. Similar to the third video, this one starts

with a sketch where a guy pretends to write his essay paper, but he wastes his time doing

useless activities. Eventually, he gets in trouble. Then, he plans to commit plagiarism when

suddenly his consciousness voice speaks to him and warns not to do that. After that, the

YouTubers present some interviews about plagiarism (concept, implications, consequences,

and how to avoid it) and some examples of plagiarism with real cases, in music, arts,

academy, and journalism. Finally, the youtubers give tips about writing papers without

plagiarizing. (To watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn0Ws63zCo0).

5.2.5 Use of Google Scholar and Dialnet. The last video from this YouTube channel

is about the use of two specific webpages that are useful to find academic information. This

video only focuses on how to use them and the diverse advantages. (To watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cahm5V_iJ6Y)

These YouTube videos were developed in Spanish. Here, it is important to say that

the video does not have any kind of restrictions and people could comment their thoughts

and opinions about them.

5.3 Third stage: Interventions

After the diagnostic research results, it was concluded that workshops and video-

tutorials were the best way to improve academic written reports and avoid issues such as

plagiarism. For this, four intervention classes were applied, each one lasted an hour and a
 55

half.Therefore, it was first necessary to create a video-tutorial that could be posted in

YouTube platform to discuss aspects of writing.

With all these videos, four intervention classes were supposed to be done; using

workshops as the main strategy, and five video-tutorials as the main material. To follow

this process, it was fundamental to create a group on Facebook called GABUNET (Grupo

de aprendizaje para el buen uso de la Internet). This name was also used for the YouTube

channel). The interaction in this group and the comments from the videos were totally

monitored for the research.

5.3.1 First intervention. The use of the Internet to search information and develop

academic activities was the topic of discussion during the first class. At first, they were

asked about the use of the Internet, and then the use of libraries for the same purpose, so

they had to take out a piece of paper and write which one was better and the reasons why

that person would think that with supporting ideas. Based on their writings, the whole

group was divided into two by numbering each student with 1, and 2. As soon as the groups

were formed, each group had a task, to debate based on the prompt that professors would

assign to them. Group number one had to argue why the Internet was rather better than

libraries, and vice versa in group number two. The debate was intense and it was a proper

space for everybodys participation. This debate lasted about 20 minutes so that most

people could speak and express their thoughts. Additionally, there were some remarkable

opinions that are going to be quoted below.

One female student that defended libraries said: The Internet is not facilitating our

lives at all. Lately, we have become lazier, we do tasks at the last minute because of the

Internet, we do not read, we do not properly search, and we just copy and paste and thats
 56

it. Instead, when one reads books, one is developing critical thinking, one comprehends and

understand and some much more. On the other hand, one male student that supported the

Internet stated: the information remains more time, is safer, but books are not durable, can

be exposed to humidity, plucked in any page, and can even get stolen. These and other

opinions were heard.

Afterwards, the first 8-minute-gabunet-video-tutorial was played: The Internet vs

Libraries. Which is the best one? Students paid close attention to this video where different

students from ninth semester expressed their thoughts and ideas. After the video, some

students expressed that they felt they were identified with some of their statements.

Besides, most of their thoughts were discussed previously in the debate. At the end,

students asked questions about the production of the video and suggested some things for

future Gabunet videos. As a task, they had to search specific information to write in next

class. (See picture 1, First Intervention).

Picture 1. First Intervention.

5.3.2 Second intervention. The second class began by reminding some aspects that

were discussed in the first class. This time, students were asked about the pros and cons of
 57

searching on the Internet. Students had the same ideas they expressed in the previous class,

but arguments were best expressed, with supporting facts. This activity lasted 15 minutes,

and it was a good way to introduce the new topic search engines. Before playing the

video, professors asked students how they searched information, and all of them said they

used Google search to find it. Some of them wrote a lot of words, some others only wrote

key words. Some of them said they wrote in an affirmative way while others in

interrogative one (most of the times using WH-Questions).

Considering the way students found information, the second video was played, that

explained some tips to search using Google Chrome browser. This video lasted 13 minutes.

Here it is important to say that only one student got distracted, chatting on his phone, so he

was not paying attention to the video-tutorial. After the first play, and by the students

request, the tips section was replayed. For few people, some tips were familiar to them, but

for the rest (the majority) this content was something totally new.

Fortunately, the classroom had audiovisual aids and access to the Internet, so it was

such a great opportunity for students to search information on the web, based on the topics

they had been working on. For this, each student used the equipment and searched,

considering the tips from the video-tutorial. At the end of the class, students were asked to

express their opinions about the tips from the video through writing. Everyone wrote these

things would facilitate searching and reliable information might be found easily.

5.3.3 Third intervention. The main idea of this third meeting was to recommend

students how to identify reliable web pages. To get started, student teachers invited 5

volunteers to come in front of the class and think what would be the worst disadvantage of
 58

using the Internet to research information about academic topics. Among the disadvantages,

the main issue was to get certain information and not be sure if that information was

trustable or not. Some others manifested that they searched in academic pages to avoid the

issue previously mentioned, but they later claimed that those webpages were not 100%

effective so they had to get data from unexplored webpages.

After 10 minutes of socialization about that question, the video How to identify a

trustable web page was played. This video was shorter than the last one (7:59 minutes).

This video illustrates in an easy way that using fake information from the web without any

bad intention is more common than people think and anyone might make this mistake. At

the end of the video, the YouTubers explained six useful pieces of advice to identify

trustable webpages, so students formed six groups and each one of them was assigned to

explain one of the advice by an oral presentation. They had to tell their partners why

putting into practice that piece of advice was important when researching academic

information.

The pieces of advice were: a) search who the author of the webpage is, b) verify the

source of information, c) check the website domain, d) review the country where the

webpage is from, e) check updates and f) verify organization and aesthetics of the website.

They had 30 minutes to prepare their point of view about these steps and all groups

presented this activity. This part was successful for the whole group because students found

new reasons (besides the mentioned ones from the video) to consider each one of those

steps, and so these aspects were shared with other students, who were especially motivated

for this topic, as they argued that learners do not consider these when researching. (See

picture 2, Third Intervention).

 59

Picture 2. Third Intervention.

5.3.4 Fourth intervention. In this fourth lesson, the last two videos from the video-

tutorial were played: Strategies to avoid plagiarism (10:22 min) and Use of Google

Scholar and Dialnet (12:06 min). This time, the class started with a dialogue with the

whole group, this class was arranged in horseshoe way to 1) talk about plagiarism in the

academic area and 2) determine the reasons why this offense is carried out. After minutes

of socializing, the conclusion was that people do not know the consequences of plagiarism;

academic people lack time to develop written works, and there are particular interests that

induce unethical conducts like opportunism. Disinformation was also considered among the

reasons. Then, the student teachers asked students if they had plagiarized, concluding that

all of them raised their hands, and claiming that they did it unconsciously.

The next step was to play the fourth video-tutorial. As usual, this video offers pieces

of advice to avoid plagiarism. In that video, students were interested in the fact that

webpages to check plagiarism exist, like grammarly.com which helps to detect

plagiarized texts from different webpages. Unfortunately, the free version is limited to

different functions.
 60

To complement the fourth video, student teachers told the participants that the last

video Use of Google Scholar and Dialnet was going to be played. Students showed a lot

of interest because they had previous experience with the first webpage. Anyway,

sometimes students got distracted because of the video length. At the end, teachers and

students could not deeply discuss this video, so they had to write a final written report

about their experience with the video-tutorials and the workshops along the classes.

Teachers thanked students for their participation in this research study. (See picture 3, Four

intervention).

Picture 3. Fourth Intervention.

In these terms, these are short texts that 5 students wrote to let us know their

experience in this project:

Student 1:

The presentation of video-tutorials has been highly important

regarding the fact I am next to be a professional, considering that

they offer information we do not acknowledge and so use it in

 61

advance. One of the video-tutorials that caught my attention the most

was the one about the tools to use Google Scholar because we

sometimes do not focus on search results and consequently we do not

search well. I believe Gabunet is such a good project because it

provides relevant information and they use the ICTs well

Student 2:

Videos were very good and interesting in general terms because

they are so helpful in our careers, and that we (as students) have to

take into account at the moment of writing and researching on the

web. We do not know in many times what exactly the Internet is

offering to us and the tools we can use. Thanks to these videos, I

realized I did not know many aspects that are helpful to me and so I

will have to use it when I am navigating on the Internet. The most

important thing is to avoid plagiarism when it comes to written

reports. Many of the pages the videos mentioned are pretty helpful to

use them

Student 3:

I believe all the videos are pretty nice, but I am exclusively writing

about the last two. The first one was pertinent and good in terms of

aesthetics and content. There was no content and visualization

saturation. About the tools to avoid plagiarism, I think they are useful

because we didnt initially know them. From now on I will use them.
 62

In this second video, I consider the Google Scholar tool is very

useful because it has or it lets us find diversity in information

rather than Dialnet, which is more efficient to work in countries like

Spain.

Student 4:

Aspects: Few in general terms. You have been improving your

videos. I liked the first one due to the students interventions about

opinions and consequences. The last one is interesting because of the

tools that I did now know. That definitely gives it a plus.Suggestions:

I consider you should have talked more about plagiarism: not only

show academic aspects, but also videos, presentations, photographs;

I mean, show the plagiarism in every way, highlighting not only the

academic but other aspects too. In the second video, you missed the

tools that our University of Amazonia has. We have different

connections with other servers and so it encourages our sense of

belonging. I know you are working in our University and so your

goal must be related to the tools we have.

Student 5:

It is mainly important to mention that it is good to learn how to

avoid plagiarism, and all the kinds of copy and paste that will

prejudice us, and our learning process in long term. Even though a

lot of people avoid plagiarism, there are many people who still
 63

plagiarize unconsciously; and we will eventually have to consider

that we need to improve to write, paraphrase, and cite to become

excellent students. In a research project, it is necessary and

important to know how to use databases in online platforms like

Google Scholar and Dialnet, among others. These massive

information sources would let us use correctly a citation and so we

will have strong bases where we can support our research process.

5.4 Fourth stage: Evaluation

In this part of the project an interview was implemented to five students from 6th

semester of English Language Teaching Program, they answered a questionnaire of seven

questions in order to evaluate aspects concerning to the research taking into account the

interventions and the audiovisual material created by the researcher. The complete

transcription of the interviews is found in annex 1.

The following table corresponds to the analysis of such interviews.

Table 1. Table of analysis of the interviews conducted by the focused group.

Questions Opinion Thoughts Importance Things Opinion about Reco Improv

s the video- ement
About the of the topics Learned in tutorials menda of
About topics classes
the tions Written
classes
Reports

Interviewee

Student 1 The The most Are very I learned how The design was I would I have
informati represented important to search didactic. In terms suggest to somehow
on was topic was the because I (as a academic of aesthetics they apply spaces improved
very one that student of the information. were well where my
explained to ELT program) students written
 64

clear. us how to search a lot of developed. could put into reports,

use the search information practice this because I
engines step about research type of search
by step. and thesis education (as better
studies. it was kind of through
virtual the
education). search
engines.

Student 2 They The search Are very Some The videos have a It would be I
were so engines were important webpages nice presentation good if you improved
much very because most of that I wrote and they are well mad a better my
helpful interesting us did not have down to verify edited. introduction written
because I things to me clear plagiarism. with students. reports a
think because I information lot
most of didnt know about what you because
us do the how to were working the
basic differentiate on. process
things them. of finding
every reliable
time we informati
are using on was so
the much
internet. better.

Student 3 It is The video All were pretty The search At first, the videos I would say Yes, I
important about important engines. seemed to be that we have have
to be plagiarism is because there is opaque and they to believe in improved
recursive pretty a lot important were not eye- ourselves and a lot
with this interesting information catching. At the all around because I
(ICTs) because I about Internet end, they were this (our have
and this didnt have that we as colorful and university, found out
is why it any idea students ignore. dynamic. our program). diverse
is about the tools that
important webpages we I didnt
to teach can use to know I
things detect it. could
like this access.
to use it
properly

Student 4 Classes The use of It is highly How to use The videos have To work in a Yes,
have search important, for google been great computer specifical
been engines for general interest scholar. (progressively room for ly, the
great to academic because when great. students to plagiaris
me. purposes is we talk about practice the m part.
one of the internet we are things in class All the
more automatically so that indicatio
interesting talking about learning ns given
topics. something could be were
global as meaningful clear in
everybody uses and students video-
it. participate tutorials.
actively.

Student 5 These One about Within this To find The time aspect Activities I could
classes search process that detailed must be managed, where all the develop
are very engines was carried out, information. because videos students better
important because there I believe all the were too long. The could be research
because are many topics are rest was okay. completely exercises,
this can things we highly helpful. involved. I could
change ignore. search
our more
process investigat
to search ion
informati studies
 65

on on the and I
Internet could
as there write a
are good
things we paper.
dont
know.

The students' responses to the interventions were positive, highlighting the

importance of technological innovation in education and valuing the clarity of the

information that was made present in each intervention. They pointed out as crucial the

organization and variation of topics. These classes were very interesting because helped

them to know new aspects of the Internet and thanks to this the process of searching

information on the Internet could change.

There is no doubt that the videos Strategies to avoid the plagiarism and Use of

Google Scholar and Dialnet generated the most interest in students than the others. The

first one showed some pages that detect content plagiarized; this characteristic was

something new for them who have adopted this behavior in any part of their academic

process, sometimes intentionally and others do not. The use of search engines specialized in

academic content showed the students that there are other ways to be more successful in

their searches on the Internet that is why that video-tutorial was well received.

The topics given in the interventions were pertinent to the needs of the students.

They had a generalized concept of the searches on the Internet and to know through

Gabunet that there are other ways to be more effective helped them to take advantage of it.

The participants stated that they had learned more about two subjects in particular.

Search engines for academic material and everything related to plagiarism. Moreover, this

is directly related to question "b" where they are asked for the topic that they found most
 66

relevant. These two themes are of special care and merit further study because they are

fundamental steps for searching information and writing reports.

The video tutorials in terms of design, editing, and thematic were well received

by the students. They emphasize the evolution of these videos which began with a regular

production in the first works until an acceptable outcome in the last ones. Additionally, they

expected more sense of humor in the content because they are accustomed to visualizing

more experienced YouTubers with more hours of practice and production than us.

Within the suggestions given by the students to improve this type of classes they

mentioned a quite important related to the need to have a place especially organized to

receive this type of instruction because not all of them have the possibility of having a

laptop with access to the Internet to perform the different exercises presented in the

GABUNET video tutorials.

The students perception after having finished the process to watch, debate and

put into practice the video tutorials of GABUNET is to have improved the process of

elaboration of their written reports. This is because they learned to make better use of tools

unknown to them before of initiating this process as the search engines for specialized

academic material. They claimed that they improved their search results because to find

reliable information was easier after the interventions.

5.5 Summary of the stages

During all the research stages, many need to be concluded. First of all, in the

diagnostic phase (based on interviews and questionnaires), students from the English

Language Teaching program at Universidad de la Amazonia claimed that they have

 67

plagiarized before, most of the times without acknowledging the consequences; the

majority of them did not know what the APA style was, and the ones that barely know, did

not have any idea about how to use it. In this way, students expressed their desire to work

with video-tutorials and workshops to improve their searching abilities on the Internet.

Thus, student teachers prepared their respective videos, lesson plans and social networks to

implement what students from the ELT program expressed.

In the implementation phase, observations, debates, and interviews were made in

order to analyze relevant information. Thanked these, student teachers get interesting

results. These are:

a) The longer the video is, the less effective the video will be. Long videos (videos

that lasted more than 10 minutes) made the two out of 5 students from this case

study distracted. This was demonstrated in different observations.

b) Even though long videos provoked distractions, students affirmed all their

content is relevant. College students from 6th semester affirmed that all the

information the 5 videos had was highly important, accepting at the same time

that they were distracted because of some elements like cell phones or

conversations between partners, and so on.

c) Few students already knew how to search reliable information on the web. Most

of their perceptions about the video-tutorials were detected like something new

to them. Therefore, the aspects that student teachers found in the diagnostic

phase were totally proved in this implementation.

d) Students have felt an improvement in written reports when it comes to the use of

technology to search reliable information. Throughout the workshops and video-

tutorials that were applied to these five students, all of them unanimously
 68

expressed improvement in written reports, specifically in plagiarism. This was

concluded based on a questionnaire applied to the students that belong to this

case study as soon as they finished their learning process with the student

teachers (Included in annexes).

 69

6. Conclusions

Based on the experience from the researcher, some things might be concluded.

Some of them are:

The use of ICTs is helpful in terms of research. As YouTubers were filming,

editing and uploading videos to social networks, at the same time it was realized the

implementation of those videos were somehow made to themselves as well. Student

teachers had to work hard in order to know how to use ICTs productively.

This type of project needs to be developed in specialized rooms, and so students

would have gotten familiar with the topic. Nevertheless, the course of this research project

was not affected because of the lack of these aids. Student teachers always thought in a plan

B, and C, in cases where the class did not have the Internet connection.

The students perception was positive in general terms. Most of them expressed

admiration for the development of this project, as the realization of video tutorials and

workshops were part of a research study. They also thought that using webpages such as

YouTube and Google (which are familiar to them) is something innovative.

At first, student teachers raised the idea of showing videos that contained a lot of

information, but they had to design again the content of each video, getting the results we

have now. All of this was based on the students feedback.

This project is a preamble, as many topics could not be studied. This research study

could be developed in other contexts and situations where teachers have to solve students

needs.
 70

Finally, these videos were made with the aim that people watch them. Not only ELT

students but also students from other professional careers can have access to this material,

which is helpful to improve written reports.

 71

7. Recommendations

Advise the English Language Teaching Program from Universidad de la Amazonia

about the need of creating an academic subject to instruct students in the correct use of

ICTs and the information found on the Internet, or at least to properly give students

computer training. This is fundamental as students have problems to find reliable

information on the web.

Students from the ELT program need to have more access to the English Laboratory or

at least access to specialized rooms with computers in order to learn to use the Internet and

practice English as well.

Assigned professors in English General Composition and English Academic

Composition should use these videos in order to teach students the different aspects that

students have to consider at the moment of writing a report. This is a suggestion, although

the videos are in the Spanish Language.

The university library should have more computers for students. According to this

research, computers will ease students life in terms of academic aspects.

 72

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Annexes

Annex 1. Transcription of the evaluation interview.

a) What is your opinion about the classes, the use of the Internet as a source of

information?

Student 1: Basically, the opinion I can give is that information is very clear, easy

to understand because it is information that I can access, but not everybody can

properly use it. I think that technically speaking, online education is great.

Student 2 :Well, classes were interesting in general terms. To be honest, they were

so much helpful because I think most of us do the basic things every time we are using the

Internet, and we dont know how to use it properly. I believe all those videos provided us a

lot of information (webpages, search engines, browsers) all of that could clarify most of

our doubts so as to use the Internet better.

Student 3 : Well, we talked principally about ICTs. We notice everybody can access

the Internet. It is important to be recursive with this and this is why it is important to teach

things like this to use it properly.

Student 4. Classes have been great to me. Organized classes that have been

focused on specific topics (they are not disorganized). A good material has been

implemented. The videos are pertinent. There has been positive criticism and critical

thinking and lots of debates where we can express our viewpoints we have about the

different topics.
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Student 5: Principally, these classes are very important because this can change

our process to search information on the Internet as there are things we dont know.

b) Which of the topic(s) do you think it was the most interesting one?

Student 1 :The most represented topic was the one that explained to us how to

use the search engines step by step.

Student 2 : The search engines were very interesting things to me because I didnt

know how to differentiate them, and the video about plagiarism. I believe most of us know

that we have made unintentional (or intentionally, maybe) plagiarism when it comes to

written activities along the career. These videos provide us a lot of information to avoid

doing these things again.

Student 3: I think that the use of search engines for academic purposes is one of the

more interesting topics.

Student 4: I personally believe the video about plagiarism is pretty interesting

because I didnt have any idea about the webpages we can use to detect plagiarism, and I

believe they are great in our careers so as to write complex papers where we need to cite,

reference, research and so on. At the same time, we have to be careful with the things we

write.

Student 5 : The one about search engines because there are many things we ignore,

and based on this information you can find more detailed information.

C) How important do you consider that are the topics discussed in class?

Student 1: Personally, I think they are very important because I (as a student of the

ELT program) search a lot of information about research and thesis studies, and I
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did it differently before. Now, I do it in a more direct way, searching specific files.

This is highly important to me.

Student 2 :They are very important because most of us did not have clear

information about what you were working on. Maybe, we had that information in general

terms, but as soon as you came and played those videos, we eventually knew things we

didnt know. In my case, I didnt.

Student 3 : They were pretty important because there is a lot important information

about the Internet that we as students ignore.

Student 4 :It is highly important, for general interest because when we talk about

the Internet we are automatically talking about something global as everybody uses it. It

affects us all and everybody is enrolled in this thing (all careers and professions). This is

necessary because every single person that is on the web must consider this information

that you provided.

Student 5 : Within this process that was carried out, I believe all the topics are

highly helpful.

d) Do you consider you have learned new things in class? Which ones?

Student 1: I dont remember a lot, but I learned how to search academic

information (google scholar) the diverse types of documents and so on. I also learned

certain codes to find specific types of files so that they can be easy to find.

Student 2 : Yes. Some webpages that I wrote down to verify plagiarism. Search

engines.
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Student 3: Yes, as I said before, the search engines and that stuff.

Student 4: Of course I have learned. The plagiarism topic, their detection

webpages, and so on. Also, how to use google scholar. I already knew it, but I didnt know

all their functions. As well, the search engines, the keys and techniques I didnt know to

have effective results.

Student 5 : Yes, the search engines video, for example. To find detailed

information.

e) What is your opinion about the videos? What can you highlight about them?

Can they be improved?

Student 1 : About the videos, I think the design was didactic. In terms of esthetics

they were well developed. I could suggest making the videos with more sense of humor and

so they videos can be eye-catching.

Student 2 : I believe the videos were pretty good. At first, the first two ones I

noticed you were kind of nervous, but you managed that well. The videos have a nice

presentation and they are well edited. By the time you were working with the videos, the

sense of humor increased, which is nice.

Student 3 : At first, the videos seemed to be opaque and they were not eye-catching.

At the end, they were colorful and dynamic. I would suggest to consider the aspect the

University use with students, because thats the idea. I liked it.

Student 4 : The videos have been great (progressively great). At the beginning, they

were normal, they missed some esthetic aspects, but you were improving the video

qualities, thanks to the feedback we gave you and the debates that were pretty good. I
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specifically liked the fourth video. A very complex video, well edited, well developed. The

last videos were very good.

Student 5 :Respecting to the videos, I believe they were very good. The time aspect

must be managed, because videos were too long. The rest was okay.

f) What recommendations would you give in order to have a higher impact in

class?

Student 1 : I would suggest to apply spaces where students could put into practice

this type of education (as it was kind of virtual education). It is hard because students

sometimes do not have computers. Another suggestion is that teachers must be confident.

Student 2 : You came to a place and you just played the video. It would be good if

you mad a better introduction with students. That would be like the only suggestion,

because classes were good.

Student 3 : First, I would say that we have to believe in ourselves and all around

this (our university, our program). Second, I believe researching is interesting because we

can see what our partners think. Finally, it is good to know many things we can use in

order to have a better performance in our processes. We have to start considering these

aspects.

Student 4 : To work in a computer room for students to practice the things in class

so that learning could be meaningful and students participate actively.

Student 5 : Activities where all the students could be completely involved.

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g) Have you improved your written reports after being part of this process?

Student 1 : I have somehow improved my written reports, because I search better

through the search engines (Google) and I have obtained better results. So in this way I

consider I have improved my written reports, and this is thanks to the videos.

Student 2 : I improved my written reports a lot because the process of finding

reliable information was so much better. Why? Because you guys gave us the tools and

provided us with much information about Google tools, about how to search webpages or

documents that we really wanted. The truth is that I have improved this skill thanks to

GABUNET.

Student 3 : Yes, I have improved a lot because I have found out diverse tools that I

didnt know I could access. For example, I learned to search academic aspects better to

make the search more effective. Also, the webpages that check grammar is something that

has helped me a lot, and all those aspects that students from the ELT program have to

consider. I have to thank GABUNET.

Student 4 : Yes, specifically, the plagiarism part. All the indications given were

clear in video-tutorials (their role was very important). In a certain grade, written reports

were improved.

Student 5 : Well, I think I have. I have improved thanks to GABUNETs video-

tutorials. I could develop better research exercises, I could search more investigation

studies and I could write a good paper because of that. Yes, I think I have improved.
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Annex 2. Photographs

Presentation of a video-tutorial

Participants
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Researchers

Edition of a video-tutorial
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Home recording studio

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Annex 3. Screenshots of social networks

Page on Facebook

Channel on Youtube
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Annex 4. Samples of surveys

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Annex 5. Scripts video-tutorials.

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