Use of instructional videos in leadership education in higher education under COVID-19: A qualitative study

“I think those scenarios could echo the theories. One of the students mentioned just now the video about whether the husband should steal medicine for his wife’s illness. In fact, the [blended learning] questions after the videos asked us to use the theory to answer. When I answer the questions, I would say from different levels whether the husband’s behavior is in line with. . .that is, it may be unreasonable on the legal level, but if it is on a higher level of morality, it may be more reasonable. That is, we can use the theory to analyze the case, instead of only using general terms to discuss the matter.” (Group 4 Line 604–609) However, a few students thought that the connection between these two kinds of videos was not strong enough (N = 7). Besides, students suggested adding more real life application of the theories (N = 1) or simplifying the theory-related videos (N = 3) in order to strengthen the link between the theory-related videos and the case-based videos. Fourth, for ways to improve the general video quality, students suggested adding translation of English vocabularies in the subtitles (N = 1). Moreover, students thought that the format or topics of some videos were quite outdated, so they suggested adding examples that were more related to the recent trend or news (N = 3) or discuss more social issues in order to strengthen their understanding of related topics (N = 1). The blended learning questions could be revised to strengthen their connection with the videos (N = 2). 3.4. Videos’ benefits to the students’ pre-lesson self-learning

In terms of videos’ benefits to the students’ pre-lesson self-learning, this study investigated two aspects: 1) theory-related videos’ contribution, and 2) case-based videos’ benefits. First, the majority of the students thought that the theory-related videos were good enough for pre-lesson self-learning (N = 28) because there were clear explanation of theories and the examples in the videos could explain the application of theories. As explained by a student: “I think the theory-related videos are easy to understand and suitable for self-study. Although sometimes I don’t understand the content after watching the video once, I would get the concept after watching it two to three times, and the explanation is very clear. There are also examples, which can help my understanding. The theories are simplified for us, and the PowerPoint files summarized the theories. Compared to reading academic journals or only attending the lectures, these videos are definitely better.” (Group 2 Line 466–469) Also, students perceived the theory-related videos as effective learning tool and they were helpful for their term paper writing (N = 8). Besides, with the videos, students were able to pace learning according to their own needs and gain flexibility (N = 6). As elaborated by a student: “I think the theory-related videos are easy to understand, and I didn’t encounter any diffi- culties during the learning process. Especially during self-study, we can choose different ways to watch the videos. We can choose to watch the same video again. We can fast pace

it, or we can pause it for a while at some point. Because videos have such flexibility, I think they are suitable for self-study.” (Group 8 Line 211–213) Besides, the theory-related videos could provide an overall mind map or guidelines (N = 5), and the pointers, highlighter and diagrams could explain the causal relationship in the theo- ries, which were helpful to students’ self-learning (N = 4). However, some students thought that the theory-related videos were not clear enough for self-learning because the English PLOS ONE Qualitative evaluation of virtual teaching and learning videos in leadership education PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291861 September 21, 2023 12 / 28