Swiss Tales of Urban Landslides

In «Forensic Geotechnical Engineering,» practical application is crucial, necessitating field trips. However, logistical constraints hinder their inclusion in the curriculum. To address this, we propose a digital solution: interactive video field trips. The goal is to create three interactive videos about destructive Swiss landslides (St. Moritz, Zurich, Nendaz), tangible without leaving the campus by offering an experiential learning. Each case study has a unique story behind it, rooted in the history of Switzerland and ETH Zurich. The videos feature geotechnical experts, stakeholder perspectives, field documentation, historical material, animated visualizations of geotechnical concepts.

The students are exposed to interaction videos of case studies, analyzing geological formations and firsthand impacts of soil failures. Following exercise tasks to analyze the videos, they will engage in reflective practices, identifying insights and connecting encountered features to class discussions. Additionally, students develop solutions for case study problems, comparing and discussing them.

Our goals for this project are twofold: Firstly, we aim to transform part of the lectures into an active learning experience by guiding students through interactive video explorations. Secondly, we seek to assess the impact of a series of interactive videos strategies and establish guidelines for their didactic and narrative use at ETH Zurich.

The first main objective is to investigate how cognitive learning objectives are achieved through exploring interactive videos of case studies. In the present project, the cognitive learning objectives consist of students:
– critically explore the interconnectedness of stakeholder views, political decisions and historical perspectives of real-life cases
– to discuss with other students behalf of the video experiences potential solutions, identify bottlenecks and challenges of landslide disasters
– to reflect and practice their own perception of video-based analysis and compare it with other students (“forschendes Sehen” & media competencies, social and method-specific competencies)

The second main goal is, to investigate and explore the translation of field trips and novel didactical storytelling formats for interactive videos. As of today, tools like H5P or IVS (Interactive Video Suite) are often used to create some form of interactivity of already existing standard videos, e.g. creating a sudden pause in the video and asking a multiple-choice question. This does not yet reach the media-specific potential of active interactivity.
Hence to create media-specific interactive video learning experiences, interactive elements need to be designed regarding multimodal principles of educational videos. Hence, further project sub goals are:
– identify suitable transition points for educational interactive videos
– explore design principles for script writing and storytelling with interactivity aspects
– investigate the potential for digital field trip experiences (ETH-wide goal)
– define new accessibility standards for interactive videos (ETH-video goal)

The innovative aspects of our projects lie in the (1) interaction-based audiovisual experience with learning material, (2) critical-reflective exposure to video-based storytelling analysis of case studies and (3) the concept of social video learning.

(1) Guided reflections, discussions, and collaborative activities embedded within the interactive videos nurture critical thinking skills, methodical observational-skills and enables students to analyze complex problems and propose solutions effectively. With the integration of the interactive videos, students will be digitally exposed to real-world case studies which they would not be otherwise.

(2) “The ability to access, evaluate, and use media” and «understanding how media and digital technologies can influence beliefs and behaviours» are part embedded in the ETH competence framework. Audiovisual media follows different argumentation structures as texts. Being able to exercise to analyze, reflect and decode audiovisual media (videos) is key todays for students. In our project, they also need to analyze the “audiovisual rhetorics”, the power of images and the storytelling structure behind the case studies.

(3) Exploring interactive videos in academic teachings presents an opportunity to revolutionize the learning experience within our degree program at ETH Zurich. By exploring new didactical approaches such as «Forschendes Sehen» and «Social Video Learning,» we aim to improve teaching and learning by developing guidelines and strategies for integrating more interactive videos into teaching at ETH. This promotes collaboration among faculty, students, and experts, fostering continuous improvement and innovation in our teaching practices.