Abstract

This article investigates the duality of a teacher’s role in the design process as it relates to the production and use of instructional videos to teach practice-based courses in developing economies, particularly in countries where they are constrained by a paucity of human and infrastructural support caused: by poor governance, dwindling teacher population occasioned by brain drain, poor infrastructure and equipment, and, most particularly, access to the internet. This research is of the premise that to improve the teaching of practice-based courses in the third world, there is a need to support teachers’ demonstrations in and out of the classroom, studio, and laboratory by empowering them to be able to produce instructional tools for demonstration, locally, easily, and as conveniently as possible. Hence this article will discuss findings from a case study that involves the design and production of instructional video used through mobile phones to teach practice-based skills in a tertiary institution in Nigeria. The article, while discussing the teacher’s role as a user, will also look at the teacher’s role in the context of a producer. Thus, it will also discuss if, as gatekeepers, teachers have access to design production skills and the authority (expertise) to create instructional tools (instructional video in this case) that are acceptable to teach practice-based skills to students, particularly those in higher education. Finally, the article appraises what parameters can be used to assess a teacher’s instructional video products.