Video Offers a New Twist on Learner Assessment

It’s an old saw that teaching something truly demonstrateswhether you understand it. And eLearning creates opportunities to assesslearners’ knowledge and skills in just this way.

The perfunctory multiple-choice tests that populate much eLearningcan be easy to defeat; some reveal the answers in feedback, then allow learnersto retake the test. But even the best multiple choice test is a limitedinstrument, which is why many instructors seek better ways to assess learners’mastery of material.

Technology—in the form of the ubiquitous smartphone—offers asolution. While asking each student to teach a lesson might be impractical in aconventional classroom, learners using mobile and virtual classrooms can puttheir mobile devices to work to show—and share—their newly acquired knowledgevia an instructional video.  

Most eLearning participants have access to a smartphone; manyuse one to complete their eLearning. And smartphones can be used to recordvideo. So, rather than send written questions to answer or require amultiple-choice quiz, some instructors ask learners to solve a problem orexplain a concept—on video. Thus the “test” is a short video or set of photos thatthe learner creates, documenting himself as he completes each step of a procedureor “teaches” a concept.

Who uses video assignments to assess learning?

“A video tells me within minutes if a student truly graspsthe concept,” physics professor Rhett Allain wrote in an article for WIRED, “The Best Way to Test Students? Make Them Explain It On Video.” Using acombination of written assessments and video assignments, Allain wrote, allowshim to know which students understand critical concepts and which students donot. He views the videos and assigns grades. Students who are dissatisfied withtheir grades may try again, submitting a new video. Each video must be underfive minutes. It’s not only a way for him to evaluate students’ learning; accordingto Allain, students have reported that making the videos helps them learn theconcepts better.

Allain is not alone; Comcast applies the “see one, do one,teach one” model with corporate learners, requiring a video to demonstratetheir mastery of the training material. Comcast’s training process for some newhires includes ride-alongs with more experienced technicians and supervisedpractice. Then, when the new engineers are ready to apply their training in thefield, they record a video or take still photos as they work through a newlytaught process. Managers and trainers use that documentation to verify that theengineers are completing tasks correctly.

Photo and video demonstrations have also replaced someformal written exams that were required for promotions, and according to GuySellwood, VP of Americas for Prosell Learning,the switch has been warmly embraced by the employees. Many of the engineersexcel at their work, but they learned English as a second language and may lackproficiency in writing—or may simply lack confidence in their ability toexpress themselves clearly in English. The written tests were nerve-racking;being able to move up in their field and demonstrate their abilities byliterally showing their work is a boost to both their confidence and theircareers.

Comcast is using learner-created video in other innovativeways as well—to replace five-minute presentations each new hire was required todo as part of onboarding training, for example. Now, the employees create videoswhere they share what they’ve learned about the company’s history with othernew hires. (You can read more about how Comcast uses video and mobile devicesto enhance training in “Comcast Uses Mobile to Deepen Learning and Verify Skills.”)

Learners are not the only ones who get assessed via video. It’s commonfor teachers themselves to be critiqued based on videos of their teaching. Infact, athletes, dancers, dog trainers—anyone whose body position and movement iscritical to their results—commonly use video to evaluate their own performanceor seek professional coaching. But the twist in Comcast’s and Allain’s uses isthat they are “testing” knowledge of concepts or application of skills that arenot body-dependent. Their video-based tests reveal an untapped opportunity; learners’mastery of just about any concept or skill could be evaluated by asking them to“teach” it on video or show their work.