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Video on Your Budget and Your Schedule
The answer is video; it almost doesn’t matter what the question is.Don’t believe me? Here are a few examples:
- What is the most effective medium forcommunicating information quickly?
- Where do young adults get most of theirinformation?
- What’s a quick and easy way to create eLearningmodules in-house?
- What medium is a natural for short, engagingmicrolearning?
What did I tell you? The answer is video.
Learners tend to retain information longer when it is presented withvisual aids (photos, video, infographics) rather than as text-only instruction,according to “Learning Through Visuals,” an article published by Psychology Today. And study after study shows that youngeradults—anyone born after 1980, a cohort that makes up a large and growingsegment of our workforce—increasingly turn to video for news, education, socialinteraction, and more. Nearly half of 18- to29-year-old Americans watch online news video, for example; 81 percent use YouTube, and more than half use Instagram. Video is the eLearning tool of the moment. And, perhaps, of thefuture.
If learners will retain information presented visually, and video is amedium that appeals to many (if not most) employees, what’s the problem?
Too many eLearning designers are frightened off by the prospect ofcreating videos. They envision costly equipment and highly paid cameraoperators swarming the halls; budget overruns mounting by the hour; complexediting needs.
Nonsense. Creating video eLearning modules does not have to becomplicated or expensive. The rise of microlearning means that long videos arepassé. Forget the 30-minute (or longer!) documentaries and recorded lectures ofa few years ago. Even five minutes is too long for some topics or someaudiences.
A quick look at social media can offer some perspective: A Vine video is only six seconds long (!), yet people manage to tell storiesusing Vine. Instagram recently increased video length from 15 seconds to aminute. While eLearning developers might not go to these extremes, manymicrolearning units are three to five minutes; some topics might be coveredeffectively in a fast-paced 60- or 90-second video. Distilling the focus ofeach video to one narrow learning goal is the key to making impactful shortvideos.
Furthermore, creating effective videos does not have to break thebank. Anyone with a smartphone can record passable videos with practice(remember: no vertical video!). The truly brave can even edit videos on theirphones, using Videolicious or similar tools. Free and low-cost tools abound for editing andenhancing those videos on a laptop or tablet.
If recording original video isn’t the right choice, screencastingtools like CamStudio or Screencast-O-Matic can recordwhatever is on a computer screen. Screencasts are useful for showing learnershow to use a software package or other piece of equipment, for example. Toround out the tool box, aspiring video producers might check into inexpensive “whiteboardanimation” tools like VideoScribe or TruScribe, which make it easy to createprofessional, engaging lessons on just about any topic. Some tools includefigures; others allow developers to create their own whiteboard drawings.
When planning microlearning videos, remember these tips:
- Take advantage of video as a visual medium;humans are wired to notice motion.
- Define a clear, narrow focus. Plan to cover onetopic or learning goal per microlearning video.
- Use a script, but keep it brief. Show learnershow to do something rather than telling them. Use screencasting or whiteboardanimations for this—not text-heavy screens.
- Details, extra explanation, and supplementalinformation should go somewhere else. Give learners a handout for this material;better yet, make it available in a searchable app or database.
- Ensure that microlearning units arecross-referenced and easily searchable and accessible to learners—on theirlaptops, tablets, mobile phones—wherever they are likely to need the information.
Adding videos created in-house to an eLearning toolkit, on your budgetand on your schedule, is not only feasible, it’s a great way to offer learnersmore control over their learning schedule and content. By offeringmicrolearning units that employees can access as needed and withoutinterrupting their workflow, managers and eLearning developers can achieve twogoals: effective training and efficient employees.
References
Duggan, Maeve, NicoleB. Ellison, Cliff Lampe, Amanda Lenhart, and Mary Madden. “Demographics ofKey Social Networking Platforms.” Pew Research Center. 9 January 2015.
https://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/demographics-of-key-social-networking-platforms-2/
Kouyoumdjian, Haig.“Learning Through Visuals: Visual imagery in the classroom.” Psychology Today. 20 July 2012.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/get-psyched/201207/learning-through-visuals
Olmstead, Kenneth.“Five findings about digital video news.” Pew Research Center. 17 April 2014.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/04/17/five-findings-about-digital-video-news/
https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/youtube-statistics/
