How To Create Engaging Video Based Learning
We have all heard of the catchphrase more than often; visuals speak 1000 words, so videos speak a million or a trillion of words. As learning experts have also rightly pointed out, it’s better to show than to tell the learners. It has been proven by most of the researchers that visually demonstrating a new skill or behavior can be an important component of multi-modal instruction.
As humans, we all like or even love videos. It is estimated there are over 6 billion hours of video that are viewed on YouTube every month, and that is almost an hour for every person on earth.
Though this type of learning is not new, with the advancement of YouTube it has become increasingly popular. In addition, video based learning caters to different learning styles and suits different types of content.
Here are some tips that you can use as an Instructional Designer to create engaging video based learning:
- State clear objectives.
First and foremost, you must have a clear goal in your mind in order to produce a video. In order to do this, you need to have clearly defined objectives for the videos. Setting clear goals is helpful to design the videos effectively, as you will have clear focus and will be able to meet the learning goals. - Keep them short.
The length of a video is the most important aspect to keep the learners engaged via the videos. You must ensure that the videos are not long; instead, ensure that they are short nuggets. Thus, if you have a lengthy module, you must try to break it up into bite-sized snippets that may range from 1-2 minutes. You need to ensure that the videos that you develop are easily digestible by the learners. Include more visuals than text: You must also ensure that you include more visuals in a video than just plain text. This is from my personal experience, where I feel that a video must not look like a replica of a PowerPoint and include more images; and when I say images, they should appear realistic. - Include voice over in the video.
This is another important aspect for video based learning, as there is a difference between a video based learning and a classroom training. In a video based learning the learners are left all by themselves, so the text or visuals you include in a video needs a supporting text via audio. In addition, it is also helpful to prepare an audio script for the audio that will accompany the video. - Incorporate captions.
There are various benefits of adding captions to a video and one of most obvious reason is to allow the learners who have a hearing disability to view the video with ease. Studies show that transcripts increase engagement and that captions increase the completion rate of video from 40% to 80%. There are various video-editing tools that allow you to add captions in your video such as Camtasia Studio. Incorporating captions in a video is also important for the learners who have English as a second language and have some difficulty in understanding what is being spoken, as they can get the captions translated. - Record your screen.
In case you are developing a video for an application, then it would be good to include a simulation. You can do this by recording the screen to show the things that you may not be able to do it via text or audio only. For example, consider a situation where you want to display to a learner how to save a file in MS Word. So, over here, a simulation or recording would prove to be much helpful, as it would make learning much more enjoyable and memorable. There are various tools that allow you to record your screen, such as Camtasia or Screenr.
These tips can allow you to create enriching and engaging videos, as video is the most powerful tool used for learning. So, the next time you are planning to create video based learning, you must ensure to remember these guidelines.
Reference:
Here is an excellent infographic to show the importance of video based learning: INFOGRAPHIC: Victory Through Video.
