Learning Benefits of Video in Education
- supports multi-modal learning
- appeals to visual learners
- helps students understand complex information
- aids in knowledge retention
- develops digital literacy by requiring interaction with technology and devices
Practical Benefits
- Recorded content can be made available for a longer period of time
- Modules can be made available at any time (rather than for just one class or term)
- Allows for “Flipped Classroom” – lectures can be given as homework, then classroom time can be used for questions and discussion
- Broaden audience – content can be made available to a wider audience (or even the general public)
Creating Effective Educational Videos
Three elements for video design and implementation as stated in Creating Effective Educational Videos (Vanderbilt University):
- Cognitive Load (and saving information to long-term memory)
- Active Learning
- Engagement/Affective Domain
Cognitive Load
- Signal important information by highlighting concepts using text or symbols
- Segment information into smaller pieces, and give users control over the flow of information
- Weed out extraneous information that doesn’t contribute to the learning goal
- Match Modality by using dual and complementary information channels (audio and visual) to convey information (e.g., no talking-head only, or no visual-only).
Active Learning
- Use guiding questions
- Use interactive features that give students control
- Integrate questions into the video
Student Engagement
- Keep it short (no videos longer than 6 minutes)
- Use conversational style
- Speak relatively quickly, and with enthusiasm
“What Makes an Online Instructional Video Compelling?”
“Why Videos are Important in Education”
“Creating Effective Educational Videos”