I like to think that simply putting a video into a course will automatically engage students and improve their learning.
Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.
Watching a video can be as passive as reading a textbook can be.
Which is why I want to find out how to efficiently make effective videos for online education.
From my own experience, I know that video can be a highly effective, educational tool. It’s great way to learn from an expert who knows and can do what you want to be able to know and do.
I think it is also a good idea for our courses to reflect what is happening in today’s society in the way people tend to consume media and information.
In fact, many of online academic students are asking in the course evaluations for more video.
Such video provides visual learning content to students wherever they want it, whenever they need it and at whatever pace that works for them.
Do students learn more from video than from books?
Research is showing us now that short videos improve learning in online education.
Sin & Sigas (2013) found that when an online course has mini-lecture videos in it, the students are more likely to stay in the course and have a slight increase in their grades.
Lawson et al (2006) show that students tend to remember more of the content in a video when compared to reading it in a text.
Our students love video.
The only problem is – it takes a lot of time and effort to produce good videos.
Which means that I will focus on:
- How can we quickly produce effective videos that engage students and promote active learning?
Or more simply, how can we do it right and how can we do it in less time?
What have I found out already?
How do we increase student engagement in a video?
Keep it short, target the key learning outcomes, talk in a conversational way, and speak relatively quickly.
How do we increase active learning in a video?
One way is to embed guiding questions into the video that help students to process the information and monitor their own understanding.
Another way is to directly connect the videos to the assessments.
What is the optimum length for an online educational video?
Current wisdom says around six minutes. But I think they can be longer than that as long as the presenter is enthusiastic, and the content is focused and effective.
What makes a video effective?
The video needs to have carefully-structured content that is easy to understand, reinforces learning, and looks professional.
In my research, I intend to find out how to structure these learner-centered, didactic videos.
- How can I make sure that my research into effective videos is beneficial to the future design and delivery of AU courses?
In conclusion, why is understanding effective educational video important to me?
Because I think that ultimately, providing effective videos for our students will help improve their learning and help us to understand how people learn best by example – even if that example comes via an expert in a video.