5 tips for approaching video in online learning
Photo by Edward Jenner
Video has always had a very strong association with online learning, so much so that for some people (either consciously or subconsciously) the very definition of online learning is learning from video.
This is a particularly one-dimensional view of a much richer form of teaching and study, but I think you’d struggle to find an online course or programme that doesn't have any video.
The pervasiveness of video in online learning is mirrored in our day to day lives. Digital devices have made it possible to easily record video whenever and wherever and to share it with friends, family and the world.
In education, the pandemic and the pivot to emergency remote teaching has led to many having to create video to use in their teaching for the first time, or more frequently than ever before. The amount of video produced for teaching and study purposes continues to proliferate and shows no sign of abating.
Video can be a great medium and can serve different educational purposes, but there are also pitfalls with video. We can often unthinkingly default to video when other forms of communication might be better suited.
Too much video can also become a huge drain on time and money, this can apply as much to DIY teacher-produced videos as it does to video created in a bigger, organised production environment. Video can also be executed badly, whether that be from an education or communication perspective or technically through poor audio and picture quality.
There’s no simple answer to the question of when, where and whether you should use video and what form it should or can take. But there are plenty of things that can helpfully inform the judgement that’s needed for video or that can help you to avoid some common pitfalls.
I’ve listed five tips when thinking about video that are by no means exhaustive but can act as helpful lenses to look at it through.
1. Give yourself some creative constraints.
I mentioned that one of the big problems in online education is that video is chosen almost by default rather than it being a well-considered design choice. One way to help combat this is to give yourself some constraints, at least initially.
Ask yourself - if you could create only 2 videos for your course - what would you choose and why? You might find that you choose something that you feel you really need to demonstrate or you might find that what’s most important is that you have two videos that are about you, not in some egotistical way but for students to get to know some more about you, your interests, passions and more.
Whatever the outcome, some constraints will help you to think more deeply about where video can add most value and be best utilised.
2. Consider using a combination of visual and verbal
The work of the notable education psychologist Richard E. Mayer has been key to the development of the Multimedia Principle, which states that people learn better from words and pictures than from words alone.
A video provides the opportunity to combine the visual and the verbal in a way that has the potential to advance understanding and aid the learning process. If video is going to be a real asset to your course then at the very least you should carefully consider how visuals might accompany your words.
Unfortunately, often this is either not attempted at all or is poorly executed with bad examples including the addition of extraneous and irrelevant stock imagery right through to slide decks that do more to hinder understanding than help it.
3. Tread carefully when it comes to interactivity
Video players and technologies have become more sophisticated with the ability to add interactive elements to them, such as quizzes, polls and much more. We can easily get seduced into simply thinking that the addition of interactivity will intrinsically elevate video and help students learn. It might...or it might not.
The danger with interactivity is that we focus too much on behavioural activity and too little on cognitive activity. Or to put it another way, that we view learning as being all about doing stuff and never about listening and thinking about what’s being said.
Interactivity has the danger of becoming the new default addition to video under a false belief that any kind of activity is better than sitting, listening and thinking about something. We would do well to heed the words of Grant Wiggins “Just because it’s hands-on doesn’t mean it’s minds-on.”
4. Use a video as an opportunity to hone your message
I’ve already spoken about how video can be a big investment of time and money, so consider how you can get the most out of it. The choice of a video for introducing, explaining, describing, conveying information, concepts, processes, arguments is an opportunity for you to reflect on how you might improve or optimise how you do that.
This could be by doing it more concisely, or the addition or analogies, examples, metaphors, diagrams or visuals that help. If you’re going to invest in a video, use it as an opportunity to hone and improve the thing you want to communicate through it. This is one of many ways a learning designer might be able to add enormous value to you through both their knowledge about the learning process and the perspective they bring from not being an expert in the subject.
5. Remember video like everything else takes practice
Unlike a live webinar, lecture or equivalent - a video allows the possibility for you to stop and start again, or re-record. This is both good and bad. Good that you can remedy errors or mistakes, but bad as it can lead to an excess of takes just trying to capture the “perfect” performance.
When using video in teaching everyone wants to hit record and be clear, concise, engaging, warm and natural in how they speak, but in reality it takes time and practice to get good at this like everything else. So don’t get disheartened if you’re not where you want to be, over time you will get better at it.
Similarly don’t overstretch, we all want to sound informal and natural on video, but don’t run before you can walk, writing out a script of what you want to say can really help. Having a script isn’t you making a choice between a natural and a robotic delivery, it’s an aid to help you communicate in what might be a new or unfamiliar medium, that you’ll progressively become better at.
