Video fear

What is it with e-learning and video? Why is there, and has there always been, such an uncomfortable even mistrustful relationship between the two. Ironic really given that this is the industry thats sets such store on engaging with its audience and yet turns its back on the most popular medium of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Given our relationship with television and film it shouldn't be necessary to extol the virtues of video in e-learning; not least the fact that we learn an awful lot from television (video). But where is the video then? In e-learning it's rarely used and when it is it's often spread thinly like cheap margerine. Or the solitary video clip is given over to a welcoming message from a senior bod who may even have left before the e-learning is ever released.

To be fair, part of the absence of video in e-learning is historical with online training taking advantage of the amazing distribution and tracking power of corporate networks and intranets. In this context, bandwidth, compression and HTML were all obstacles to the use of video which had previously been an ingredient of interactive video (laser discs) and multimedia.

So video has been off the menu for the best part of ten years. But one has to say that when it disappeared there was a sense in some quarters of barely disguised relief. The maverick child had left the building leaving the grown ups to get on with the real business of Computer Based Training (CBT) with its TNAs (Training Needs Analysis), learning objectives and multiple choice questions.

Then there was the sheer naff factor. The toe curling cringiness of the 'corporate training video' with embarassed actors woodenly walking through stilted scripts.

And the video had cost a lot to make. Too much. Video production was dominated by production companies who had a vested interest in maintaining the mystique (and the budgets) of their often swollen production processes.

So video has not done itself any favours.

But now many of the barriers to video have been removed there is no excuse for e-learning practitioners not embracing the medium. Look at YouTube. A lot of people do look at YouTube all the time and often whenever they simply need to learn how to do something. From how to play the solo in Stairway to Heaven to how to install retro software from the 8os. And of course you expect to find video on all sorts of website.

But do you expect to find it in e-learning? The excuses for not having video are running out. We know it works online because we can watch it online when we get home. It's cheaper than ever to produce. There are loads of talented young video makers who know how to make really good, low cost video. Audiences are happy to view 'lo fi' style clips. Video is so much more suited to being watched on a screen than reading reams of text. People prefer video and there's so much you can do with it.

It's time we as an industry stop procastinating over video and use it all the time as a matter of course and give our audiences what they want and what they deserve.

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Comment Lion Kimbro 2009-10-02 13:40:46 I'm not particularly involved in e-education, but -- I don't understand the appeal. When I want to learn something, I first reach for Google (Internet text,) and then if I'm seriously, I order a book from Amazon, for two major reasons: (1) the careful attention to a large body of knowledge, integrated together, (2) the ability to write in the book, reorganize it how I like, and turn it into my journal on the subject. (See the educational theories on constructivism and constructionism.) But -- video? What would I do with that? ... Take lecture notes? Maybe there is a radically different learning strategy than what I use that can make superior use of video, but -- I mean, I can understand the value in talking with a real life person, but video does not approximate that, because the person cannot interact with you in real time. If you could get live interaction going over the Internet, and THAT is what is meant by "video," -- then that'd be amazing, ... But I don't understand how pre-recorded video is more valuable to me than a printed book and pen in hand. Reply

@ Lion Kimbro James Cory-Wright (Brightwave) 2009-10-02 13:52:08 Personally I would take exactly the same route as you but there are loads of people who prefer to watch a video clip - for whom even watching someone simply talking to camera is preferable to reading. More and more people prefer not to, or are not in the habit of reading. The same goes for delving into print to find what you're looking for; not when you can search online. But video - pre-recorded or otherwise - is also a great way of capturing knowledge and experience - especially given that most people don't want to or aren't able to write it all down . We're not all writers. Perhaps this is more for the future. But right now where video definitely comes into its own, is showing how to do things - seeing things demonstrated. There's a host of video clips out there already showing you how to do all sorts of things! In theory the time is with us where we can run an instructional video clip at exactly the point we need it. Say I get a puncture and use our my i phone to search You Tube for a demo on how to deal with it. Anyway, video is no substitute but it is a hugely popular medium that we should embrace more readily in the sphere of training. Reply

Online video IS interactive Lars Hyland (Brightwave) 2009-10-02 17:27:18 Video works best when you can show what you mean faster and more succinctly than if you had to write it down. So demonstrations of how to (or how not to) do something makes great sense to capture in video and make available digitally and online. This can be paused, rewound, reviewed time and again. That is a form of interaction not possible in the classroom. Clearly, recording lectures is not a great use of video - little visual stimulation unless they are a great presenter (which unfortunately is not the majority) - this can work best in audio only, or simply ditched in favour of a more interactive format of e-learning tutorials that again can be consumed at the learner's own pace and convenience. Stepping up, video can be made interactive. On YouTube you can embed links to other resources and videos giving a simple but effective mechanism to allow the viewer to make decisions and get involved in the action. Going further, we can create interactive video scenarios with embedded intelligent branching to provide an even more immersive experience for the learner. So video will continue to grow in its use in line with online network bandwidth and our audience - who are increasingly all creators of video, not just consumers - demand it as standard. Reply

Jon Harman 2009-10-06 09:28:07 Great post and couldn't agree more, speaking as someone who has used video in e-learning for a number of years. It was an easy transistion for me having come from television originally I knew the power of video as a narrative and instructive tool when used well, e-learning principles then added to that power in terms of engagement and involvement, something TV couldn't do and still has not harnessed even from an entertainment point of view. In the set-up of our e-learning department, video production has been at the heart of what we do and have embedded the resource and skill within rather than seeing it as an adjunct or outsourced component, it has taken time to wed these things together because as you state video production has been the province of production companies at inflated prices. With the ever dwindling TV production industry we are finding it easier and easier to recruit transferable skills into our model. With this in mind I wonder whether the e-learning industry has really thought about where to find these skills, how to converge with other aspects of the media production industry and to ensure that the hundreds of media production courses in this country make students aware of these convergence opportunities and prepare a strong possible future skills profession. Additionally we must not forget the huge potential of interactive video in e-learning as a powerful training tool, Dr Itiel Dror did some compelling cognition work with interactive video authored with Flash and there are some great interactive You Tube videos out there too. Video doesn't have to be the "sit-back" experience it often is in e-learning. Reply

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