management


Fast-forwarding on use of video


Deploying moving images in e-learning offers rich possibilities Richard Naish


that cope well with video” (see e.learning age ‘Clunky to funky’, page 10 December/January 2014). Video has been used in training for decades, but how exactly is it being used now and what have been the lessons learned? Probably the very first bit of technology-based learning in popular use was the VCR. This was a suitcase-sized bit of kit that played video from a VHS cassette that itself was the size of 3 iPad minis stacked on top of each other. That was 30 years ago.


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Make it short Fast forward to today and it seems no PowerPoint presentation is complete without an embedded YouTube clip. They are effective because the presenter has chosen the clips to suit the audience, set them in context, played them for 1-2 minutes and then drawn out the learning points. Contrast this with the ‘stick in the VHS cassette and leave the room for 30 minutes’ training style of a generation ago. To learners it felt like the trainer was abdicating rather than facilitating.


Don’t try and replicate the classroom Another classic trap was using video to replicate the standard classroom teacher style. The idea being that if that style has been around for aeons, then it must be good and we can just capture it and show it to learners. Wrong. As soon as you take out the human teacher, along with their eye contact, interaction with the classroom and all the human emotion exchange that goes with it, the learners lose interest. The Open University famously attempted this in the 1970s,


raig Weiss has said the upcoming challenge for LMS providers is the increasing use of video: “there are not many systems that use SCORM


broadcast on the BBC late at night. It has since dramatically changed the way it delivers learning content by video and is a world leader of the art form. Gone is the lecturer with a kipper tie and Bradley Wiggins sideburns lecturing to camera in a suit with monochrome diagrams. Now they use as many different styles of video as are used in broadcast TV.


Use to demonstrate drama and tension Video is used at the high-end of e-learning for delivering authentic learning simulations using actors following a script. The video clips are used to illustrate key moments of drama and tension between the different roleplayers on screen. It is rather a waste to use video for the exposition; all the background information that the learner needs to progress in the simulation. This is best done by text and graphics; an email from the boss or a series of still images of the actors but with just a single narrator telling the story. This kind of story-telling is used in paper comics and in the very popular art form of Japanese anime. Another good use of video is a series of short monologues of the protagonist in the simulation, filling in the learner with ‘what happened’ even though the learner didn’t see it happening in video. This tells a story but also captures some of the emotion of what happened which makes it real and more likely to stick as a learning point. It can illustrate how roleplayers can hold different points of view about the same situation. For example, the salesperson explains to camera how they think the sales presentation went, and then in the next clip the customer explains how they think it went from their point of view. The counter-position and clear misunderstanding illustrates important learning points very clearly and can often be humorous.


YouTube’s popularity clearly shows us that interesting/funny/unique content is more important than video quality


e.learning age february 2014


Quick and dirty video Video is now much broader than seeing people on telly. Video can mean using audio over a series of relevant images or an animation. Such ‘video’ is much cheaper and quicker to produce. Audio from one person’s voice can be recorded quickly and cheaply to a good level of quality. Whereas ‘BBC quality video’ involves so many people and so much time that it is expensive. There is still the expectation that the video has to be of broadcast quality, which is actually usually beyond the budget of most e-learning programmes. YouTube’s popularity clearly shows us that interesting/funny/unique content is more important than video quality. So let’s see more ‘amateur’ video of industry-specific issues. You could make a video for oil rig workers by flying in a trainer with a smartphone, a tripod, a good brief and an ability to keep asking relevant questions. The resulting footage, when edited professionally and mixed with more traditional e-learning designs, would be so authentic that it would really resonate with the target audience.


Screen-capture and practice Another use of video that is good value for money is screen-capture for software training. Screen-capture can be done quickly and easily and there are even free screen-capture tools allowing anyone to create a short video illustrating a process that a software user needs to follow. To add another dimension, you can offer audio narration, not just saying what you are doing, but with extra detail and context that adds to the learning experience. Again these need to be short at one minute or so and they need to invite the learner to have a go. It is the classic training technique known as ‘sitting with Nelly’ – Nelly shows you one and then you do one.


Richard Naish is a learning design consultant @richardnaish


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