learning technologies summer forum
Lights, camera, action
As the use of video becomes more widespread and more accepted in learning and development (L&D) users are taking a greater interest in the techniques that can be employed to make the output more effective with added impact.
The session on the use of video at the Learning Technologies Summer Forum (LTSF) looked at some of the ideas that The Hub, BP’s global video learning platform, was using. The Hub gathers stories that have an impact on learning trying to use interviews with BP employees as part of the mix of improving learning outcomes. BP has been using video in this way for three years.
It has developed a range of metrics to measure
the impact. Indeed Gemma Critchley, Online & Informal Learning Product Manager, BP, described herself as a measurement nerd. The headline statistics include over 400,000 page views with over half of BP employees having used the Hub at some point and of those that have used it two thirds are multiple users.
Critchley has a background in marketing and she
told the LTSF that many of the principles of marketing and learning marry up.
The Hub sounds organised. Filming is booked at least a month in advance on the grounds that people are busy and diaries fill up. The process is explained –so the interviewee knows what to expect on the day – including the fact that the filming could last an hour in order to produce a 3 minute or 2 minute video. Clearly BP takes the work of the Hub seriously and is prepared to invest. LTSF saw a Hub video which had been filmed in Brazil with the London-based team flying out to location. Different production values are employed – some filming is done on an iPhone which can give good quality results. When it comes to the interview, Critchley’s advice
is to try and hold the interview as a conversation. While there are questions – which are sent over to the interviewee in advance – the Hub does not try to use a script. Critchley says: “It is much better to be chatting than to try to memorise a script. When you chat is when you uncover those stories.” She
It is much better to be chatting than to try to memorise a script. When you chat is when you uncover those stories.
Designed to further develop the key learning themes from January’s Learning Technologies exhibition and conference, Learning Technologies Summer Forum (LTSF) was a chance to see, hear and experience the best of the sessions, new technologies, demos and companies that delegates and those attending the exhibition may have missed at the January Learning Technologies event, as well as intriguing new content. Peter Williams, editor of e.learning age, went along to the busy one-day event at Olympia in West London.
www.learningtechnologies.co.uk/Content/ Welcome-to-Learning-Technologies-Summer- Forum/19/
nutritional breakfast” which could provoke a bullet list response. It also helps editing later if the interviewee says (for instance) “One great breakfast I had…” rather than “It was early one morning…” Of course some people will be more able to open up and tell stories and those differences have to be respected but you can politely explore getting people to talk about their experience more fully by, for instance, rephrasing a question that wasn’t answered fully later on in the interview. While something always happens in filming – when Critchley was in Brazil her translator had to leave forcing her to ask her questions in Portuguese with the help of Google translate. Dealing with an unexpected emergency does not stop being prepared. This includes ensuring you have the correct permissions to film (whether that is in a public place or in your own organisation); turn up in good time; ensure all your equipment is working (is that battery charged up, do you have a spare?); make the interviewee feel comfortable, for instance, allow them to take their time and fetch them that glass of water. Video still has its challenges, indeed some are
increasing. Critchley says the viewing of the average video was three minutes and that is now dropping to nearer two.
One of the key characteristics that the Hub sees as driving effective video is emotion. We remember an experience or an event if it provokes an emotion. The other essential element that the Hub tries to use in creating a successful video is to build a relationship with the expert who is to be interviewed. Critchley says the hub tries to avoid “rocking up 10 minutes before the interview is meant to start.” Instead they try to speak to the interviewee beforehand because it is easier to speak on camera to someone you know.
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quoted Einstein who said: “I have no special talent I am only passionately curious.” By being curious the interview will be interested in the conversation and in the person and so reveal a little chink of the personality. The Hub writes open questions, there is nothing worse for an interviewer than a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ then silence. Critchley also suggests asking questions that provoke an experience rather than a list; “Tell me about a great breakfast you have had” may provoke a more interesting response than; “Describe a
The other speaker in the session was filmmaker
Mark Davies, who perhaps appropriately enough, gave his presentation via a video. He said that the power of video was in the story telling and not just reading out a text. In the corporate environment it can be hard to move away from the clichés such as shots of people on the phone or typing but it can be done. He showed an example where an individual with learning difficulties talked about how he valued the work that he does. As well as pieces to camera
e.learning age june 2015
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