Benefits of Video Based Learning – eLearning Industry

Video-based learning as we know it today

Today’s distance learners are very picky about how they want to access information and learn. They get easily distracted and multitask, and they definitely don’t want to spend a lot of time training.

They need training to be flexible, on the go (mobile learning), bite-sized and focused, which helps them learn or solve a problem (micro-learning). And it should be delivered in engaging and immersive formats that help them learn, practice, or cope with a challenge. Video-based learning provides a great way to create immersive learning experiences while leveraging mLearning and microlearning that students love.

Videos are a great tool for distance learning and have been recognized as a useful addition to Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) and mixed mode training. Not only do they help reduce cognitive load, but they also capture the viewer’s attention and increase student engagement. Unlike text or infographics, video content can help express multifaceted aspects of a topic, making for a compelling viewing and more engaging learning experience. Compared to still images, text or audio, videos offer higher memory and retention for an attentive and determined audience.

Here are a few qualities of training videos that make them a popular option for distance training:

• Videos lead to “stickiness” of learning

Students generally find well-crafted video content more engaging and “addictive” compared to slides and diagrams. This will leave them hanging around the entire course and wanting even more.

• They promote change in thinking

When students read about a new concept or idea, they tend to think about it and move on. Seeing that concept in motion, whether it’s through online training videos, especially with short microlearning examples, can give students a pause for thought, leading to changes in how they think about what they’ve just learned.

• They facilitate behavior change

Text-based or audio training is great for guiding and telling students what to do. But when it comes to promoting behavior change, nothing compares to online training videos, including gamification, simulations, and other interactive content, that have the power to demonstrate the predicted behaviors that learners can practice and model.

• They appeal to the multigenerational workforce

Multi-generational learning audiences prefer mobile learning with the small content delivered as micro leather clogs from videoswhich is very popular at the moment.

Why should you integrate videos into your corporate training strategy?

Videos can be used to address a wide spectrum of corporate training needs, including:

• Online formal training that can be taken on the go.
• Support instructor-led training (ILT)—pre-workshop, during, and post-workshop.
• Instant or just-in-time learning tools.
• Informal learning.
• Social learning.

In addition to learning (formal, informal, online or in support of ILT), videos can be used for your critical or strategic business initiatives, including:

• Creating awareness.
• Support change management (pre and post).
• Fostering a lasting bond with the learners (after the completion of the training).

Interactive videos and videos in next-gen formats can be used to create highly engaging and immersive learning experiences for your remote students.

The interactive video-based approach allows you to overlay:

• Learning interactions similar to eLearning, including click-and-reveal, carousel, hotspots, etc.
• Gamification elements.
• Checkpoints of learning through intermediate knowledge checks and end-of-video assessments.
• Complex decision-based learning paths that can offer learners different branches of learning paths based on their choices.
• Learning tools that also include QRGs (Quick Reference Guides), ready-to-use calculators, and learning summaries.

What tips and strategies can make your eLearning videos appealing to digital learners?

The following are 5 proven tips of transformational strategies that every “ordinary” eLearning video content in highly engaging eLearning resources for your digital learners.

1. Stimulate curiosity

Curiosity is an innate human quality that stimulates the need for learning through exploration. One way to tap into that aspect of human nature and create engagement with the course is to use excerpts (of the more interesting bits) from the video as explanations or introductions to eLearning videos. Tactics, such as the use of teaser videos, arouse curiosity and raise awareness among digital learners and fuel their desire to learn more about the topic or module in question.

2. Grab your audience’s attention

Once a learner’s curiosity has been sparked, it is imperative that trainers maintain that attention throughout the video lesson. One approach is to use analytics tools to measure the parts of the video that grab the most attention. Once the videos are launched, do the students quickly advance to a specific section? Do they regularly rewind/rewind or watch specific segments? By understanding student behavior at this level, course designers can refresh and edit their video content. Do this to leverage the more prominent parts of the video lessons to keep digital learners engaged.

3. Use Eye-Catching Images

Make the content attractive so that students can benefit from the eLearning videos. Avoid boring POV videos. Give your digital learners eye-candy video treats by integrating graphics, high-fidelity video quality and breathtaking animations.

4. Make use of audio

As fast as eye-catching visuals can draw students to your videos, poor quality audio can turn them off. Make sure the video and audio are perfectly synchronized. Avoid using overbearing background music/soundtracks during narration. Most importantly, use a narrator with a strong and powerful voice.

5. Integrate Storytelling

Audiences love a good story – and those who watch eLearning videos are no exception. The secret to successfully using video content as an engaging digital learning tool is to weave elements of tension, purpose, cause and effect, and ultimate outcomes/performance into the video.

• Build your course around a defined story, such as a production problem on the shop floor, and use microvideo modules (along with other course elements) to take the digital learner on a journey of discovery, from understanding the problems to finding a solution.
• An effective strategy is to create eLearning videos around a plot or storyline, but one that is recognizable to your learning audience. Use a work-related case study, customer success story, or an appropriate use case to move the story gradually (in 5-10 minute fragments) through the course. It is essential that the video component of the story fits perfectly with other aspects of the course: the audio, text, slides, exercises and assignments.

What are the 5 key benefits of video-based learning?

Interactive

Interactive videos allow you to meet the challenge of the passivity of classic videos.

Stimulates creative thinking

Branching videos can help you think critically and hone your decision-making skills.

Supports multiple devices

You can use interactive video-based learning as short, bite-sized nuggets. Students can use this learning material while on the go, as well as on the device of their choice.

Promotes microlearning

When offered as part of learning paths with microlearning nuggets, videos can be used for formal training and performance support.

Cost efficient

Until a few years ago, the video-based learning strategy had to take into account high costs. Currently, you have a wide range of video development tools to complement lower budgets.

What does the future of video-based learning look like?

While the use of videos for learning has been around for a while, they are central as a key strategy to design employee training in 2022. We see the new dynamism in the workplace, heralded by the wider post-pandemic adoption of the hybrid workplace model, which will be entrenched even further in the coming year. As a result, L&D teams will look for learning and training strategies that better suit their learning audience. Compared to many others, video-based learning is a more rewarding medium engaging learning experience for hybrid workers.

As more organizations move to a hybrid workplace in 2022 and beyond, we will see the adoption of: video based learning not as a ‘nice to have’ strategy, but as the learning tool for most corporate learning programs.

Farewell Thoughts

I hope this article provides the necessary insights on why you should use videos in your online business training.

Originally published on www.eidesign.net.