59% of executives agree that if both text and video content are available about the same topic, they’re more likely to consume the video content.
If you’re a training manager/you provide knowledge content for colleagues, this shouldn’t all be shared via ebooks or articles. And if you share knowledge via training sessions, video content should be included to improve engagement. More and more, people are learning best through video content.
To make sure that your learning content is in line with the most relevant forms of media, read on. This article discusses how video learning content will evolve and whether video learning is the future of training techniques.
The Sustainability of Video Learning
Last year clearly showed that repeatedly holding in-person training events is unnecessary. This is because such events can be held online with ease without eating into people’s time by making them travel. Livestreams or video recordings of training events are a great way of getting presentations to audiences without requiring the time and financial expenses of solely in-person training sessions. It also avoids the pollution caused by traveling to such events. This is an important factor to take into account today. Instead of hosting new events, you can save money by simply sharing a video of a previous event.
Every event that you hold and get recorded, can add to your video learning library of training content. It’s very important that your knowledge library contains sufficient video content. It shouldn’t solely contain informative pdfs or ebooks, as we’ll explain further below.
Effectiveness of Training Videos
To discover how likely it is that video content is leant on as the primary learning resource of the future, we need to know how effective it is.
We’ve discussed how much more effective training videos are compared to other training formats; read here.
However, if you’re still not convinced, video platform Brightcove also state that video’s a much more effective tool for engagement than lengthy written statements or documents, because today’s public:
• Are digital-savvy
• Want to obtain information in a few clicks
• Require trust and authenticity
(We’ll discuss why today’s learners are more likely to trust video content, further down the article.)
Furthermore, a study by Michael Noetel and colleagues, which was posted in Behavioral Scientist, found that replacing any other learning methods (e.g. assigned readings or in-person lectures) with video resulted in a positive effect on learning outcomes (measured using test and quiz results). While the effect was small, it was consistent, and we’ve discussed in previous articles how important learning outcomes are in the CPD of many professions, such as engineering.
The findings of Noetel et al did conclude that video isn’t always better. However, the study does give us insights into how CPD managers can use training videos in future. For instance, they stated that the type of learning activity that the video content replaces seems to matter:
• When a video replaces static text content, there’s a moderate effect – 65% of students’ learning outcomes can’t distinguish which learning mode they’re in.
• When a video replaces a human lecturer/speaker, there’s around an 85% overlap of student learning outcomes between the 2 groups.
Overall, videos are much better than static media at improving learning outcomes. However, they’re only marginally better than a lecturer/speaker.
To conclude, if you want to retain employees by providing training that’s more useful for, and valued and trusted by, learners, the way of the future is to provide more video learning opportunities. You must also use it in a mindful way so that it’s replacing content that it’ll definitely improve the outcomes of, probably static media such as text and images.
To get your training events (e.g. lectures, workshops) recorded and livestreamed, so that they can be received better by employees and therefore improve employee retention, request a free quote for your next event by contacting CPD Online here.
New Technology in Video Learning
Every day, new and innovative techniques are utilised to make video learning more effective. Already, everything from on-demand videos and real-time training livestreams to informational TikToks are being used to spread all kinds of knowledge.
Brightcove state that video learning needs to be incorporated into your online training courses due to how much more engaging the technology is. For instance:
• Videos can be personalised to create individual learning experiences based on each learner’s needs. This is incredibly valuable for CPD, as learners need to feel as though their training is relevant for their needs and will help them to achieve their goals, if they stay with your organisation. You can add simpler touches, like adding subtitles for workers with a different first language, or create gamified lesson paths whereby individuals can learn additional information or earn points based on choices they make when interacting with the videos.
• Multi-view features can be added, so workers can learn from watching different perspectives.
Education Technology have noted a new wave of content production thanks to advancements in digital technology. This includes virtual reality and 360 video, which are already being used in classrooms.
For instance, a set of headsets for a class can allow remote students to view certain VR classroom content simultaneously rather than in isolation. In an age where all students have, at some point, had to attend school remotely, VR is a tried-and-tested method of making this seem less like isolation. And as this moves on from being purely used in classrooms, we expect to see it being implemented in modern employee training courses, as standard.
Brightcove also pointed out that video is the future due to its useful and intuitive audience insight tools. Using video analytics, one can see what kind of content people are opting to view, and for how long. You can therefore look into what your learners want to learn most about. You can also guage how effective your video lessons are based upon whether people are watching them to the end, etc. For instance, if there’s a certain video lesson that people often skip without finishing, or that’s repeatedly rewatched, it might be unengaging or difficult to follow. Brightcove states that such methods can increase your learner customer conversion and retention rates.
Therefore, CPD managers who want to create more meaningful and useful training and development content, that impresses and retains their employees, need to be utilising video learning.
Video Content is More Trustworthy
We brought this factor up earlier in the article, but we’ll now go into more detail. When today’s audiences assimilate information, they prefer it to be displayed to them via videos.
Brightcove states that video content delivers a communications experience with a higher level of authenticity, transparency and consistency. This can therefore represent you as a training provider in these ways. Training providers can use livestreams and on-demand videos to communicate with audiences, at the latter’s convenience, about their needs.
Therefore, if you need to show your employees how you’re considering their needs, you should use video content.
Conclusion
The above points show that video content is an ever-evolving, integral part of CPD technology.
Brightcove state that there’s no turning back from video learning in education. We think that this applies even in adult education such as CPD.
Therefore, we see that the future will be one of blended learning. Even as we return to in-person conferences and workshops, training providers can’t afford to forget about video learning.