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Fine-tuning this tech is the key to future blended learning success


Better use of educational video identified as paramount to improving the learning experience for students moving forward.

video-blended-learning-476The key to enhancing learning outcomes in higher education moving forward will stem from the optimal use of video, says a new whitepaper.

The report, titled “Perfecting Blended Learning: Why Video Is The Missing Ingredient In Blended Learning” was released by Knowledgemotion to coincide with London’s Technology week and the EdTech Europe 2015 event. It includes extensive research and testimonials from educators and industry partners on how video can best (and should) be used both inside and outside of classrooms.

The findings in the report are indicative of a shift in the way millennials expect to be taught. Today’s average student often prefers to learn through the use of bite-sized, relevant and inspiring methods, and it is important that teachers as well as pioneering providers and publishers take steps to develop alternative teaching tools aside from the traditional textbook, such as the use of relevant video clips, notes the report.

“Video does not just add emphasis,” says the report’s author, Poppy Simpson, an education consultant and former History teacher and Archive Online Manager with the British Film Institute. “It is becoming central to learning, a need felt not only by students who are growing up with rich digital technologies, but also increasingly by educators.”

According to the American Public Broadcasting System’s (PBS) annual teacher survey on media and technology, the percentage of teachers finding value in multimedia and video content has increased each year since 2007. Many other recent surveys, empirical studies and industry reports are cited in the whitepaper as overwhelmingly agreeing that correctly implemented video in education can significantly boost student engagement, enjoyment and learning outcomes.

(Next page: benefits and best practices from the use of video in blended learning)

The benefits from watching videos either in class or as a supplement on their own time can be enormous for a student, says Simpson. For example, video can be a highly effective tool for reinforcing readings, knowledge transfer, memory, and comprehension as students can connect to what they are watching on aesthetic, auditory, logical and emotional entry points. It also helps students broaden their visual and media literacy.

“I often find videos beneficial when revisiting content that I may not completely understand because the video explains the topic and they often uses visual aids to help explain,” explained a student to Promethean. “It is like having a teacher available outside of school. I often find educational video-content authentic, which can help me understand the more real situations that I am studying. The fact that I can see and hear the video makes the content more memorable.”

Furthermore, video can play a huge role in keeping students interested and enthused in a topic, and may make them more enthusiastic about participating in class discussions. Students say they often appreciate when instructors make an effort to take them beyond the classroom walls with video, in order to help them experience different perspectives, locations, languages and cultures.

Thus, video can even help with student perception of their teachers as those who effectively accommodate their preferences, the report emphasizes.

A best way to integrate video into existing curricula?

The report’s sources give the general consensus that video is most effective when it is delivered in short clips which have been edited, categorized and contextualized with the curriculum in mind.

According to an empirical study of 6.9 million video watching sessions across the edX MOOC platform, material under six minutes resulted in significantly greater learner engagement.

And while video should be fully integrated into course proceedings, it should still be used as a complementary resource alongside images, text and other tools; and professors should take care to make sure that what they are showing uniquely fits the subject being taught.

Not as easy as it sounds

Simpson emphasizes that presentation to classes and overall adoption by professors has been uneven due to multiple barriers of use, chief among them that the most useful available video may not have been made with education in mind, making it invisible to teachers who are already strapped for time.

According to a recent UK Department for Education report, teachers are frustrated by their inability to discover targeted, subject-relevant extracts from longer programs and by the poor quality of much of the material. Use of YouTube has grown, but teachers have also responded to numerous surveys as being dissatisfied by the limitations of the platform.

A complex range of licensing and copyright restrictions also cause confusion about schools’ rights to use video materials, which similarly is an issue for educational publishers to package complementary video with digital offerings.

Silver linings

Regardless, many teachers are optimistic about the value of video being integrated into their courses. A recent study by education video platform Kaltura in 2014 found that 88 percent of teachers agree that video improves the educational experience and will be a major part of education in the future.

In 2010, PBS found that 68 percent of teachers believed that video content stimulates discussions, 66 percent believed video increases student motivation, 55 percent cited video as a driver for greater pedagogic creativity, and 62 percent said it helps teachers to be more effective, mainly because they believe students prefer video as a means of communicating complex ideas.

As students and professors alike become more digitally proficient (and with the right experimentation and investment in digital technology from institutions and publishers), incorporating video into learning may make the classroom of the future an even better place to learn, concludes the report.

Read the full report here.

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