How Explainer Videos Can Be Used In Education?

How Explainer Videos Can Be Used In Education?

With their heads resting on their hands or forearms, your students silently watch an episode of “Friends” (in English, of course!), or an excerpt from the movie “Farewell, Lenin!” to deepen the lesson about the Cold War.

For some of you, the use of video in class brings about those moments where we allow ourselves to take a break from our practice to deepen a topic in a more entertaining way.

For others, the video is a very practical support for illustrating certain concepts or conducting a flipped class. Do you know where to find video capsules adapted to your lessons, or… You create your own videos, hats off to the artist!

Whether it’s to give your opinion, get started with videos, or improve your skills, you’ll find here the advantages and disadvantages of videos as a learning tool. You will also be told about best practices to ensure a positive impact on learning.

1. Course anytime, anywhere

Imagine an explainer video for education products with your voice recorded. You explain a concept, use a virtual whiteboard on the screen or write down important terms, examples, dates to remember, draw diagrams… Images associated with concepts appear when you approach them verbally. Many tools allow you to do this at home (we talk about them here)!

2. Didactic tool for digital

Yes, this is one of the base skills, and it applies to all materials and even PPE!

To explain to your students how to work with software such as spreadsheets or programming software, or for a project that requires video or graphic design, there is nothing better than a short video tutorial that will save you from spending too much time on technical explanations. You can capture your screen with screencast software (you know, those videos where you see the coach’s screen and you only hear his voice). Your students can watch it and revise at will and see where they need to click.

3. Video and memory

Among the techniques for better learning: creating mental images. Associating an image and context clues with a date, sentence, or procedure makes them easier to remember.

4. Limitations of video in training

There is no evidence of greater effectiveness than traditional practices.

Studies done in the field of the psychology of learning a few years ago do not prove that video has a greater impact on learning than the use of still images. Only very recently have new avenues opened up for exploring learning advances: we know better how to make effective videos that promote comprehension and retention.

5. Recommendations for improving the performance of your videos

Here are 4 commandments to make the PERFECT video

Watching

1. Short video what will you do

Education theorists have established that a student’s attention to a subject lasts an average of 10 to 18 minutes. In addition, we saw above that videos should not give too much information, given the transient nature of images and audio explanations. Therefore, choose videos between 3 and 7 minutes long for middle school students, depending on their age. This will give them time to digest the information. Therefore, it will be necessary to divide the course into many sequences, covering a very limited number of concepts for each video.

2. Information you will segment

It is also important to highlight the main concepts. Write as little content as possible, focus on the essentials. Mark breaks in your video using “slides” with titles like “To Remember” with short sentences, key concepts. This emphasizes the importance of certain information. They may also be marked with other types of visual cues, such as a specific color or arrows. Therefore, attention will be directed to the main elements of animation.

3. Knowledge, you reactivate

One memorization technique for the learner is to ask yourself questions about the course. Offering multiple questions at the end of a video or via MCQ on a digital platform allows you to re-activate information seen in the video. And who knows, maybe this will teach him to adopt the process of introspection on his own!

4. You will be a screenwriter

For your video to make the best possible impression, the information must be as clear as possible. For this, no long sentences, no repetitions, no feedback on information we forgot to mention.