Challenge

Videos exist in many styles and can be used for a variety of purposes, but there are acknowledged gaps in the literature regarding how students use, and ultimately learn using video content.  How can we develop a set of best practice principles and guidelines to support the development of effective educational videos?

Approach

There is no conventional standard to create an educational video. During 2016-17, a small team from the Griffith Business School, with the help of a learning and teaching grant, set out to explore the factors which influence students' engagement with video materials, including the features which influence students viewing habits.

The aim was to develop a set of best practice principles and guidelines to support the development of effective educational videos. This work is particularly interesting for courses taught in mixed-mode or using a flipped approach.  That is, using a combination of online videos and hands on workshops.

Our findings offer helpful hints and strategies which academics might like to use when developing their own video materials.  Greg Winslet, in a large scale literature review, categorised and described the kinds of videos currently used in higher education, and for what purpose or outcomes.

Methodology
The Project Team's methodology was to survey a cross-section of Griffith Business School students using a Google survey document over a 5 week period.  Ethics approval was requested and provided by Griffith University's Office for Research. The Google survey was divided into 5 parts, and consisted of 30 questions concerning student demographic data, student learning preferences, student preferences for watching the educational videos, students' self-assessed dispositions, and student style preferences for educational videos.

Of the 266 responses received, only 138 responses were usable, being students who had previously viewed flipped-learning videos. Using graphics and images, and even simple animations can be useful, and provide a visual reminder of the key concepts and ideas which you want to focus upon.

Guiding questions assist students' retention of the video content.   Our survey found that 67.4 percent of all student learners view all of the video content.   Of the remaining 32.6 percent who viewed some of the content, self-determined active learners viewed the beginning of the video, whereas self-determined passive learners view the complex parts.

Ultimately, we want video resources to be more than just an information giving tool. We want them to be engaging and stimulate student interest and discussion.  For example, overhead or over the shoulder shots can be used in demonstration situations, such as when you are demonstrating a technique or explaining a procedure.  Two additional production types which are popular with students are mashups and fly on the wall.

Mash ups involve reusing, modifying, and manipulating existing video materials to show contrasting ideas and present different perspectives or points of view, while fly-on-the wall technique is used to capture real life practices and contexts, as seen from the neutral observer's perspective.   This technique is used to provide exemplars, or to show real life practices and contexts.

Implement

Based on the literature review and the Google survey results, an effective educational video should contain as a minimum the following features: 

• Video content should be divided into segments of less than 6 minutes duration 
• A contents page 
• A bookmarking tool 
• Presenter should be viewable on the video 
• Narration should be spoken relatively quickly and with enthusiasm 
• Include guiding questions and interactive exercises or quizzes 
• Transcripts or captions should appear on the video
• Graphics and images should also be included 
• Video should be easy to download and be of a manageable file size 

A video, like any story, should have an ending or conclusion. A strong summary statement can reinforce student learning.   Clarifying messages help to ensure key points are remembered and understood.    

Contributed by

• Learning Futures
  
• Griffith Business School
  Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics
  Dr Jennifer Dickfos
  (07) 555 28812
  j.dickfos@griffith.edu.au
  http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4263-0495
  Griffith Experts profile

Preferred Citation

Dickfos, J. & Learning Futures (2019). Increasing student engagement with video content. Retrieved from https://app.secure.griffith.edu.au/exlnt/entry/7928/view