How to transform passive watchers into active learners

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The educational video market remains in a period of profound change due to faster and less costly technology developments for video creation, distribution and consumption. This has brought with it higher expectations about the availability of video to explain and inform.

A guest article by Sonia Hetzner, Senior Research Manager at the Innovation in Learning Institute of the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany

Video has definitely solidified its place in the world of education and training and, in the near future, will be one of the key elements for all learning and training activities. But, despite its ubiquity, all over the globe education and training providers face the challenge of sourcing and integrating good quality video content into their programmes.

As we displayed at last year’s OEB, good quality video does not necessarily come at a high cost. With the Video Rucksack concept – everything you need for video production in a single rucksack – we showed that with a good concept and a creative production and post-production approach you can produce good quality content.

This year we are taking the concept further: by the simple addition of one laptop to the rucksack we have shifted our focus to post-production with the integration of interactive elements. We will show you best practices and how to work with available tools to add text, web information, photos, extra videos, tables of contents, call-outs, maps, exercises, tests, comments, and other interactive features to transform passive video watchers into active learners.

This is all part of the evolution of video education; allowing learners to not only watch, but explain, request additional content, do tests and give feedback on a particular scene. Through this experience an individual’s learning journey takes place in a video.

In an interactive session we – an educationalist, a video producer and a learning designer – will share our ideas, concepts and experiences regarding the production and the use of interactive videos in the learning process. Our concepts focus on a low cost, good quality production. The aim is to generate real added-value to the learning experience.

We know that video has multiple learning benefits – for instance it overcomes distance barriers, can bring any expert into any classroom situation, and enable lecturers to capture their lessons and embed them in a flipped classroom approach to name but a few – and now, with a few easy tips, you can take control of the content creation.

Sonia Hetzner is a Senior Research Manager at the Innovation in Learning Institute of the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. Sonia and her co-presenters, Stefanie Zepf and Markus Tischner, will host the Video EDUCA Tech Lab at this year’s OEB conference. Places are limited, so conference participants should sign up in advance via the conference app.