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With the explosion in online learning in recent years, educators have faced a dilemma: how to improve online learner engagement with video content. As online classes, blended learning, and flipped classrooms have become the norm, educators have sought ways to effectively integrate video content into classes to improve learning outcomes.
Today's learners are digital natives; they grew up in a world with internet-connected mobile devices with instant on-demand video. They view video as integral to their daily lives, prefer YouTube lessons to traditional textbooks, and will watch videos online when they want to gather information or learn something new.
Educators recognize the importance of using video to connect with this generation of learners, with the vast majority agreeing that video plays a critical role in learners' academic experience. When used correctly, video can increase learner engagement with course material and reinforce what they've learned in class. With all that in mind, here are seven tips to help you maximize online learner engagement at your institution
1. Integrate Video into Your School's LMS
Integrating video into your school's LMS allows learnersto view relevant videos alongside their course materials, including assigned readings, assessments, learner groups, and class projects. LMS integration gives educators the tools to organize relevant videos by lesson, along with other course materials, so learners have a central access point with all the information that they need.
Furthermore, within the LMS, instructors can include a brief description that includes the length of the video and information about the topics covered so learners can organize their time accordingly. Some learners may prefer to watch an entire video in one sitting, while others may watch it in parts. A video platform for education that integrates seamlessly with your LMS will give your school the necessary tools for enhancing learner engagement with your video content.
2. Use Video Clips
Studies suggest that the average member of Generation Z has an attention span of only eight seconds, with engagement in massive open online courses dropping significantly after six minutes, making it essential for instructors to create video content that entices learners from the beginning.
Keeping your videos short is one of the best ways to ensure that learners engage with video content. While making classes available through lecture capture is important, instructors can also create bite-sized video clips to highlight important material.
However, instructors don't have to give up on long-form video content. Generation Z is more likely to watch longer videos than Generation X. When it's necessary to use long-form video content, instructors should ensure that it offers value, is interesting, and is entertaining, if possible.
3. Have Asynchronous Video-Based Discussions
Creating and sharing videos that encourage discussion with learners effectively promotes online learner engagement. Instructors can organize text-based talks about video content and allow learners to post responses to the LMS' discussion board or forum.
Another way to improve engagement is by encouraging learners to create a video response to questions posed in a video that they've viewed and to post it to the discussion forum. Instructors can also assign video presentations that learners can post to the LMS, so other learners can ask questions and offer feedback.
4. Have Real-Time Video-Based Discussions
While asynchronous video-based discussions are helpful outside the classroom, real-time video-based discussions are crucial to online learner engagement. These enable educators to immediately address learners' questions and concerns and explain topics that they may have difficulty understanding. Moreover, real-time discussions give learners opportunities to participate in groups where they can collaborate with other learners and solve problems.
5. Capture Lectures
Instructors can optimize online learner engagement by using lecture capture software to record classes and share them with learners. Lecture capture gives learners the flexibility to study at their own pace and helps remove geographical barriers to learning. When learners can't attend an in-person class or want to review previously taught material, they can view it online at any time of the day, as often as they'd like.
6. Optimize Video Content for Playback
Your institution's learners won't always use their laptops or desktop computers to access video content, so it’s essential to convert videos to a format that enables them to be viewed across all devices, including smartphones and tablets.
Instructors can also facilitate learning by using tags and metadata to make it easy for learners to find videos within the school's LMS. Tags enable users to organize videos in playlists and sort them by lesson.
Media libraries play an essential role in optimizing video content for playback by enabling educators and learners to upload content to folders based on subjects, themes, and courses. When learners want to access a video, they can find it in a central location.
7. Encourage Learners to Create Content
Giving your learners the tools to be creative can help improve online learner engagement. You can do this by asking learners to create video recaps that summarize what they've learned and post them to the class chat so other learners can comment on them. Since many learners prefer videos to textbooks, you can take advantage of this preference by assigning video-based assignments as an alternative to text-based tasks. Encouraging learners to create groups to share videos is also an excellent way to increase engagement.
Final Thoughts
Improved academic performance is one of the best arguments for using video content in the classroom. Studies show (and faculty agree) that video improves academic achievement and increases learner satisfaction. Videos also tend to be more effective than text alone, and learners engage with video more than any other content type. Institutions of higher education want their learners to succeed, and video content is one of the most effective ways to improve learner engagement inside and outside the classroom. To learn more about how Cadmium can help with our LMS for healthcare education and LMS for associations and nonprofits, reach out today!
