The coronavirus pandemic has forced institutions of higher education to deliver all of their lectures to students through online videos, due to the closure of their campus facilities. Many individuals believe that this has kickstarted the shift to online education, opening the doors to more widespread, permanent online video teaching.
Video teachings were already frequently used as part of teaching methods in colleges and universities prior to the pandemic. A few examples of video teaching include YouTube discussions or animations, recorded lectures and educational DVDs.
Studies have shown that a whopping 99% of institutions regularly use video teachings in their course programmes.
Using video as a teaching tool has a large number of benefits for students, such as better exam performance, stimulation of attention or curiosity, and higher retention rates.
Would you like to know more about the countless benefits that video teaching can bring? Here are just a few examples.
1. Accessibility
Many colleges and universities already record their lectures and upload them to their virtual learning platform for students to access in case that they are unable to attend the class. This is particularly helpful for students with disabilities who may be unable to attend all lectures or for those with learning difficulties such as dyslexia, as they can rewatch the lecture to ensure that they have not missed any information. International students and non-native speakers can also pause and rewatch the lecture recordings to ensure their understanding, which cannot be done in real time classes. Of course, you will need high-speed internet so will have to consider internet plans such as frontier internet plans as online learning requires a good connection to view live streams or access websites for video content, so bear that in mind.
2. Increased retention rates
Visual information is processed in the brain around 60,000X faster than text and users can retain around 95% of a message presented to them through video compared to only 10% when in textual form. This is one reason for which the memory retention rates of video learning are higher. Furthermore, the function to pause, rewind and replay is offered only by video learning. This can also increase memory retention rates, as students have the opportunity to rewatch and review classes, write down any points they may have missed, identify the areas that cause them difficulty and then work harder on these areas.
3. Multimodal learning
Multimodal learning is the combination of text, images, technology, videos and physical activities in the learning process. The use of video lessons does not have to be used as a sole technique in higher education, but in combination with other, new techniques. Even using videos alongside textual content engages the brain in multiple learning styles at once.
Digital literacy is also indispensably important in these rapidly changing, technologically advancing times. Using video encourages students to use new technologies and improve their skills with all things digital. Technological skills are also highly sought after by employers (around 75% of them to be specific).
4. Video teaching stimulates student attention and curiosity
92% of the digital video viewing audience are millennials. The human attention span is also shortening. The concentration span of the average student is decreasing, which is not good news when the average college class lasts around 50-90 minutes.
One minute videos are said to be worth around 1.8 million words meaning that video content can hold student attention. To illustrate, an average internet user would spend around 10-20 seconds browsing on a website page. However, the average length watched of an internet video is 2.7 minutes. This is a huge difference.
Videos can spark student curiosity by presenting educational content in a more engaging, interesting format. However, the video must be carefully and coherently crafted in order to be effective. By using online slideshow maker teachers can reach far more students than by forcing them to attend classes. In this way, the students can learn more and the teachers would be far more satisfied with their teaching.
5. Promotes active learning
Active learning describes the engagement of the student with the content of the lesson, rather than the passive absorption of text from a book. Watching a video requires students to do more than just reading and recalling information. This type of learning can allow the acquisition of more detailed knowledge and facilitate new interests for the student. Learners are also stimulated with both auditory and visual information, which can help a larger group of learners to understand the material in-depth.
6. Increased academic achievement
Studies have shown that around ⅔ of the lecturers who participated in the survey felt that video teaching increased study success. Further research also found that 76% of students considered videos to have a positive impact on their learning experience with 90% believing that it increased their exam performance.
Research also showed that there was a significant positive difference between the exam results of a cohort with video teaching available compared to the previous year, when it was not.
7. Develops complex learning and thought processes
Video teaching allows students to exercise their thinking, reasoning, problem-solving, decision making, creativity skills. This helps to understand and engage with the content in a much deeper manner, whilst preparing students for more difficult content. Furthermore, these are all useful skills for future learning, employment and personal development.
Particularly in recent times, those with the ability to effectively devise and execute plans which rectify problems are an integral part of society.
8. The future of learning is already here
Online learning is already here. The industry is booming. The global e-learning market is set to reach $325 billion by 2025. Video teaching has already been introduced to some extent in higher education, yet the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the incorporation of more digital content than ever before.
Video teachings are an excellent teaching technique to continue using in universities and colleges. They have been shown to aid academic achievement, stimulate student curiosity and aid students who may require extra attention.
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