Education Shortform
YouTube… and Other Edu-Videos
In a nutshell
Y is for YouTube, and in general for the use of videos in education.
There has been an increased level of video content used in learning in general over the years, in part supported by the rise of online learning approaches. From a psychological point of view, a video can make learning more memorable, boost retention via dual coding, and has the potential to be used for self-study and flipped learning.
On the other hand, there is evidence that videos are harder to retain than still images due in part to the possibility that learners will miss key details. Learners may suffer cognitive overload.
Research suggests that videos are more effective if chunked into segments and if learners can control their pace, while inserting pauses does not help. Some learning tasks but not others benefit from videos showing multiple perspectives.
It also makes sense to have students actively retrieve ideas from videos — a form of quiz — and perhaps to do so after a delay.
Overall, videos are probably best used to support rather than replace other forms of instruction, and can be informed by research evidence on how best to record and present them.
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This is one of a series of shortform education articles. You can download a simplified summary of my ‘A–Z of Educational concepts’ here.
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