Learning by watching educational videos is very effective for the student. These videos are widely available online and allow for easy sharing wherever you are. Using educational videos allows educational institutions to gain autonomy and reach a wider audience. These videos can also be very effective for retaining students. Here are some tips on creating educational videos:

Shorten your videos to six to nine minutes. Longer videos lead to lower student engagement, according to formal research. Videos that are more than six minutes long tend to bore students, according to Guo et al. While videos can be longer, shorter ones tend to engage students better. The median engagement time of a video is six minutes, but this is likely to vary due to significant outliers. Videos that are longer than six minutes only received 20% engagements.

The benefits of using videos are similar to the benefits of interpolated questions. In addition, videos contain visual elements that encourage student engagement and understanding. In a recent study, instructional videos that used both visual and auditory channels to convey information resulted in higher student performance. Despite the low student engagement, however, educational videos do seem to be a good option for improving learning outcomes.

So, how can you make educational videos more effective? Here are some tips:

Make sure your videos are relevant to your learning objectives. Use them to reinforce content, review material, or teach a new skill. A good educational video must engage the student and keep them attentive. It should also inject some personality in it. A cold and impersonal video lecture is boring and will likely cause students to tune out. It’s not uncommon for a video to have several uses and can be used in blended learning environments.

While professionally-produced videos are more effective than amateur ones, they can still be overrated. They require a longer production time, but they can be widely reused and deployed more effectively. Make sure you select appropriate visuals for your videos based on your course materials and target audience. Do a literature review beforehand to save you from making a video that doesn’t fit your audience. You may also find it helpful to use screenshots of a lesson to illustrate a concept or idea.

As an educator, you may be wondering how effective these videos are. Fortunately, technology has made it possible for educators to create high-quality videos with minimal investment and time. The following tips can help you create a high-quality educational video. Don’t let the myths stop you from using educational videos in your classroom. You’ll be glad you did. If you want to create a video that will help your students learn, try using a caption.

Using an external microphone is a great way to improve audio quality and cut out background noise. Use tools such as HapYak or YouTube Annotate to enhance the learning experience. Labeling chapters with information increases the germane load of a lesson. Using an external microphone helps reduce the chance of cognitive overload. These tools can also increase the chance of student retention. And, if you’re not confident with digital sound, you can always use a screencast.

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