Can using video improve student outcomes?

Anecdotally, the use of video in teaching and learning has long been accepted as having a positive effect on both cognitive and affective student learning outcomes. It is also true that in the world of flipped learning, the use of video has also been credited as a way of freeing up teaching time, enabling more engagement and opportunity for feedback for students. There is also a growing body of research showing the benefits of using video in education.

Video is often used for demonstration and communication purposes for students to deepen their understanding of complex procedures or formulas, thus assisting with mastery learning. The use of video has come a long way in the last few years, with a move away from creation to curation for many educators, freeing them up further to engage with students. Not too long ago, teachers, often quite passionate and happy to do so, ended up spending far too much time creating their own instructional videos and follow up activities for students, whereas with the more recent availability of more third party content providers, teachers have more time to spend on application of skills rather than content transfer.

The better part of lesson time can now be spent on deepening student understanding, developing questioning skills, learning how to research for analysis, how to compare and contrast, how to spot bias or motive, and how to apply formulae, rather than spending a disproportionate amount of time teaching and learning content. Allam (2006) long ago saw the benefits of video to not only engage but also enable students to acquire such a range of transferable skills. This was more recently not only endorsed by the research of Willmot et al (2012) but added to, with compelling evidence that digital video reporting can inspire and engage students when coupled with student-centred learning activities.

One of the leading proponents of flipped learning here in Australia, Steven Kolber, encourages teachers to concentrate on rigour and improved learning outcomes rather than just ensuring they engage with the content. Kolber advocates that in order to establish the use of video as a direct positive impact on students, teachers have to ensure that their activities enhance the learning process.

Maintaining a program of professional development will ensure teachers don’t feel as though the technology is leaving them behind and maximise its use in order to maximise learning potential, spending more time on the things that really matter.

Want to know more? Keep up to date with the Staffroom and the video learning resources we offer at Atomi. Feel free to get in touch for more information.

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