How to Use Videos for Learning and Development
Learners today are exposed to a number of communication channels in their personal lives through their smartphones and gadgets. Video streaming is one such tool that helps capture small attention spans and creates greater user engagement. Deliverable anywhere and anytime, videos are emerging as the latest in talent management too. It is no surprise that enterprises are turning to videos to better HR interventions such as onboarding, recruitment and coaching. Learning and development is one area where videos, both live and recorded, find much use. This is because it replicates the personal-use models that learners use in their personal lives, making training more appealing and interesting to the learner by creating a “live” experience. Here is how L&D professionals can make the most of this powerful mechanism to deliver a great learning experience.
E-Learning courses too have evolved significantly over the past few years. From static courses launched on learning management systems to interactive two-way communications through social learning and now live video streaming, training delivery mechanisms are changing fast. Not only is video more enchanting, but it is also easier to build and deliver for L&D and HR professionals. It is important to make the most of video interfaces in every aspect of learning delivery.
1. Make interactions “live”: The average learner today is bored of the plethora of e-learning courses that are built and delivered as one-way communication channels. Many organizations opt for standard, mass e-learning courses that fail to cater to the specific learning needs of the learner, leave alone engaging him or her. Even if you cannot create a full-blown video course, an element of video plugged in at the start can create an impact. For example, record a personalized message welcoming the learner to the course, or talking about how the learner will benefit. A great product launch can be made more engaging by having the Product Head to talk about the achievement in a live podcast before the product training. A senior executive sharing experiences live on video, gives a feeling of leadership access to the learner, bringing him or her closer to the organization.
2. Capture employee snippets: Your employees are your best brand ambassadors, and capturing their insights, live on video can be a great motivator for new joiners or even potential candidates. Videos of employees sharing work and company experience can be used for employer branding on YouTube and the company website. A video job description is the latest trend in communicating the nature of work to the potential candidate—a video such as “A day in the life of a best performer” can act as a great education-cum-training tool for a new joiner to take cues to perform well. Another great way to use videos is to have each functional head to talk about what the function does and how it contributes to the overall organizational goals. Capturing living and breathing people makes for great learning experiences and elicits authenticity.
3. Relive movie scenes: This is not a new one; movie clips have been used as a training tool for quite some time now, especially in classroom training. Why not use it in e-learning too? Make sure the movie content fits the training objective well, and is not just included to up the “entertainment quotient”. Also be aware of usage rights and legal implications of using a movie clip for professional training purposes.
Learn More:
How to Train New Employees: 5 Steps for Planning
4. Create cartoons: Videos need not be always about real people and real experiences. Sometimes fun and fantasy can be used very effectively to convey a message. Cartoons are loved by most people, and the fun-element is likely to create better learning retention for the long term. Moreover, watching cartoons can act not just as learning but also a stress-buster for employees. Design customized cartoon videos right from scratch in line with the training goals, the organizational culture. GoAnimate is one such service provider that offers a number of templates to create customized training interventions based on cartoons.
There are innumerable applications of videos today, considering users are already used to the channel. It is up to the HR and L&D departments to go out of their way to create a compelling and creative training medium that really makes a difference to the way people learn. It need not require expensive production companies and video editors to start with; one can kick off small-scale in-house videos and then scale it up depending on how successful it turns out.
