One of the most popular learning tools in the world is YouTube, according to Google, there are more than 500M views of educational content on it every day.
“So, you thought cats were big on YouTube”
You’re wrong… education and learning videos earn x4 more watch time than animal videos on YouTube. Think about it, you are trying to fix something, you have a question, you need to know something now. The modern learner is constantly on the move, they learn via social and other means via their mobile devices. We all do this, we take a look on YouTube and other mobile apps to find out how.
This is no different to the corporate learner, they have the same demands, expectations and needs as we do in our lives. So, why treat them differently?
Here’s a really useful video explaining how YouTube is being used to support education and learning:
Source – YouTube, Education and Learning
So what are the top reasons learners engage with video?
1. Video is available at the Speed of Business
We are constantly on the move. McKinsey came up with the concept of Learning at the Speed of Business in this post. We need learning on demand, the modern workforce doesn’t have time to wait for the Learning and Development team to create something for them.
2. Video is authentic
You might view a video and think, this isn’t quite professional enough …but the actual learning is really good. Do we really care? If you are looking to learn something quickly, you are not really interested in the way it is presented, it’s more about the actual content. Moderation can happen with video, there are workflows to do that.
3. Bitesize and to the point
Some videos are as little as 60 seconds on YouTube, so long as you learn about the subject matter you need, that’s the main thing. Within the busy modern day business, we don’t have the time to go through hour-long presentations about a particular subject, do we?
4. Engagement
Video is by far more engaging than other modalities. With video you can do so much more and it’s real. Learners expectations are similar to tools they use in their personal life like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. All these social media tools incorporate and maximise video.
5. Self paced
Video content doesn’t force you to the next point in the learning experience, it’s not as patronising. Instead, you are able to learn at your own pace, modern tools like H5P allow you to create mini assessments within the learning which means your learner can have feedback throughout the experience and you can check their understanding.
6. Accessible
Video is accessible, with modern technologies on your smartphone, the video can be played in a range of ways to support different types of learner. If your modern workforce is remote and on the move, video provides them with the performance support learning they need on the job.
7. User-generated
Video can be user-generated, this supports the creation of a corporate social learning community. Think about engineers on the road, sales reps, HQ communications to remote workers, knowledge acquisition for busy leaders. Typically all of the above is done using email for the majority of businesses. With Watch and Learn, the mobile app provides video-based knowledge sharing, which doesn’t require your learners to sit at a computer. Instead, they can be on the move sharing knowledge. The return on investment for businesses means they are not building learning content libraries, instead they are curating user-generated ones.
If you’d like to learn more about Watch and Learn or discuss how video is used in learning, contact us here.