Another lens through which to consider educational video is student engagement. The idea is simple: if students do not watch videos, they cannot learn from them.
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Note: The single most important guideline for maximizing student attention to a video is to keep the duration short. Student engagement (and the willingness to watch it in its entirety) drops off quickly as duration lengthens. Exceed 12 minutes and risk having only 20% of your students watch the video! Researchers also found that mind wandering increased with duration, and that information retention also decreased. Six to nine minutes is an ideal duration for video.
In Mayers' Twelve Principles of Multimedia Learning, this is known as the personalization principle. Research has shown that using conversational language (rather than formal language) during multimedia instruction accounts for a significant positive impact on student learning. While the relationship is not entirely clear, it may be that a conversational style helps students to "socially partner" with the narrator, leading to greater engagement and effort.
Practical tips: Refer to students in the second person; say "you" and "your" rather than "the student" or "students." Use “I” and "me" and "my" when referring to yourself. The result is warmer, more personal.
Other research suggests that video narrators ought to speak rather quickly and with enthusiasm. In a study examining student engagement with MOOC videos, researchers observed that student engagement depended on the narrator’s rate of speech. In general, student engagement increased as rate of speech increased. Don't be afraid of speaking too quickly; remember that students have control over playback speed, often choosing to listen slightly fast. Increasing narration speed appears to promote student interest.
Practical tips: Strive for a rate of speech in the 185 to 254 words-per-minute range. Let your enthusiasm show! Excitement is infectious.
A well-planned and produced educational video repays your effort. Not only can it be used for many semesters in the course for which it was created, it can also be used as a topical resource in other courses. Repurposing is fine, but always consider the differences between your original students and subsequent students.
For example, a video is easily created by recording a lecture you deliver in a face-to-face classroom session. But if used for an online class, it may feel less engaging than a video created specifically for online students. The key to repurposing video is supplying context. In the lesson page, explain where the video originated and contextualize its relevance for your current students. That serves to bridge from the original use to the repurpose.
Practical tips: Best practice is to create videos for the specific class where they will be used. Using page text, explain the connection between the video and the course content that precedes it. In other words, provide a written explanation to "situate" the video in the course.