The Rise of Informal Video-Based Learning
Special thanks to Brent and Chris for having me on the weekly live cast to talk about the ever-changing nature of video production. The transcript has been modified to remove pauses and incomplete sentences. If you would prefer to watch a replay of the live cast please follow this link: The Rise of Informal Video-Based Learning with Chris Karel on IDIODC
Interested in learning more about Video for Learning Fundamentals. Check these related posts:
Part 1: The Case for Video
Part 2: We Need Learning Video Production Skills
Part 3: 5 Phases of Video Production for Learning
Transcript from the live cast with minimal editing for readability.
Brent Schlenker
Hey! Good morning everybody.
Chris Van Wingerden
(high pitched, like Mrs. Doubtfire) Hello!
Chris Van Wingerden
Hey, Mrs. Doubtfire is joining us again today.
Chris Van Wingerden
Hello everybody. Welcome aboard. Hello to everybody in the chat. We’ve got some weather sharing as we always do. So I’ll do the weather report from here in Ottawa. It is a sunny day, hovering just below freezing, bright and I can tell that the seasons are changing because I’m starting to get shafts of light coming through my office window. This means that soon I’m going to have to deal with that before every episode. For six months of the year, I get rays of sunshine blasting on me that I have to shield out when we go to do this. So, it’s a positive change.
Brent Schlenker
We always say, “You’re a ray of sunshine, Chris.”
Chris Karel
I’m confused. Which Chris are you referring to?
Chris Van Wingerden
Exactly.
Brent Schlenker
Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Karel. I must ask you; do I pronounce your name right when I say that? Is it ‘Carol’?
Chris Karel
Yes.
Brent Schlenker
KA-rel?
Chris Karel
Karel is correct. Sometimes during December people call me Christmas Carol. That changes things for me.
Brent Schlenker
A little bit. A little bit.
Chris Van Wingerden
I know of a fellow whose last name is Must. And his first name is Christopher. When you shorten it, of course, he becomes Chris Must.
Brent Schlenker
Oh-ho! Nice!
Chris Van Wingerden
Anyway… Since we’ve broached the subject of “Chrisses”, friends and family we have Chris Karel with us here today occupying the center square. Have we ever made a game show reference like that? In the center square?
Brent Schlenker
I don’t think so because it’s different for everybody.
Chris Van Wingerden
Oh okay. It shuffles. Well from my perspective today, anyway, Chris Karel is joining us here today. Chris I’d like to give you a chance to introduce yourself. Tell the folks a little about yourself, where you come from.
Chris Karel
Sure. Well thanks for having me. As mentioned, my name is Chris Karel. I am a business owner. I own a business called Learning Carton which is a video learning organization. I’ve been an instructional designer, a classroom teacher, a master’s degree in education, and I’ve spent the last ten years or so working in video production. Both on the marketing side and on the learning side as well as managing the entire instructional design process from concept all the way to deliverable.
Currently, I live in Lakewood, Ohio on the beautiful north shores of Lake Erie. It’s a sunny 32 degrees here. And there is no snow in sight because it’s all melted away, but I’m sure that will change very soon. But I am excited to be here and looking forward to the conversation. I can’t wait to see what everybody in the chat must bring to the table today.
Chris Van Wingerden
Brent and I were noting earlier in the week that it’s been a while since we talked about video. It’s always cool to circle back to because it is such a powerful tool for us to be able to use in the eLearning biz.
How did you end up getting started originally in video? Where did that come from for you?
Chris Karel
I started in the education space and I was always in love with computers. When I was a classroom teacher, I always ran computer labs, I was always the person who came in when the IT person from the staff couldn’t get there. And so, there’s always been a fascination for me, and I love film and cinema. I mean, you could probably see from some of my background items I’m certainly a geek or a nerd. You apply the term, it doesn’t matter to me. I love all of that stuff. So, I’ve always been kind of fascinated with it. As I had an opportunity to teach, I found myself in a position where I’m like “Hey, I want to try to merge both worlds: my passion for education and learning into video.”
To fast forward through my journey, I went back to school when the economy bottomed out and got a degree. An entrepreneurial business degree from a school that taught digital media. I learned professionally how to make video the way it’s being made from an agency and film perspective. And then I ended up working in a space where both eLearning and video were services. So that sort of allowed me to practice exactly what I was able to learn at university. And what I found was that I loved creating the story to help make learning way more interesting.
Next, I realized that was my third degree and that I didn’t necessarily need all those classes. Really what I needed was the practice in a comfortable and supportive environment.
Chris Van Wingerden
That’s the cool thing about where video is at, I mean literally, any one of us can pull the phone out of our pocket and take some video. Maybe the challenge is moving to video with little more professional quality to it, so it doesn’t feel clumsy.
That said, there is also an argument for authenticity that sometimes comes out of that ability to quickly snap and go. Going from quick and clumsy to all the things that I can do with video when I put it into a software tool. It can be I think a kind of endless journey of discovering new things because you’re watching on the big screen at home in the evening and you go, “Ooh, how did they do that?”
It’s a neat space because like you said you’ve got a formal background, but you also said you don’t necessarily need it. But I think formal education helps you leapfrog some of that discovery.
Chris Karel
It does. It does. One of the things you brought up is something I try to discuss all the time, Chris. Everybody does have the ability to pull out their mobile phone and start making something, right? And that’s different than when we were all probably fairly young. Making film or video 20 years ago was nowhere near what it is now, right?
But that doesn’t necessarily mean that for learning purposes that’s a great thing. Let’s be clear, informal video or a homemade video has its place in the learning environment. However, for long term engaging instruction you need to be able to control, modify, and edit it to meet learning objectives.
Informal video is often made at the expense of professionalism which leads to a drop in watchability or engagement. Because the audio is bad, lighting is bad, the camera movement is shaky, people stop watching. And then the ability to modify it and turn it into other languages or add text, sometimes that falls apart with a cellphone video.
Chris Van Wingerden
One of the things that you had noted as we were prepping for the session is that there are still some aspects of risk and challenges around video for training teams. So, let’s talk about that for a little bit and we’ll swing back to some of the cool tools you must share. But in my mind, I’m saying toys, not tools. The tools you have can help us start moving from grab and go cell phone video into something more professional. So, what are some of the challenges then that still face video being used that you see in training programs?
Chris Karel
So obviously it’s always a focus of cost, right? As soon as you start to talk about adding video to a project, sometimes it doubles the budget, right? So companies want video in their learning platforms and their learning courses because they know that their audience, the people who are their employees they live and breathe video. It’s becoming our number one communication method, right?
All social media are going that way, there are seven or eight different streaming services that people probably have three or four of them that they’re subscribed to. Video is just normal. We’re starting to communicate by more than just talking or texting. We’re just opening up a video chat as we are doing now over the internet with our live broadcast. That’s happening more and more. So people are sort of expecting that to be the norm.
To get there from an L&D standpoint though, as instructional designers we want to run through a process. We need to figure out why you need video to be there. We ask, what are the learning objectives? Before you know it, we’ve spent weeks if not months getting this course created and then the video depending on the topic, might either be outdated, or it might need to change.
So, the risk in rushing to create quickly may sacrifice a little bit of professionalism or a little bit of quality. And the reward in taking your time and using informal video built into a longer plan is then you know that once you’ve spent the time putting it together it is going to be effective.
So again, I think the risks are that you may not be able to make sure that it’s going to be engaging. Also, if you give over the creative power to just any employee, you run the risk of somebody doing something that will put the company at risk. Moreover, how do you handle ownership? Are they using their phones or are we now going to give them phones?
Some employees will be like, “Well I’m not using my phone to make something for the organization. Does that mean that now you have access to all my data? Do I have data privacy rights?”
We are just starting to talk formally about data privacy and access to content to our cell phones that we’ve never really had to engage with before. Informal video raises these concerns for companies.
Brent Schlenker
Interestingly, you mention that because I do hear that a lot. Sadly I hear that used a lot as an excuse in larger companies, but I see so many smaller, mid-sized companies that just aren’t so worried about that kind of stuff. And the employees are motivated to do it. They want to add value to the company. That’s why they’re there. They feel like they need to share what they know, and they’re a part of a community, the business. And they want the business to succeed as much as everyone else in the business, and so they’re willing to use their phone or even on the weekends’ videotape some cool stuff maybe. Or on their lunch hour create a cool little video and share it with their peers.
Hey, what do you think of this? Hey, what do you think of that? Maybe we could do something like this?
And everybody is doing interesting experiments in those smaller businesses. But yeah, you’re right. It gets very frustrating when I hear in the bigger companies all of the reasons why we can’t do it as opposed to why don’t we just try?
Chris Karel
It’s a generational thing, Brent. What you’re referring to is definitely generational. I think of my kids who are in their early 20’s right now. It’s just normal. You expect to communicate and put that stuff out there. They would do things and put it out where we would probably say, “I don’t know if I want that out there.” And that’s just kind of what young people do now.
There was sort of step in between there where people were worried about making quick videos and putting online because it’s out there forever and you’ll never get a job. Well, that’s not entirely true. That hasn’t happened over the last 15-20 years. I’m sure in some certain circumstances it has, but it’s become the norm. You put yourself out there and data is going to be shared and you kind of go from there.
Chris Karel
Where the larger company gets involved, corporate clients that I work with, where their biggest concern is, it’s where the law gets involved. So you’ve got sanctions where data privacy has been breached or data has been shared that shouldn’t be shared. There are million-dollar sanctions applied to that company. Suddenly they are like what you just said, Brent. “Hey, nobody is doing that anymore. Don’t put any content on your phone. Don’t use your phone.” Because now you’re worried about something proprietary to the organization, or their clients, getting out to just anybody. And that is where a bigger concern comes in. Where the use and the comfort of using a cell phone, your phone for business becomes expensive.
Brent Schlenker
There are a couple of great questions in the chat. Laura asks, “Wondering how informal video works with accessibility requirements.” Quite honestly, I’d never really thought of that because I’ve always just kind of left accessibility up to the platforms, especially when I’m thinking about mobile informal stuff, right? How does one with accessibility needs I’ll say, how do they watch regular videos on what not?
Chris Karel
My experience in doing things that have to be compliant in that regard is providing a transcript. So maybe if it is a visual-based thing and you need a screen reader to consume it you’d have to have a transcript that goes along with it so somebody who has the video come up they can have some type of narration that is being played to their ears. I imagine the same thing could be done with an informal video, but then who is doing that?
If I just pull out my phone to capture something happening, who is going to go back and edit? My guess is the person making it is probably not going to do that. That’s another step.
Brent Schlenker
But I think a lot of that stuff is going away too, right? All the automated systems out there that automatically make them? I mean, they’re not perfect. We all know that. But nowadays, if you create an informal video and you upload it to Google, it’ll automatically translate it if you ask it to and it’ll create that. And I think Microsoft’s product does that now too. And since Microsoft is the big corporate enterprise tool. What is it called? Microsoft Stream or something like that? Or Microsoft, their video, it’s like their YouTube for office.com. I can’t think of the name of it now, but it launched a year ago or so and it has only just started to have the caption stuff added. But anyway, I don’t want to get us off down that rabbit hole, but…
Chris Karel
No, I think you’re right though. I’ve never played around with it because everything I’ve ever made; we do that as a part of it. So, the transcription happens along with making the video and then adding the subtitles if it needs to be there. I’ve never trusted the AI, though I would imagine it is happening.
Chris Karel
People are using YouTube for marketing. I see captions on them all the time and they’re just saying, “I flip on the auto caption.” Again, that dichotomy that I was starting to set up with you Chris, what most people think of as video production is not video for learning, right? It’s video for entertainment or video for marketing or advertising. Even though some of the skills are the same, the purpose is very different, right?
We have to remember that as we’re creating this and rushing to this, we need to not necessarily say “No. No. We shouldn’t do it. We should just make formal. No. No. No.”
We need to find the skills and the model to apply to it. We need to embrace the technology and find a way to still deliver on the promise that we’re going to improve knowledge or skills or behavior. That’s the point of that learning video. Not just have this authentic, awesome capture of Sharon showing you how to use the AR system. That’s cool. But if that doesn’t work for everybody, then we haven’t done our job as learning video creators, you know?
Chris Van Wingerden
I did find quickly the Microsoft Stream info which does have a closed caption option, so I threw a link in the chat. And a couple of other folks have thrown in some other services and stuff too that if anybody is interested they can check those out.
Here is a cool question. Thomas has got two questions in the official question and answer and I’m going to go to the second one. First, he is asking Chris “Chris is your project timeline similar to creating video learning to the traditional ISD project timeline? Say for someone using ADDIE or some other model?”
Chris Karel
I guess that depends. That is truly something that is situation by situation. I’ve been writing a lot lately and advocating that we modify our traditional video production process. The five-stage process needs to change the first phase from development to design. What is going to be in the video as it relates to the visual aspect is important, but I think the first step should be design, and as instructional designers, this is a no brainer. Most people who make video aren’t instructional designers. They’re not always the folks who understand ADDIE or SAM or whatever model we’re using to get to that end result, right? We need to help them understand.
I think from a production standpoint, I always say that that can go as fast as the client can give us reviews. So, having the tools available whether we’re using mobile or we’re using a more professional set up, it’s how fast can we turn around the production to get to that point of recording. Obviously if its desire to make something informally and make something quick, then we’re putting the creation in the hands of the different employees. That’s very different than creating five or six courses to teach somebody something where we need to make sure that the video is timed perfectly with the learning objectives.
The tools can speed it up for sure, but I always pump the brakes along the way and say, “Let’s make sure that this is going to work in the end. And work for a long time. So that we don’t rush too fast and then realize hey, we paid a bunch of money for that and it’s worthless six months later.”
Brent Schlenker
I noticed a lot of the questions and a lot of the comments in the chat we end up having these conversations around, how do I get approval? What’s the formal process for doing it? And my favorite story that I used to share a long time ago when I would give presentations on this stuff. This was about 2010, I met one of the training guys at Guitar Center. I think there is a new person there now I haven’t been able to get a hold of but, I had him speak at an eLearning event and tell his story about how he did this. He did everything internally. They had packaging issues on shipping. When all the packages come right from the main warehouses. And so all they did was just have the people that were packing the stuff just use their camera or whatever and just video one of the guys packing up how to do it correctly. Real quick. Just right off their mobile device. Even back then, the mobile devices they had and they would just do a quick video of how to do it. The guy would talk through how to do it. And then boom! Done! And then they would post it up to people.
For new hires, they would say hey, “Be sure if you’re packing this, here is a new video of Dave doing the thing correctly.” And they had a whole bunch of videos and I think what the point I’ve always tried to make with that is that a lot of this stuff when we talk about informal video right, it comes across it’s an either-or situation. And I don’t think it’s an either-or thing. It depends on the topic, right? And the context that you’re going to be doing it in.
I think they were very safe in making this a solution to the problem. Because it was all internal, it was just for internal consumption. Hey, if you’re going to be packing this pallet full of boxes, don’t stack the tiny ones on the bottom and the big ones on top because it’s unstable.
So, what kind of examples have you run into where you see people being successful with this? Or maybe unsuccessful?
Chris Karel
A couple of conversations I’ve had recently with organizations that are using software tools that allow for the use of cell phone video because it’s so agile and in the hands of almost everybody. So, I need an expert to show me how to change some part that is in a plumbing closet or something like that. Or the reference I always use is somebody who needs to show someone how to conduct the process in a software tool for accounting and finance.
I have a friend who worked for a large bank. Within their team, and this wasn’t a formal process, it wasn’t set up by L&D, it sort of came out organically for them. They had an issue with a new software rollout. And they got the training that was probably designed by instructional designers and it was laid out first. Go through these steps and stages. And it was hours’ worth of training. But it didn’t work. It didn’t work. Because nobody watched it. They’re like, “I need to go and do this, now I don’t have three hours to do it that I have to conduct the operation.”
So, they just pulled out their phone and recorded them stepping through it. They didn’t even screencast it, just sort of held it with one hand, and showed somebody. First, you close this and then you close this, and they narrated it, and then sent it to their team.
This was informal video learning. It wasn’t vetted. It’s not controlled. There were no learning objectives laid out. There was no official business purpose. But it was effective because it allowed somebody fast to make learning happen.
Now the question usually is, did the larger organization know that they were doing that? I don’t know.
Have other organizations started to do that? Absolutely. Some tools have started to come in either through learning platforms, or content management systems where it allows people to upload videos to make that happen.
I’ve heard from other people that informal video is most successful when you have somebody that curates it. That is somebody who is looking at that video as it gets posted and says, “Okay, Chris who just made this video on how to move one document from AR to this other repository, that video is spot on. I’m moving that one up and I’m flagging it to an archive so that when anybody goes looking for how to do that, they find the curated one that someone vetted.”
Informal video becomes effective now. Because now you have somebody who has an understanding of what somebody should be doing. They’re playing that role of that designer upfront but after the fact, right? That curation is a key part of this because otherwise, you could end up going into a place of instruction and not knowing how you got there.
I’d suggest a system of curation if you’re familiar with Reddit, an ability to like or to vote something up or vote something down. So, if somebody goes in and is like “this is great. I’m voting it up. This is what I want to see.” Then you create an audience-based score for whether the video has been relevant and helpful.
Chris Van Wingerden
Thomas had another question in the chat as well, he said, “You mentioned the university education that you got in this area. Was it a program that combined ISD instructional design and video training, or…? Tell us a little bit more about that program.”
Chris Karel
Sure. It did not. It was an entrepreneurial art school. So the idea was for you to go in, learn the formal practices of art and design, and then pick a focus. My focus was on digital media, film, and video. But I also learned how to do figure drawing and color theory and all the things that go into making you a good visual designer. As for instructional design, I got that earlier. Really in my Masters Education, teaching, and then teaching adults in that way. I used to lead teams of teachers in the schools that I worked in and taught some college courses. So I had that sort of adult theory before I came into that program. So, I’m a unique hybrid in that way. Like most people, I didn’t go to school for instructional design, but my experience has led me to this place and given me the skills that have allowed me to succeed in that world.
Chris Van Wingerden
I just noticed Josephine added a little reference to the DJI Osmo. Let’s move on to some simple things that we can add to our tool kit. Josephine, it’s like you’re a mind reader in some ways. Chris has that exact tool and he is going to show is a little bit about what it does.
Chris Van Wingerden
We were talking before about playing tourist and holding my phone on a boat trying to get a nice shot. I would get wiggle no matter how perfect that sunset video with the birds flying by might be, it’s all spazzy and making us kind of seasick. And that even applies on dry land. So here is a tool that can help you with that kind of thing. Just to take that idea of something informal and yet give it a little more of a professional touch here.
Chris Karel
So this is to answer Josephine’s question. So the DJI Osmo. This is the two. The three is out now and basically, it operates like a Steadicam. So, in the film world, there is a tool that you probably have seen either in sports or if you watch any behind the scenes videos of people wearing this vest. It has got a heavy kind of counterweight system and there is an arm that comes off and it’ll hold the camera and then they grab it and they run around and the camera sort of stays still and level as somebody moves with it. It’s huge. I’ve used one of those in the school training that I went through.
They are incredibly difficult to learn. People who run those, they are certified very much like you would be certified to use a specific type of equipment because you have to train on it. You have to put in so many hours to enter the union to be able to run that thing.
And let’s just say that it’s not easy. I tried playing around with it and never could have much success with it. And they’re expensive. I mean hundreds of dollars for the vest, the extra add-ons that go with it are in the hundreds. You’re probably in about a thousand dollars before you’re even at a base level one. And I’m not talking ESPN quality rig either. I’m talking about pro-sumer.
So, this though, this little tool here, the DJI Osmo 2 provides very much a similar experience and feel by sliding your cell phone into it. I’m not going to turn it on and power it, but essentially your phone slides into this spot here. So that when you’re running it, it will create the same vibe and feel. And I’m going to see if I can share the screen here so you can see what I’m talking about.
Brent Schlenker
Now most of the phones these days, I know that iPhones have built-in a sort of motion stabilization feature, but that’s still not as good as using an external hardware device like the Osmo to get those balance shots. Especially if you’re going handheld. The alternative is a tri-pod, right? Taking that same sort of mobile phone grip and mounting your camera on a tripod and getting a steady shot, but if you’re on the go you’re not going to want to carry a tripod all over the place.
Chris Karel
So can we see that?
Brent Schlenker
Yep.
Chris Karel
Okay, so, this is using the DJI Osmo on the back of a sailboat that is bouncing around left and right. So, you can see how crisp and clean this is as I go past the Sam Laud here on Lake Erie. So, it’s about as smooth as if I was carrying a rig or using a drone and that is my cell phone on the DJI Osmo 2. So let’s see if I can…
Chris Van Wingerden
Yeah, it’s a little stuttery because you’re trying to play the video and stream it.
Chris Karel
Right. Right.
Chris Karel
This tool can take the place of getting nice steady movement shots if you have to do somebody walking towards you or if you have to follow behind somebody, or even if you’re just recording an operation that someone is conducting either with tools. Being able to move and maneuver the camera around with it is great. But that’s just the motion control, right? That gives you that smooth, easy motion.
You always want to make sure that the other two professional keys that come with good video are good lighting, which I’m not going to flip around. I do have a light up here. And, good audio.
This little guy here is Rode microphone and it plugs right into my cell phone to provide a shotgun like experience using the mic as opposed to the onboard mic of the phone. If you record audio using your microphone on your phone, even though they’ve gotten better, it’ll sound more hollow. There’ll be a lot more noise because the attenuator inside of your phone is constantly trying to level it to a base level. Whereas this focuses the sound gathering to one spot wherever you point it.
I’m not going to try to demo that over the internet because it’ll be even worse. And then the stuttering video just because of the feedback and the noise you’ll get. But I can honestly say that the purchasing of this tool and putting it on here and using for anything for recording even for home use, it’s a night and day difference between the quality.
Chris Van Wingerden
What model is that? Did we mention that?
Chris Karel
This is the rode Video Mic Me-L directional microphone for iOS devices. Good news for android users, it’s a little bit cheaper if you buy the android version. The lightning version is $79. I think the android is about $59. And sometimes the ones for iOS are a little harder to find.
I purchased it at B&H Photo. No affiliation once again, just they’re a great place. They have good help. They can provide good customer service for you if you have questions about stuff. When I went to buy mine they did not have them at Amazon. Only at B&H.
Brent Schlenker
It looks like the Osmo 3, even their newest version is around $100. If you buy one of the fancy kits that people have pre-created on Amazon, you can spend anywhere from $120 to $140 it looks like to get a whole bunch of other cool accessories with it too.
Chris Karel
It’s funny that you should mention that, Brent. This is the kit that I got with my Osmo and I would say this, as I was telling Chris earlier, this is probably one of the greatest pieces that came with it. So mine was around 100 something maybe 120 when I bought it a year or two ago before the 3 was out. And it’s just nice to have this black case that you can close everything up and it has a handle, it’s pretty durable. I’ve taken it on planes. It takes a good shock because of the foam. And it also comes with this little guy. The squirrel. Which is super valuable especially if you’re doing anything outdoors. The squirrel fits right inside the case and helps on windy days.
Chris Karel
(Brent is laughing at the mention of the term squirrel). Do you like that? That comes with the squirrel. I think I have broken Brent.
Chris Karel
So, the squirrel covers your microphone. It fits inside there and provides a little bit of wind shear which is incredibly valuable if you’re shooting outside. If you’ve ever been outside trying to shoot anything or any kind of place where there is some wind movement, it’ll pick up the noise from the wind.
Brent Schlenker
I think some of you may have seen me at events mounting this on top of my iPhone or on a handheld rig. I use this for mobile interviews and stuff like that. And it kind of functions the same way. I haven’t pulled it out in a long time actually because of my new iPhone, I haven’t quite been able to figure out how to get the connector to work correctly in the new adapter. And there are all sorts of weird technical things. I think there is an official adapter that I could buy from Rode, I just haven’t done it yet. Because to be honest, microphones these days, you get fairly decent audio off of an iPhone.
If we’re talking informal and quick and just trying to get some video and get an image done, most of the devices these days, even the Android phones, Samsung. They even have great software and audio pick up in mics and most of the manufacturers are focused on making that image capture experience, really, high quality. So you don’t have to go with those adapters too much but to your point, if you want to level up your game, then having the extra stuff to help keep the wind noise down, focus audio, all that kind of stuff is fantastic.
Chris Karel
Yeah, I know some folks that have done a lot of content marketing using just their phone with no add-ons. And I watch it. I’m sure if you go on LinkedIn and watch video, most of the videos that people are making they’re either holding their phone to make a selfie or they’re setting it down somewhere and recording. The audio is pretty good. Especially if the folks are doing it in a quiet place.
In a business setting, you’re rarely ever confined to quiet space. So that little directional add on mic certainly cuts out a lot of ambient noise because it focuses just on that one spot. But you’re right. Depending on your purpose, Brent, you can pull off most with just the phone without the add-ons. But as someone who makes professional video and does that, I listen to it, and I’m just like, “I’m out. I can’t watch anymore.” I know I’m not the only one. Bad audio or bad lighting or a shaky camera will distract you from what is happening.
Brent Schlenker
Right. We’ve got an old episode. I had a friend of mine that I met a long time ago at one of the guild events, now his name is escaping me, but I was super shocked. He made a boatload of money from art videos online.
We were talking about video, but video for learning and how do you figure stuff out. I can’t remember exactly what our topic was. I think we were all over the place, but he made all of his videos that he sold online and made a ton of money doing it just by mounting an iPhone on a thing. No external mics, nothing at all, pointed it at a blank paint canvas, had an artist just start painting and he would sell it.
Brent Schlenker
I remember thinking to myself how blown away I was. He was like, “Yeah, no. We didn’t worry too much about getting the professional crew, or anything like that, we didn’t want to invest the money. We just wanted to try it. Just to see if people wanted to see this kind of stuff. Once we saw that people loved it and didn’t care, we just kept shooting it that way.”
Chris Van Wingerden
Shannon has got a really good point. People will watch a bad video all day but will turn it off in a second if it has poor audio.
I have internet issues in my rural home and watching the different services the video might go chunky, square, and grey, but they’re always working super hard to at least make sure that you can still hear the audio clear as a bell. They might downgrade the video portion, but the minute you can’t hear what is going on, you’re going to bail.
Brent Schlenker
For sure. Audio is critical. Everybody says that. You won’t get an argument from any A/V person. Audio is number one they say. It is definitely something to think about, but there is also, I saw some conversation earlier about this. Where a lot of people today, and there is even data that supports it, watch online videos with the sound turned off.
So, at that point, you’ve got to have some good visuals to keep people engaged. There are just so many ways to create video. I just love having these conversations because it’s become just so ubiquitous and so easily accessible. There is still a need, lets also just get this out on the table too. There is still a need for professionally done, professionally scripted, professional crew that knows what in the heck that they’re doing and creating really good quality video for your training. There is no other way around it.
But it’s just like you don’t need a professional writer to write an email if you’re just trying to say something to somebody. If you can write, you can write an email and send it out. Nowadays, video kind of the same way. If you want to share a visual image of what you’re trying to do and you want to teach somebody. Capture it on video and share it with them. You don’t have to be a pro. But then if you want to polish it up and go up a few levels, you might want to think about getting some pros out there because there are some good reasons to use it. But it is an interesting conversation for sure.
Chris Van Wingerden
Well like so many things, it is a spectrum of opportunities.
Chris Karel
I think if I could say one more thing about that Brent and Chris. I think that the key is for me especially, and what I try to share with other people is to be open to the idea of doing it properly. And be willing to learn the new technology. I think what we face a lot in the L&D space is, “Well, we’ve always kind of done it this way. And now we’ve got to use video.” So, then we ended up adding video to it and really, we’ve just made a PowerPoint with video.
We haven’t used the tool for what it is intended. Being able to sort of be an advisor and a consult to folks and say, “No, let’s look at how people are using video in your company and how we can use that to help create learning experiences as opposed to forcing video into an old model.
Remember most people are watching hours and hours of streams of video a week. People are on their phones constantly. All the stats that I’m sure everyone has read over the last number of years is that we’re in the 70-80% range for the traffic that’s on the internet. So finding a way to embrace what’s coming and use it for learning purposes that’s what we should be focused on doing and not trying to say, “Well it needs to be done this way. We need a full crew and we need to spend tens of thousands of dollars. Or we can do it the other way which is like let’s just pull out the phones and just start making it.”
There has got to be somewhere in between and that is where our roles as instructional designers are to come in and say, “Okay we should do that informally, but how can we shape it in a way that is going to be successful in the long run. How is it going to be tied to our business purpose?” That’s our job is to embrace the technology that is coming and help people get there with the necessary tool.
Brent Schlenker
I think Thomas leaves us with a fabulous statement to close out our show for today. He says he saw a word graphic a couple of days ago that read “Video is the new text”. And I would completely agree. I was going to tell a story early on when we got to that point. Similar to that phrase, but Thomas thank you for dropping that in there because it is true. For sure.
Hey, did we get all the links, and everything dropped in and everything for you Chris, so people know how to reach you? Because I’m sure a lot of folks in the chat could use a little consulting and a little conversation with professionals that know what they’re doing and enjoy doing this regularly.
Chris Karel
I dropped the links in there as we were talking about the two products that I showed.
Brent Schlenker
Awesome.
Chris Karel
And I’m not advocating buy them from those two places by any measure, it’s just a google search for me. I also dropped my email into the chat there and then my company website is in there as well.
Chris Karel
I do publish content each week. That’s going to be the eBook, Video for Learning, that’s going to lead six months out about video for learning. I’m sort of waffling back and forth between do you really need that formal education for video or can you learn from experts online yourself. And that ultimately comes down to the learner. For me, I needed to go somewhere. If I was going to do it at home, those video streams for HBOGO and Netflix and everything else was going to draw me away from learning on my own. Getting to a classroom and interacting with people was successful for me, but that’s not always the case for everybody.
Chris Van Wingerden
And within the same frame, don’t let that be a barrier to getting started and trying some of these things. Because until you start finding the things that you don’t know, you don’t know what you don’t know. Or, do you know what I mean?
Brent Schlenker
Yeah, one of our other previous guests he has the phrase that pays, right? The “just press the damn button, right” is what he says. He has got a book coming out soon about this kind of stuff. He is a marketing guy, but, the same concept applies. If you want to learn this stuff, there is nothing scarier than pushing that big red record button on there. But you’ve got to get past it, so just press it. You can always delete, right? And just get comfortable pressing that button and recording stuff and figuring it out. You never know until you try.
Chris Van Wingerden
All right. I think it is time to dance on out of here. Brent if you’ve got the music handy.
(music plays)
Brent Schlenker
There it is. I hope everybody has a fantastic day. Chris thanks for hanging out with us and being our guest today.
Chris Van Wingerden
I’m going to argue that trumpets are the new text.
Brent Schlenker
And spare no expense on the special effects too.
Chris Van Wingerden
Oh yes. Nice ring halo on that from the lighting there.
Brent Schlenker
I didn’t even use a DJI Osmo.
Chris Karel
No, you didn’t. That was good and smooth. That was well-rehearsed.
Chris Karel
You’ve been training. Good training somewhere Brent.
Chris Van Wingerden
So long everybody.
Chris Karel
Thanks, everybody.
Summary
Informal video has its place in the learning video world. The important thing to remember is to be open to using the technology, embrace it, and let it help you improve the workplace. Informal video is not a replacement for professional video, instead, think of it as a supplement. When fast and cheap will work for learning purposes, it should be used. When deliberate, planned, and properly executed video is required in order to make a lasting behavioral change – then have the courage to say, “We need to spend the time and money to do this properly!”
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