I left my role as a video production manager and corporate eLearning project manager in 2019 to start Learning Carton. One of my goals was to return to my passion, teaching. I wanted to help people learn how to make video for learning purposes. My video for learning (VFL) program begins with the learning fundamentals. It is designed to help you learn the theory and practical skills you need to make effective learning videos.
I loved teaching and it loved me back – most of the time. In 2008, I was unable to get a job because I was “overqualified.” Basically, the economy was in freefall and districts were only hiring people with limited experience. So I made a career change.
I went back to school and earned a two-year entrepreneurial art degree in digital filmmaking. It was expensive and I realized too late that I could have learned the skills I needed without a pricey degree.
Much of what I learned while paying for a degree wasn’t in the classroom. I earned the knowledge by seeking out information on my own: volunteering for nonprofits, offering to work on video shoots for little or no pay, and spending every waking moment making my own video productions. The grind was real. I put in my 10,000 hours. I learned the language of video by investing time in mastering the knowledge, skills, and behaviors of the video production craft.
Merging video production & instructional design
Then, I made the decision to merge my teaching experiences and video production skills to become an instructional designer. The demand for instructional designers was greater than that of video producers. And, I felt better about using my teaching skills instead of simply making advertisements.
And, one of the top video production companies in Cleveland was making the transition to corporate eLearning vendor. They offered me an instructional designer position.
I started a new learning journey – this time without a costly degree. To learn corporate instructional design I took premium-priced online courses, consumed webinars, read books, and sought mentorship from a few amazing writers decades ahead of me. Self-taught, self-directed, and much, much cheaper than my art degree, I realized what I needed to do.
I needed to make a course that teaches people how to make video for learning purposes.
As I was preparing to leave my great job at a great company, I thought about all of the resources I used to reach this stage of my career. From dense pedagogy to on-demand tutorials, I never found a guidebook that showed me how to make a video for learning purposes. So here is my nexus of praxis: Video for Learning.
The Case for Learning Video
Video is all around us. It’s in our homes, stores, airports, public spaces, and even in our pockets. It’s a medium that almost everyone consumes daily, whether passively or actively. According to Cisco, video will account for 82% of global internet traffic by the year 2022. Let that number sink in. As the medium of video thrives, educators, instructors, and trainers have been using more and more of it to provide relevant instruction to their learning audience. It’s a great way to “meet the people where they are,” which is crucial in sparking meaningful learning.
My case for learning video is made up of five reasons why video is so powerful. These five reasons lay the base for the learning fundamentals of the VFL program.
- Convenience: Video for learning purposes is so powerful because it provides convenience to the learner. Learning video is available in a place and at a time that works for the individual.
- Autonomy: The autonomy provided by learning video empowers the watcher to control the pace at which they learn.
- Engaging: Video is engaging, and maybe even a bit addictive, as it offers us a visual tableau combined with sound and guided by a story.
- Multi-sensory: The multi-sensory nature of video reaches various parts of our human existence, from visual, auditory, to even hand-on actions.
- Social: Finally, video is so powerful because it turns abstract concepts into concrete knowledge by offering us a social view of the world.
Read the full post: The Case for Learning Video
We Need “Learning” Video Production Skills
Video is no longer made solely by professionals with film degrees and large budgets. Almost anyone can make a video, but it’s important to distinguish the home video from those made through a production process. If you are going to master the learning fundamentals of the VFL program, you need to seek the skills. You need to increase our video production skills to keep up with the availability of technology. Video for learning should not be homemade. If it’s informal, there needs to be a plan. By using a five-phase video production process that incorporates instructional design into phase one, you can make sure to deliver on the promise of learning video: to engage the learner in improving knowledge, skills, and/or behaviors.
When you’re making a video for learning, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all of the options available. This is where following the video production process FOR LEARNING is extremely helpful.
Read the full post: We Need “Learning” Video Production Skills
5 Phases of Video Production for Learning
The traditional phases of video production need to change if we are to make videos for learning purposes. Design, or more specifically instructional design (ID), needs to be incorporated into the first phase! ID is perhaps the most important of the Learning Fundamentals in the VFL program. By borrowing from the five stages of the commonly used instructional design process, ADDIE, we can merge the two models for efficiency. The phases of video production for learning will improve your learning videos. As I’ve argued, we need to avoid making informal or home videos and passing them off as learning videos. Instead, we need to raise our collective consciousness of professional video production as if it were a new model of learning or a new form of communication.
In other words, you can be a DIY video creator of learning videos if you learn professional skills.
Read the full post: 5 Phases of Video Production for Learning
Glossary of Learning Video Terms
If we are to make better learning videos we need a common language. We need to improve our lexicon in order for us to deliver on the promise of video for learning: to improve knowledge, skills, and behaviors. This glossary of learning video terms is meant to be that place of reference. The glossary is the final component of the learning fundamentals in the VFL program.
The glossary is a living document because language is a living organism. Linguistics teaches us that language changes with usage, interpretation, and innovation. We make decisions at the “linguistic buffet” when we choose words to describe a topic.
Please offer insights from your experience to improve this glossary of learning video terms.
See the full glossary: Glossary of Learning Video Terms
Summary
I used to be a teacher. Then, I became a video production expert. Now, I’m giving my experience to the world through my Video For Learning program. The VFL program begins with the fundamentals. Once you internalize the five reasons why video is so powerful for learning you can ready yourself to become a learning video creator. Learn the language. Video is a new language with lots of possibilities. Video For Learning will help teach you the new language so you can harness video as a tool to achieve your learning goals.
