A new SAGE white paper explores the effects of video content on student engagement and learning.
With the rapid increase of the amount of video content available, the new report sets out the current state of play in the educational landscape and draws conclusions about good practice.
Key findings
- The changing HE landscape (e.g. flipped classroom; off-campus learners; flexible learning; self-driven learning) provides the perfect context for video content
- Similarly, the growth of video content is influencing changes in teaching practice
- Video does seem to improve engagement in a few specific ways, including widening participation and improving emotional engagement
- On the other hand, video can put up some barriers to engagement (e.g. for those with inadequate technology, slow connectivity – or a lack of digital skills)
- Shorter videos can increase median viewing times for videos, improve learning outcomes and make repeat viewing more likely; segmenting longer videos has the safe effect
- Students find videos in which the instructor appears more engaging
Further research work needed
- More work is required to discover video’s role in the development of critical thinking
- There is more work to be done in researching the specific forms of design, graphics and content types that will drive educational success and support learners.
The Report, Assessing the impact of educational video on student engagement, critical thinking and learning: the current state of play, is available from SAGE Publishing.