Learning from TikTok, Instagram and Spotify: Creating effective media for online learning
One of the most effective teaching methods of online courses and programmes is the use of media. Lamb argues that ‘the pedagogic and societal shift to the digital has presented new opportunities to present scholarship in richly multimodal form as we enjoy greater freedom to select and configure resources in ways that are most suited to the knowledge we wish to convey, as well as the anticipated audience for our work’ (2019, p. 21). This is very exciting. We are no longer confined to the written word, with an occasional stock image thrown into a PowerPoint presentation. We have the opportunity to present knowledge using different modalities and we can find appropriate displays, depending on the content.
But, like with most things in life, there is a caveat. The media has to be designed correctly and intentionally in order to be effective.
Whilst technology has allowed us to include numerous elements that count as media, for the purposes of this post, I am going to focus on the 3 most widely used methods: videos, audios, and graphics. Videos, of course, have both image and sound; audios have only sound; and graphics are images that are either static or interactive. Let’s start with videos.
VIDEOS
You’d be hard pushed to find an online course or programme that doesn’t use videos. It has become the staple of online learning. Perhaps it is because videos feel closer to the widely used transmission methods of teaching than other forms of media. Whatever the reason, it’s safe to say that videos are a pretty important part of online learning experiences.
Videos allow students to feel more connected to the tutor, which is very important in digital environments. Watching your tutor talk is the closest you’ll get to sitting in front of them and listening to them talk, which is what many of us associate with higher education learning. When people think of the word university, I bet a lot of them would immediately picture a lecture theatre … I know I do.
Videos can help engage students, using both their auditory and pictorial channels to absorb information. They can benefit auditory and visual learners and break up content that is particularly complex into bitesize segments.
But for all their glory in online learning, videos are not effective in and of themselves. It is the way they are scripted, edited, put together, and ultimately, designed, that makes them effective for learning. This is a skill. And unfortunately, it is a skill that is somewhat lacking in many higher education institutions.
Creating an effective video for learning is vastly different from creating an effective video for entertainment. Many people think that it is one and the same thing. It is not. In fact, elements that make a video entertaining may actually make it ineffective for learning.
It is essential that we school ourselves in what makes a video pedagogically effective.
Effective practices for creating videos
Don’t go overboard
It can be really tempting to turn everything into a video. I’ve seen this happen on many occasions, where faculty are unsure about how to convey the knowledge in a form other than text and so, they turn to video.
Videos work, but not if a student has 200 of them to watch. They will become fed up and disengaged. Variety is the spice of life and making too many videos within one course is a sure fire way to annoy your students. You need to have a reason for conveying the knowledge through the medium of video. If you’re just explaining something, there’s no need for the students to watch you speaking. Use videos for concepts that are better broken down visually.
Keep it short
The generation of students we’re trying to engage with these videos are used to 30 second TikTok videos or Instagram reels like the one below.
Okay, so we probably can’t turn our materials into 30 second TikToks, but looking at media outside of the classroom can help us understand how our students engage. People can struggle to concentrate fully for a 60 minute episode of Game of Thrones and that has death, violence, sex, and gore at its disposal. If you hit them with a 60 minute video on the benefits of stable IT infrastructure, I promise you will lose them. The most effective videos for learning are short, to the point, and explain one concept. We don’t want to cause cognitive overload in our students, we want them to watch the whole thing and actually retain it. Research suggests 6 minutes is the sweet spot, before students begin to drop off so don’t go beyond this because it will literally be a waste of your time (Guo et al., 2014).
Go easy on the fluff
We might think that stock images, footage, or music helps the students visualise the content and makes the video more interesting, but that’s not always the case. Sure, in entertainment videos, images and music are great. But, like I’ve said, educational videos are totally different. Using stock images, footage, or music can actually prevent learning because it takes up precious space in our students’ limited working memory. This is especially true for novice learners; they don’t know what’s relevant in the discipline yet, they’re beginners, wading through the sea of knowledge. If you start throwing images and music at them, their brains are going to spend precious energy figuring out what’s important to remember and what’s for decoration (Ibrahim, 2012).
If your students are more expert then you can throw in a bit more decoration. Chances are they will be more familiar with the discipline and, therefore, their brains will easily detect the superfluousness of the images or sound for their learning.
Script it
It’s tempting to just go into filming with some bullet points and freestyle. Many academics are used to this style of presenting. But, that style works better when you have a live audience to bounce off of. Less so when you’re staring into a silent lens. When you’re creating a video, you really don’t want to waffle or go off on a tangent and that is much more likely if you don’t script your videos.
Videos, in a way, are like little stories. They need a beginning, a middle, and an end. You wouldn’t catch Hollywood filming an unscripted movie. If you want to create an engaging video that is concise and effective, spend some time scripting it.
Okay, let’s take a look at audios.
AUDIOS
Who loves a good podcast? I’ve listened to more podcasts than I can count. I go for a lot of walks throughout the day — definitely a benefit and a curse of working from home since the pandemic. A benefit because I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been; a curse because I go for walks just to remember there are other human beings in the world. A lot of people today like to listen to something when they’re walking, travelling to work, or even just relaxing or cleaning the house. But, it’s not just podcasts, this generation of students are much more familiar with communicating through voice notes to their friends and loved ones. I must confess, I use voice notes to communicate with my friends and family far more than I use text message. I rather enjoy listening to the daily 20 minute voice note from my friend who lives on the other side of the world.
The point is, audios can be a great way to engage your students. It’s a media form that they are familiar with, and one which the majority quite enjoy. Not only that, but you can listen to audios pretty much wherever you are as long as you’ve got some headphones, which makes them sometimes easier and more convenient to engage with than videos.
But just like with videos, they need to be designed intentionally for pedagogic effectiveness.
Effective practices for creating audios
Pitch and tone are everything
Have you ever listened to someone talk and just thought, “I’m struggling to keep my eyes open here”. A lullaby or monotone voice is great if you’re recording sleep stories for a meditation app (Cillian Murphy’s on the Calm app are particularly effective I’ve heard). Less useful for when you’re trying to keep students interested in what you’re telling them.
So, your pitch and your tone are crucial. You’ve got to inject enthusiasm, passion, humour, excitement, and all the other relevant emotions into your recording.
Tell a story
Eyler (2018) argues that storytelling is a fundamental way in which humans learn because stories are treated differently in memory than other types of material.
Podcasts are great because so many of them turn material into stories. It doesn’t matter what the content is, what matters is the delivery. The podcast RedHanded won the Listeners’ Choice Award at the British Podcast Awards 3 years in a row (Wikipedia, 2023). The reason they’re so successful is that they turn true crime fact into compelling and entertaining stories. They’re teaching whilst entertaining, and this is the power of audio narratives.
I’ve included an episode below if you’re curious.
Finally, let’s take a look at how to make effective graphics for learning.
Effective practices for creating graphics
Don’t overcomplicate it
Have you ever looked at a technical image and thought, “What on earth am I looking at?” Well, sometimes in our attempts to cram in as much knowledge as possible, we create images that have far too much going on. We may think we’re covering all bases but by doing so, we’re actually covering none.
Don’t overcomplicate your images. If it’s a highly technical or complicated graphic, then break it down. Do it in steps if you must. Don’t cram it all in at once. Especially if you’re using the image in a video — students will not have enough time to analyse the graphic.
Make them accessible
Don’t assume that all of your students will be able to see the graphic. It might be tempting to use lots of images in your courses, make it more visually engaging. And that’s great for lots of learners. But, it can exclude some learners who may be visually impaired, or may just struggle to comprehend image as opposed to text.
If you’re going to use a graphic, make sure you explain it with words as well. Using alt text should be a given in any online course, but alt text can be super unhelpful if a complicated graph is given the textual description ‘A graph’. Explain the image properly and with enough detail so that even if you can’t see it, you know what’s going on.
Nailed it
If you get it right, media can make an online course truly exceptional. Not just for engaging students, but for maximising their learning.
Using insights from research and designing with intentionality (collaboration between faculty, learning designers, and media producers is essential here) can ensure that we nail it with the media we use to teach our students.
REFERENCES
Eyler, J. R. (2018). How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching. West Virginia University Press.
Guo, P. J., Kim, J. and Rubin. R. (2014). How video production affects student engagement: An empirical study of MOOC videos. 41-50.
Ibrahim, M., Antonenko, P., Greenwood, C. and Wheeler, D. (2012). Effects of segmenting, signalling, and weeding on learning from educational video. Learning, Media and Technology, 3, 220-235.
Lamb, J. (2019). Space, sociomateriality, sound. The learning spaces of higher education. Thesis: University of Edinburgh.
Wikipedia. (2023). Redhanded. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RedHanded
