Why explainer videos are a great eLearning solution

Demonstration

Some things just have to be shown or demonstrated to be understood. When both visual and auditory senses are involved engagement and understanding increase. When visuals support the audio “text”, especially moving visuals, the information is conveyed in a double dose: as the learner does not only “hear”, but also “sees”, as opposed to reading plain text where there is no audiovisual stimuli. A video that explains content is more effective than a lengthy text. When it comes to demonstrating something a video is a no-brainer! The meaning of the word “demonstrate” comes from the Latin that essentially means to ‘point out’. This implies action and cannot be accomplished with a reading text. Because audio and visual inputs make it possible to communicate difficult concepts in ways that are easy to understand, complex concepts are best simplified with explainer videos. Down below we discuss why they are a great eLearning solution.

Learning 

There are four identifiable styles of learning:

● audio learning (by means of listening) 

● visual learning (by means of looking at images) 

● text-based learning (by means of reading) 

● kinaesthetic learning (by means of physical activity)

Some people may have one of these as a preferred learning style, but most people prefer a combination. (A minority of people are text-based learners only!) The use of explainer videos in eLearning clearly benefits visual learners as well as audio learners. Kinaesthetic learners do especially well with interactive explainer videos! Whether the learner is a visual, audio, or kinaesthetic learner, the audio and visual elements of an explainer video combine to give the best learning experience to most learner types.

Palatability

The inclusion of explainer videos is an effective way of making long theoretical courses more palatable, especially if the course is packed with complex concepts and complicated processes. Video also helps to make dull content engaging. By inserting video a monotonous long text of information is broken into more manageable chunks. Quite simply, courses, where text dominates, are very likely to be off-putting and ineffective…However, explainer videos can be utilized to deliver theory and complicated concepts in such a way that the course is far more exciting and appetizing.

Attention

A good explainer video can create the interest needed to grip the learner’s attention and to keep that attention. With regard to keeping the learner’s attention there are generally two considerations: 

● the size of the focus point (or how many objects the learner can process at the same time)

● the length of the focus period (or how long the learner can concentrate before losing attention)

Short explainer videos ease the “time” aspect of attention as well as the “size” aspect, as thousands of visuals are absorbed in an instant! (The brain can see images that last for just a few milliseconds and the eye can register hundreds of visual messages in a matter of seconds!) 

Psychologists are of the opinion that, on average, an attention span of approximately 20 minutes can be expected of most people. By incorporating short explainer videos, in an eLearning course, an online lesson can also be sectioned into chunks that make the absorption of course material more manageable. In addition, it gives a necessary variation in the delivery, which further improves the learner’s ability to give their full attention. 

Speed

To watch a video is easier and quicker than reading a text that explains the same concept. It is also very likely that the learner will get to grips with the information much faster. Why? Because visuals improve comprehension and learning exponentially. On a cognitive level visuals stimulate the brain to process the information faster. In explainer videos, visuals and audio combine to seemingly enlarge cognitive load. Absorption aptitude and comprehension are enhanced as audio and visual stimuli allow for the brain to almost instantly and effortlessly synthesize large amounts of new information. 

Memory

Explainer videos need to be part of your eLearning solution because they aid memory retention. People remember better when they watch a video than when they merely read text. So, explainer videos do not only help learners to absorb information faster, but also to retain more information for a longer period of time. Why? Because of the way pictorial information is encoded. Pictures are perceptually more distinct from one another than words. This increases their chance of retrieval. Visuals also calculate meaning more directly than words. Therefore, because encoding for visuals seems to be superior (as opposed to encoding for words) the outcome is that the mind has a greater recollection for pictures. So, if you are looking for a great eLearning solution, make sure that you include explainer videos into the learning experience!