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THE HISTORY OF VIDEO TRAINING THE HISTORY OF VIDEO AS A TRAINING OR EDUCATIONAL TOOL IS NEARLY AS OLDAS THE HISTORY OF FILM AND MOVIES. By the 1980s, video tape players allowed training companies to mass-produce training videos, and it wasn t too long before videos appeared as a staple of computer-based training (CBT) programs in the form of CD-ROM. Some of these early efforts at CBT were long, boring, and had poor production values. Interactive elearning emerged as a major factor in the online training industry as instructional designers attempted to foster more interaction between the content and the participant. Many elearning courses resemble presentations that the employee advances like slides, and most courses include some type of interactive quizzes interspersed in the content. But like early attempts at video, some of these legacy elearning courses were too long and not very engaging for employees. Recent developments in the use of online simulations and games show great promise to substantially changing that perception. An area that is returning to the forefront in employee training is video. Specifically, short-form video is proving to be a highly effective and engaging employee learning tool. The rise of video in employee training is not an coincidental and it should not be a surprise. According to the U.S. Digital Video Benchmark, Digital video consumption grew 30% year over year in 2012, and the pace of growth is showing no signs of slowing down. Video production is much improved over the days of CD- ROM, too. In today s video training market, production values are excellent, and you can find videos in an amazing variety of styles. There are videos that are scenariobased that allow your employees to watch behaviors - both good and bad as learning lessons. There are excellent videos that demonstrate how to do a wide range of things from desk-top applications to the installation of complex equipment.

SHORT VIDEO AND ADULT LEARNING THEORY Another important facet to recent developments and improvements in training video is length. Short-form training videos are emerging as high quality options for organizations looking to improve the impact and effectiveness of their training programs. Our minds can only absorb a certain amount of information at a time, if we expect to remember it, and have it stored in our long term memories. And short-form video works well to helps us shift learning from short-term to long-term memory. There is some great research reported in Taming the Terrible Too s of Training, by Ken Cooper and Dan Cooper that indicates the ideal length of training is someplace between five and 15 minutes. Couple the Coopers research with what we know about how adults actually learn in the workplace and short-form video starts to make a lot of sense. Malcolm Knowles identified the six principles of adult learning which we now call adult learning theory in the 1970 s. Adults are internally motivated and self-directed Adults bring life experiences and knowledge to learning experiences Adults are goal oriented Adults are relevancy oriented Adults are practical Adult learners like to be respected Adult learning theory helps explain part of the effectiveness of video, and what we are learning about brain science, and the way we commit things to long-term memory explains more about why short-form video works so well as an employee training method. In 1999, research published in the Journal of Applied Psychology revealed that a distributed approach to learning can increase transfer by 17%. In 2002, the BBC compared a bitesize approach with longer training and found that bite-size resulted in greater understanding, application, and retention than a day-long equivalent. Our job isn t to help participants learn; it s to help them solve realworld problems. The starting point for design should be what you want people to do when they leave. We can t ignore the desired business outputs; the trick is to find a balance between what learners need and what the business expects. SOURCE: The Best and Worst of Bite-Size Learning, clomedia.com, by Sebastian Bailey

SHORT VIDEO AND ADULT LEARNING THEORY ADULT LEARNING SHORT-FORM VIDEO Adults are internally motivated and self-directed Adults bring life experiences and knowledge to learning experiences Adults are goal oriented Adults are relevancy oriented Adults are practical Adult learners like to be respected Self-directed, access as needed and when needed Interaction with others when a social component is available Goals promoted through short, timely bursts of relevant content Easier to be relevant when content is short and targeted Little to no workflow disruption Employees manage and control pace and timing of their own learning Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube. That's almost an hour for every person on Earth, and 50% more than 2012. 100 HOURS of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. SOURCE: YouTube The ideal length of training is between 5 and 15 minutes. SOURCE: Taming the Terrible Too s of Training by Ken Cooper and Dan Cooper

THE ADVANTAGES OF VIDEO According to a learning and performance study by Aberdeen, 59% of all Best-in-Class organizations indicate they are using some form of video content. The ability to stream video content, interact via video, create, store and search for video are all critical capabilities within a well-rounded learning strategy. Some of the advantages of video include: Easy and convenient Short Multiple devices Shareable User-generated comments and ratings Higher learner retention and engagement 81% 76% 68% Using Video Content Not Using Video Content Additionally, a key advantage for video-based training is that it's mobile-friendly. It s easier to both deliver and consume from the devices like smartphones and tablets that our employees use on a regular basis. 61% 61% 51% Ninety-percent of Americans use their personal smartphones for work-related purposes, and tablet use isn t all that far behind. One in five ipad owners use their ipads for work (BYOD Insights 2013: A Cisco Partner Network Study). The bring your own device (BYOD) reality isn t a trend or a fad. It s happening, and it s not going to change. Employees are more connected to the web than ever before, many of our employees simply expect 24/7, instant access to information on their own terms. The reality we must confront isn t whether employees are on the web at work, it s how we can leverage this behavior to enhance our organization s learning program. Organizational Goal Achieved Employees Highly Engaged Key Positions Filled Quickly SOURCE: Mollie Lombardi, Aberdeen Group, Elearning! Magazine, April/May 2013

LEARNING CONTENT STRATEGY A key component of any effective training strategy is a content strategy, and many organizations simply overlook this critical strategic element of their programs. In an anecdote reported in the Aberdeen research, a leader interviewed wanted to learn how his employees were actually using video for learning. So, he asked them. He learned that employees watched YouTube videos on everything from learning to tie a tie before their job interview, to how to install some of their products. Video Captures the Imagination, ELearning! Magazine, April/May 2103, p. 37. The lesson was that outside video content of unknown origin was superseding internal learning content. This is a critical lesson for all of us as we look to understand why incorporating video into our learning and content strategies is so important. This is why you have to have a cohesive and complete training strategy in place. Your program must be built so that the objectives and results support the broader objectives of your organization. Linking the objectives of your training program to your organization s goals will help focus on those business challenges that can be met by training solutions. It will help you build the type of value proposition for your business leaders that ensure you re building a long-term, sustainable employee development program. Learning content strategies should include the following key elements: A unique advantage of mobile learning is user-generated content. Employees can become content contributors whether they are using their mobile devices camera, video or audio. To learn more about how Tony Roma employees use video and smartphones to teach important job skills click here. Curate / Context: Find, group, organize or share the best and most relevant content on a specific issue, reusable and sharable. Commentate: Social, have or elicit an opinion and add value. Captivate: authenticity and engagement through deep knowledge of audience, hold their interest. Condense: easily digestible, relevant and real-time, repeatable.

AT THE INTERSECTION OF MOBILE, SOCIAL AND VIDEO This is the place where the real action is! If you weave all of the elements we ve outlined together, this is where you end up. The combination of mobile, social, and video helps top-performing organizations deliver agile responses to market challenges and keeps them ahead of their competition. Online training works better and is more efficient than traditional classroom training. Video-based online training is more effective at teaching than traditional elearning (long-form click and play courses). We are surrounded by video in our online lives. We can watch video highlights from sports events or news channels, and YouTube is the second most popular Internet site in the world. We are seeing major demographic shifts in the workforce as digital natives (Gen Y) enter our organizations, bringing with them a completely different set of expectations for connectivity and instant access to information. Finally, social media s impact cannot be understated. Just about every web site you visit today allows users to leave comments, follow, share content and engage with others about what we see. Doesn t it follow logically that our employees might expect the same capabilities from their own internal training resources? Go back to the anecdote from the learning leader who ventured out to see how employees were using video and learned that employees were using YouTube to learn how to install their own products. So yes, it does make sense that our employees expect instant access to the information and learning they need to do their jobs. Let s give it to them, and let s give it to them in the short-form video format they already access to learn to tie a tie, and anything else they might need to know right now. And we can really make it powerful by letting employees contribute their own content and comments (social) and access the content on their own terms and on their own devices (mobile) as part of a comprehensive learning and content strategy. About BizLibrary BizLibrary is a leading provider of online employee training and elearning solutions. Our awardwinning content library contains more than 6,000 online employee training videos covering every business training topic, including communication skills, leadership and management, sales and customer service, compliance training, desktop computer skills, and more. Our LMS (Learning Management System), HR performance management and social learning technology platform help human relations (HR) managers improve and manage employee learning.

6,000+ Courses. 25 Topic Areas. Unlimited Access. Improve your employees' performance with the largest and fastest-growing library of on-demand training videos and elearning courses today! For a free 30-day trial of BizLibrary, click here. http://www.bizlibrary.com/free-trial