Video has always been an extremely powerful tool for trainers, offering a way to convey information in an engaging way. In the past, producing videos for yourself was too expensive and time-consuming to be reasonable, but this has been changing in recent years. To show you how you could use this type of content to start spreading knowledge, this article will be exploring a range of the different methods to enable you to use video to deliver a learning experience.

Talking Head Presentations

Talking head presentation videos work exactly how their name suggests; the presenter will appear on the screen as a talking head, sometimes accompanied with information and graphics in the background. This type of video makes it nice and easy to provide both verbal and graphical information, while also being easier to produce than the other methods you have available to you. You can get started with this with a simple smartphone camera set up.

Screencast

Much like being back at school, screencast or slide share videos work by providing the trainer with something to talk about. Each slide or screen will enable you to talk and provide information to your learners, while also providing them with video steps to make it easier for them to replicate the process later. This is great when your providing instructions, and can be especially useful when you’re providing information on topics where visual information is required, such as using a computer application.

Interactive Videos

While more difficult and costly to provide than a traditional video, interactive videos can be an excellent tool for those trying to deliver complicated topics online or where you want to build on the learners existing knowledge. This could be used to give presentations and ask questions to test understanding. It can also be used to provide the learners with a choice, branching off to a different part of the video providing a personalised learning experience. The use of interactive video provides a far more engaging experience than simply watching a video about a topic.

Whiteboard Animations

Whiteboard animations are simple videos that are designed to look as if someone is writing on a whiteboard. This is excellent for breaking down math problems, exploring topics that need both written and graphical information to make sense, and just about anything that could be taught using a real whiteboard. Software, such as Sparkol, makes it nice and easy to achieve this sort of effect with your own videos.

Animations

Much like other forms of video, animations have gained a huge amount of popularity in recent years, while also getting much easier for normal people to make. Software applications like Toonly or Moovly make it really simple to get started with your own short animations. Of course, though, it is worth keeping in mind that you may need voices and music for videos like this.

In Summary

Video is an ideal platform for education, with many schools around the world using these methods to improve their approach to teaching. Of course, though, you will need to work hard to turn them to your advantage, and this could be trickier than you might expect.