Can Interactive Videos Replace Trainers in Education?
Digital technology is becoming a greater part of our world with each passing day. It’s slowly, but surely, changing the way we do things in all facets of our lives. Education in no different. eLearning has been in commercial use for years now. However, its rise is still to come. The reason for that is technical limitations that have restricted user interaction and engagement. Users despised the ‘click next’ Power Point-like educational solutions that were mainly dull and monotone. By using videos in education, eLearning has now reached a new and improved level. We have all heard that saying: “a picture is worth a thousand words“. Since most videos usually consist of 24 pictures per second, the benefits of transferring information via videos are clear. However, those benefits are still insufficient when we compare them to facilitator-led training. The first component that is missing can be found in the old Chinese proverb that goes something like this:
“Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I might remember. Let me try and I will know it forever!“
Interactivity was the source of stress for eLearning specialists, especially when online courses were compared to live training where participants would attempt to apply their knowledge. Now, thanks to technology, we can produce interactive videos created in HTML5 that offer two-way communication. We allowed the users to react to what they were seeing and to be more than just observers. Users interact by clicking or touching “hot-spots“ and by receiving additional information or feedback about their knowledge.
Feedback is the second component missing from eLearning. By building branching scenarios, we can now “tell” the user he is wrong, why he is wrong and how to fix that. The course acts like a trainer by guiding the users in the right direction instead of telling them directly “go there – do that”. Users also receive a more personalized content since mistakes differ among people.
In order to beat the misconception that technology is just trying to mimic the facilitator in education, I would like to present an additional capability that has improved compared to traditional education. As an example, take a sales scenario we want to present to our users. With interactive videos, we can show them the same conversation in different situations. Users can play the roles of both the salesperson and the buyer. They can understand and experience thoughts of both parties that, in turn, will improve their performances in both roles. We use this method when we want the users to empathize with the other side or when we want to break a certain misconception they have.
Although technology gave us the foundations for this disruptive educational element, producing it is a real challenge. Users have high criteria when it comes to their experience using anything digital. They quickly reject solutions that don’t suit them. For that reason, we at the eWyse agency for eLearning development have joined forces with Amulet, a production studio. You can find our top-notch interactive video on the link below.
