Applying Neurology to Online Videos

September 06, 2022 / Digital Learning / Tags: neurology, Video, Online Teaching

Using online videos to support student success is a great strategy! Videos and transcriptions can be time consuming. Make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck by creating videos that will be engaging and memorable.

Shorter is Better: Working memory is very short and can get fatigued easily. Cognitive overload can be both time and number of new concepts/facts. Keep your videos to under 15 minutes and focus on ONE concept.

Integrate Videos with Questions: Reflection is the only way to move information from our working memory to long-term memory. Ask students questions before the video to get them warmed up, ask them questions during the video to help them organize information, ask questions after the video to help students to move the new content into long-term memory. Using Kaltura video quizzes or even asking students to pause the video and respond in an online discussion forum are good ways to add reflection to your videos.

Chunking: Students have a really hard time connecting new ideas together. This can be as easy as circling back to an underlying theme of the course or module. Students will see how that larger theme is integrated in other course content. Revisiting the concept numerous times helps move it to long term memory.

Metaphors: Metaphors are great for helping students better understand the relationships between ideas. Faculty can and should use metaphors to illustrate complicated concepts. Metaphors are also a great way to have students manipulate the new information. Ask them to explain a metaphor for the new content.

If you want to know more about video best practices, please read John Orlando’s article, Applying Neurology to Online Videos, in Faculty Focus (9/2/2022).