Online Video: the Perfect Social Learning Tool?

Jon —  January 27, 2011 — 3 Comments

Video as social learning tool. There’s a great Wired magazine article this month in which Chris Anderson, curator of the TED Conference, makes some provocative statements about the power of online video as a social learning tool and facilitator of innovation:

I believe that the arrival of free online video may turn out to be just as significant a media development as the arrival of print.  Free online video is creating new global communities, granting their members both the means and the motivation to step up their skills and broaden their imaginations.

As support, Anderson provides examples in which exceptional performers (elite dancers, TED Conference speakers), learn from their counterparts around the world by watching them online. The best aspects of the observed performances are emulated, and new ideas and innovations added.  As a result, the collective performance level of the group quickly skyrockets.

Innovation has always been a group activity. The myth of the lone genius having a eureka moment that changes the world is indeed a myth.  Ideas spawn from earlier ideas, bouncing from person to person and being reshaped as they go.

But why is video so much more effective at accelerating innovation than, say, print  – or even eLearning?  Because video is, apparently, a perfect manifestation of social learning theory.  As defined on wikipedia:

Social learning theory outlines three requirements for people to learn and model behaviour:
 

  • Attention: retention (remembering what one observed)
  • Reproduction (ability to reproduce the behavior)
  • Motivation (good reason) to want to adopt the behavior

     

 

This definition does describe video perfectly, especially when compared to eLearning and certainly compared to print.  Instructional designers would be wise to become versed in basic video production, since its utility and ubiquity as a learning tool will only continue to grow.

Here’s a quick primer on video as a learning tool from Learning Solutions Magazine.

In eLearning, Informal Learning, social learning, Video , , ,
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Jon

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I have been involved in enterprise learning, in big companies and ... less big companies, for more than 20 years. My learning philosophy: don't make people tote around loads of information in their heads just so you can say you trained them. Instead, tell them where to get the information they need, when they need it. I like to read, make films and play guitar (in private). I am a member of the Dashe & Thomson running and biking teams, and captain of its small but emerging chess team. More about me here.
  • Marsha

    Hi Jon:

    I was impressed with this article because it touches on some learning information discussed in my training and development program here at Roosevelt University. What really intrigued me was the fact that your references # Attention: retention (remembering what one observed),# Reproduction (ability to reproduce the behavior and # Motivation (good reason) to want to adopt the behavior resembles the Kellers’ ARCS model of learning. A, attention, R, relevance, C, confidence and S, Satisfaction. all factors the adult learner considers when deciding their learning programs and what they intend to glean from it. It supports my belief that when we learn how we best learning, using our different learning styles, such as audio, kinesthetic, verbal, we can get the best from our desired learning when the way we learn is an intricate factor.

  • http://www.rutraining.wordpress.com Mark Durgee

    Jon-

    I, too, am interested in learning how video can be incorporated into informal learning programs as part of a Web 2.0 tool chest. Like Marsha (above) I am a graduate student at Roosevelt University and focus on technologies like YouTube as an effective learning tool. I think a challenge many might have in using video is to avoid offering traditional instruction using this new technology. I think social learning must be informal and fun. Do you have suggestions about how one can avoid pitfalls to make learning transfer strong? Maybe some links to articles you have seen about best practices in using video as an effective informal learning technology?

    Thanks for a thoughtful post!

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