As a Generation Y student, I can agree with the fact that Millennials now expect a more engaging, active education experience that utilizes digital media. We are becoming more accustomed to enjoying constant digital interaction and enjoyment from more than one medium and device. Consequently, our attention spans have become increasingly shorter and our ability to multi-task is better than any generation before.

The traditional methods of education seen in classrooms over the past 100 years no longer appeal to us. Pen on paper note-taking during long lectures is a thing of the past. Now it is widely recognized that the education system can utilize learner generated video to appeal to our unique learning skills and styles.

According to Exult Corporation, video-based learning is expected to grow significantly, with 98% of organizations already using video as part of their strategy in 2016.

So how exactly can learner generated video improve the learning experience?

1. Learner Generated Video Empowers Students

A study by Armstrong (2009) revealed that students who created learner generated video in their courses were more empowered. While students developed their skills in multi-media presentations, they also developed a sense of professionalism, people skills, planning and teamwork skills.

Creating videos gave students a chance to take a break from their routine and enjoy a fun, new experience. A report by O’Neille (2010) also found that students had a stronger sense of ownership and engagement when asked to participate in video projects.

Learner generated video can benefit students across grade school right through to higher education. There is clearly a certain wow-factor when new technology and social interaction is integrated in learning activities and course content.

2. Learner Generated Video Reinforces Subject Content

Statistics show that a learner is likely to remember 50% of audio-visual content, as opposed to just 10% of textual content.

Greene and Crespi (2012) showed that including learner generated video into course content can produce a richer understanding of the subject matter for students. This is partly because a number of steps are involved in the video creation process. The students must first gather information and learn the subject content, then write a script, read and memorize it, create the video, conduct multiple takes if necessary, and finally edit the video.

Each step exposes the student to the subject matter and subsequently reinforces the content. Students will be more inclined to master the subject matter to avoid looking foolish in front of viewers when videos are posted to YouTube or an education provider’s platform.

Additionally, students who engage in learner generated video creation are more satisfied with the course, subject content, their professor and their peers as they are actively participating in the learning process, rather than passively sitting in a lecture.

3. Learner Generated Video Facilitates Game-Based Learning

Exult Corporation predicts that gamification will be a $10 billion industry by 2020. Game-based learning incorporates challenges, levels, points and leader boards to incentivize the gaming-addicted Generation Y.

Education Keynote Speaker and Author, Marc Prensky, states anything can be taught more effectively through digital game-based learning. From teaching babies the alphabet to tactical skills to the military, game-based learning can apply to any person in any industry.

According to gamification expert Karl Kapp, the future of e-learning needs to be more interactive and engaging, and games provide a built in level of interactivity and engagement.

Learner generated video can be combined with game-based learning to encourage student participation and measure the effectiveness of the games. In an elementary school, a student can record themselves prior to starting a game such as Spellodrome or Mathletics and then again after engaging with these games for a month to measure their progress and assess whether these games are improving the learning of the student.

4. Learner Generated Video Enables Adaptive Learning

The eLearning Industry reports that the education system is moving towards a more flexible, personalized way of delivering learning material, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Every student learns at a different pace, and understands certain aspects faster than others.

Adaptive learning means that content is fed to students at a pace they can digest it. Adaptive or Micro learning helps students to quickly learn and apply content as it is delivered in small chunks of training specific to the learner’s needs. In 2016, 18.1% of organizations currently provide micro learning and over 33% of organizations plan to provide micro learning in the next 12 months.

A study by Burn (2001) explains how student videos accommodate students with different learning styles and abilities. Learner generated video can help to create personalized learning paths based on the outcome of previous activities. Education providers can use learner generated video to access student progress and provide the next chunk of learning experience to them upon successfully accomplishing a learning goal.

5. Learner Generated Video Flips the Classroom

The traditional teacher-to-student method is no longer seen as the only authority for delivering a learning experience. Flipping the classroom involves students in the delivery of content and extends the learning experience to beyond the classroom.

Gehringer and Miller (2009) recognize that students may benefit from the opportunity to construct their own activities to master subject content. Student-to-student learning can reinforce learning through having a student explain something, and allows their peers to learn from someone other than the teacher.

Video can be utilized in student-to-student learning by asking students to explain a concept or answer pointed questions in fewer than 10 seconds. Students can record their answers in web apps like Seesaw that make use of recorders like Clipchamp’s JavaScript webcam, and teachers can play the best submissions back to the class. Flipping the classroom allows a wider cohort of students to engage in the learning experience, compared to the traditional classroom setting where only a small number of students choose to speak up.

As the delivery of content becomes more self-directed and learner controlled, teachers and lecturers will become more facilitative and less focus will be placed on creating course content and scheduling events. Learning professionals will become collectors of learner generated content and this content will need to be indexed to facilitate easy and effective searches by students.

All in all, learner generated video can be used to improve the learning experience of students from kindergarten right through to higher education. Clipchamp makes working with video in the classroom easier than ever, for instance through our online recorder that is esp. suited for use on Chromebooks – one of the most popular laptops in K-12 schools around the world. Clipchamp enables more institutions around the world to utilize learner generated video in education.

Anastasia is a content crafter at Clipchamp, specializing in digital marketing and communications. You can find her online writing about video technology or at home doing yoga and studying for her law exams.