How to use video to get your team excited about teaching and training
Teaching and training. At the very utterance of those three words, most employees’ thoughts are in this order:
- I hate training! Whyyyyy do I have to go?
- I can’t go. I’ve got way too much work to do.
- Will there be food?
- At least it’s a day off.
Even if you happen to be one of the best companies in the land to work for, it’s not often that staff jump up and down in teaching and training-related anticipation. Fortunately, we’ve found a way that could make your next teaching and training sessions more exciting: video.
Visual learners
The majority of people are visual leaners, which means they learn best when they watch or read something, as opposed to just being told. Visual learners usually prefer graphics, illustrations, animation and of course video. It doesn’t matter how interesting your speaker might be, the audience will eventually get restless and bored. Video, though, offers an alternative mode of learning.
Engagement
There’s a time and a place for a speaker to stand at the front of a room and teach, but this can get old really quickly – particularly straight after lunch. Explainer video production, on the other hand, adds a whole new dynamic to any teaching and training session. The goal should be to create an explainer video that entertains and engages while it explains.
Of course, engaging video doesn’t have to be limited to company videos or corporate videos. The internet is a Pandora’s box of video content. Search for relevant and entertaining videos that will add something to your next teaching and training event. TEDtalks are particularly helpful.
Show and tell
Explainer videos are perfect for teaching staff how to do something, without having to lug all the necessary equipment to the training venue. Whether you want to teach staff how to bake a cake, build a fence, balance accounts or pitch a sales proposal, an explainer video is a succinct way to show the entire process from beginning to end, without all the unnecessary fluff in the middle.
If you’re feeling a little sceptical about using video as a show and tell resource, look at the US army. Soldiers are trained about warfare by playing computer games and simulators.
Group testing
Conducting a teaching and training test via video is an innovative way to get groups of people interested and engaging with each other. For example, a test video could ask a question either verbally by a presenter or in text form onscreen, then cut to a 20-second countdown clock as groups discuss possible answers together. At the end of the countdown clock the answer could appear, again either by a presenter or in text. This is an innovative alternative to traditional questions and answers hosted from the stage.