By: Mike Hogeorges

Why consider video as part of your next eLearning or in-classroom L&D project? Well, 90% of the information our brains process is visual, and video viewers are 65% more likely to retain that information because they don’t have to visualize it themselves.

Adults in the US spend approximately 5.5 hours a day watching video. It’s what we watch at home and at work, on traditional TV, the internet and via social media. Video is everywhere, and it’s just what we expect! Easy access to video via digital devices means that use of video should no longer be an afterthought or a “nice-to-have” as you plan your next online or in-classroom training.

Utilizing video in your training:

• Keeps employees engaged in learning. This is key to building a learning culture within your organization. Video can help make learning memorable and accessible.

• Increases learner retention.

• Visually depicts demonstrations, processes, personalities and behavioral interaction.

• Presents a consistent message with scenarios that mimic real-life situations.

• Makes learning available on-demand.

Here are the top 10 tips I’ve compiled for creating engaging video for training.

Tip #1: Plan before you shoot

For the best videos, even if they’re only a series of visuals, begin with a script. The script should include what you’ll need to shoot, all spoken word or graphics content and what the flow is of the finished piece.

Tip #2: Think about how you’re going to use it

Think about why you want to utilize video as a medium for training. Do you want to show or convey:

• Physical steps in a process?

• An activity or product?

• A story?

• Behavioral styles?

• Human interaction?

• Emotion, dramatization of a serious event, motivation?

• Humor to support an entertaining learning experience?

Tip #3: Decision-making scenarios

Video is great for use in branched training scenarios where the learner must make a decision and the decision has consequences. When the learner sees the results of their decision, it can have a lasting and memorable learning impact.

Tip #4: Keep it short

Keep video segments short and to the point. Think in terms of 2 to 5-minute video segments at most. Short sentences in dialogue also work best.

Tip #5: Utilize professional voice-over and/or talent

Professional voice-over talent or actors may make your presentation not only more believable but easier to understand and remember.

Tip #6: Consider capturing real employee experiences

Sharing personally created, positive on-the-job examples what learners have accomplished via phone video can be a great way to encourage peer-to-peer learning.

Tip #7: Ensure your video is compressed

Ensuring that video downloads or streams quickly at high quality is very important, as you don’t want to disrupt the learner’s attention. There are lots of free video compression software options out there, such as Handbrake.

Tip #8: Add animation and graphics

Adding sound effects, graphics and animation over the video can make a huge difference. It can highlight important key points to ensure that information is retained, and keep the learner engaged. If you can’t do this in-house, there are lots of talented people out there that can help you.

Tip #9: Hire video production professionals

Almost everyone is capable of recording video on their phone, but that’s not always the best choice. Consider using production professionals when you need to present a professional example. Take into consideration the camera work, lighting, editing and execution that needs to be done to create a quality video. Good production values are what we don’t notice when they actually exist. When video is poorly conceptualized, written, shot or edited, it can get in the way of communicating and teaching.

Tip #10: Make your video interactive

You can use video standalone for your training or in an eLearning module. But did you know you can make it interactive with hotspots, multiple choice questions and more? H5P plug-ins for Totara has interactive video authoring, and our very own rapid content authoring tool Promatum has this feature as well.

Webanywhere specializes in custom eLearning solutions and provides a myriad of media services including video production, animation and photography that can be used in your next L&D project. We invite you to check out our services to see if there’s anything we can help you with!

Mike is a Senior Instructional Designer at Webanywhere who has worked with clients including Allstate, Brunswick Corporation, Deloitte, Ford, Shell, and Philips throughout his career. In addition to his work as an ID, Mike also has more than 20 years of experience writing, producing and directing videos for a broad range of corporate clients.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post 10 Tips for Creating Engaging Training Videos appeared first on Webanywhere.

Continuous training is more and more viewed as a strategic objective within companies. According to a US research(*), 70% of employers believe that employees need continuous learning simply to keep up with the demands of their current jobs and 96% of employers say ongoing education improves job performance.
But although businesses acknowledge that training their staff for their specific functions or for compliance is essential, they often do not realise the importance of training employees on their company’s policies.

According to a survey carried out by employee training software review firm, Software Advice, which was based on 1,633 adults in the US, only 56% of employees said they had received training on corporate policies. Out of those, 57% were very or extremely confident that they understood and remembered them. 44% of employees are therefore not aware of company policies.

Ensuring all employees have a good grasp of corporate guidelines, such as equal opportunities, harassment and non-disclosure policies, is extremely important for a company and can avoid future legal issues.

The survey also showed that the delivery of the training played a key part in the retention of the information. 26% of respondents who received a combination of in-person and online training were extremely confident in their knowledge of companies policies as opposed to 15% of respondents who were trained solely with online material.

Confidence level by training type

Training can be a burden for companies. Many businesses do not have the resources and budget required to efficiently train their staff and rely solely on online material.

There are however open-source learning platforms now available (Totara) that offer a cost-effective answer to training requirements:

• Open-source allows for on-site and off-site access. Staff can access training material from anywhere on their computer, tablets or phones
• Platforms offer user-centred learning: they can integrate videos, quizzes, surveys making the training more interactive and engaging therefore increasing levels of retention
• Progress of a group of learners or individuals and the stage they are at is easily monitored. Each user can also be offered a personalised training
• Platforms are easily and quickly developed and implemented

As a Totara Platinium partner, Webanywhere has already implemented many open-source learning platforms for a wide range of organisations in the healthcare, education, retail and technology sectors.

Erin Osterhaus, HR Market Researcher at Software Advice, comments:

[/vc_column_text][vc_raw_html]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[/vc_raw_html][vc_raw_html]JTNDZGl2JTIwY2xhc3MlM0QlMjJncmVlbi1ibG9jay1kb21pbm8lMjIlM0UlMEElM0NwJTNFJTNDaW1nJTIwc3JjJTNEJTIyaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ3d3cud2ViYW55d2hlcmUuY29tJTJGd3AtY29udGVudCUyRnVwbG9hZHMlMkYyMDIyJTJGMTElMkZ3aGl0ZS1xdW90ZS1sZWZ0LnBuZyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRnAlM0UlMEElM0NwJTNFU28lMjB3aHklMjBhcmUlMjBhbG1vc3QlMjBoYWxmJTIwb2YlMjBlbXBsb3llZXMlMjB1bmF3YXJlJTIwb2YlMjB0aGVpciUyMGNvbXBhbnklRTIlODAlOTlzJTIwcG9saWNpZXMlM0YlMjBTY2FyY2UlMjByZXNvdXJjZXMlMjBtYXklMjBiZSUyMG9uZSUyMG9mJTIwdGhlJTIwZHJpdmluZyUyMGZhY3RvcnMlMjBpbmhpYml0aW5nJTIwZW1wbG95ZXJzJTIwZnJvbSUyMGludmVzdGluZyUyMHRpbWUlMjBhbmQlMjBlZmZvcnQlMjBpbiUyMHRyYWluaW5nJTIwZW1wbG95ZWVzLiUyMEFmdGVyJTIwYWxsJTJDJTIwY3JlYXRpbmclMjBhJTIwY3VycmljdWx1bSUyMGNhbiUyMGJlJTIwdGltZS1jb25zdW1pbmclMkMlMjBhbmQlMjBtYW55JTIwc21hbGxlciUyMGJ1c2luZXNzZXMlMjBtYXklMjBub3QlMjBoYXZlJTIwYSUyMGRlc2lnbmF0ZWQlMjBzdGFmZiUyMG1lbWJlciUyMHRvJTIwdHJhaW4lMjBuZXclMjBoaXJlcy4lMjBCdXQlMjB0ZWNobm9sb2d5Y2FuJTIwb2Z0ZW4lMjBoZWxwLiUyMFRoZXJlJTIwYXJlJTIwbWFueSUyMGFmZm9yZGFibGUlMjBlbXBsb3llZSUyMHRyYWluaW5nJTIwc29mdHdhcmUlMjBzb2x1dGlvbnMlMjBvbiUyMHRoZSUyMG1hcmtldCUyQyUyMHN1Y2glMjBhcyUyMFdlYmFueXdoZXJlJTJDJTIwdGhhdCUyMGFsbG93JTIwZW1wbG95ZXJzJTIwdG8lMjBvcmdhbml6ZSUyMGFuZCUyMGNyZWF0ZSUyMGElMjBjdXJyaWN1bHVtJTIwdXNpbmclMjBhbHJlYWR5JTIwYXZhaWxhYmxlJTIwbWF0ZXJpYWxzLiVFMiU4MCU5RCUzQyUyRnAlM0UlMEElM0MlMkZkaXYlM0U=[/vc_raw_html][vc_column_text]

Click here to read the full survey.

To find out more about the benefits of implementing an open source e-learning platform, visit www.webanywhere.co.uk/workplace or contact us

Source:
(*) research commissioned by The EvoLLLution
https://www.softwareadvice.com/

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post The importance of Corporate Policies training appeared first on Webanywhere.