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You've identified a learning need. Let's say you need people to know the best way to use a particular piece of equipment. In this case, there is only one way to use it, and the aim is to save people time rather than get them to understand the disadvantages of using it wrongly.
By far the best way to approach this learning problem is likely to be with live action video.
There are four things to consider:
- How will you record the video?
- How will you edit the video?
- How will learners find the video?
- How will you measure the results?
Recording
The example below was recorded using a very low cost, handheld Flip video camera - now, sadly, not in production, but there are many similar products, including the rather excellent Kodak Zi-8.
The commentary was recorded using my PC headset - again, nothing special.
The key thing was the planning. I'd worked out the process that I needed to explain beforehand, and then ran through the process whilst recording in a series of shots.
Total filming time: 15 minutes
Editing
The raw footage was pulled into iMovie (which comes free with any Mac). There are similar free tools available for Windows (eg. Windows Movie Maker).
The editing process consisted simply of trimming the shots where necessary, joining them together with (subtle) transitions, recording the commentary (whilst still keeping the sounds recorded during the filming to provide an audio backdrop), and then adding the titles.
Total editing time: 60 minutes - just because I was learning how to do it at the same time.
Distribution
The film was recorded because I knew, from personal experience, that there was no help available for this particular task, and wanted to share what I had learnt.
I wanted to make it as widely available as possible, as the potential audience was worldwide. If I'd wanted to limit the audience then it would have made distribution far, far harder!
So I popped it on Youtube. There are two versions - with different levels of rendering quality. (Again, I was experimenting here).
Total time for worldwide distribution: 15 minutes
Results
After a year, between the two versions, the video has been viewed 25,000 times. To me that's phenomenal! After all, it's only about changing a car lightbulb!
There have been 44 comments so far - mostly expressing how much time has been saved. I would expect (from my experience of social media) that these comments reflect a much greater number of people who didn't comment. Going on the 100:10:1 ratio normally quoted, I would estimate 4000 people have saved about £7 each (based on the the Halfords price for changing light bulbs). That's a total of £28,000! Imagine that reflected in your organisation...
5 comments
Hi Mark,
Well done on this post, not only from the perspective of providing an overview of the process you went through and the tools you used, but primarily for taking the effort to provide a monetary value for what you have undertaken.
I guess I’m as guilty as a lot of people of *knowing* that a particular method/route/approach is the *right* thing to do, but as we all know, in many circumstances the ‘other person’ may need some very clear signposting as the reasons to undertake my suggestion.
And as they say “money talks"….
As a matter of interest, how did you hold the video camera and still have 2 hands to do the job of those pesky rear cover clips
‘Taylor Taylor’?
I don’t know how that post got credited to that imposter when it was I that submitted it!?
;-)
@Paul - if you look carefully, you’ll only ever see one hand in the picture. The other was always holding the camera. The worst bit was getting the clips back together, as you’ll hear from the grunting! ;-)
@Craig - the estimate was just that, an estimate, but even if you only assume 44 people took benefit from the video, that still makes it financially worth doing. If only it was this easy with corporate learning!
Hi Mark
Great simple description of the process & tools required to put together a time and cost effective resource.
We started producing short video demos last year to cover short focused communication and 2-3 minute demos of IT tips. We are using the same approach - flip video, PC headset & editing in movie maker. We are also capturing content in Captivate with an audio voice over via headset and editing within Captivate.
If anyone is interested in getting started your blog provides a great starting point. Thanks for taking time to share. :-)
