How interactive videos can boost learning retention
It is well accepted in the educational world that understanding and long-term retention are only achieved through active participation and that the passive reading of text will only suit a very small number of learners.
Even a well-produced video can sometimes be a passive, lengthy experience and could only promote low levels of retention. Interactive training videos are a ‘coming together’ of video content and behavioural change learning – they provide the traditional benefits of videos while adding an interactive, gamified “twist”. In fact, interactive videos have a lot in common with gamification.
Triggering a learning interaction
With interactive videos, the eLearning content is enriched with video content which pauses at appropriate moments and requires an action from the learner: participants must complete the action before they are able to continue with the training. This triggers a learning interaction, which is proven to increase the understanding of information. Moreover, interactive videos have multiple possible storylines instead of a linear playback, making users responsible for how the story unfolds.
Learning through feedback
The benefits of this powerful eLearning tool include the ability to immerse learners in real scenarios through the video and see how they respond: if they make the wrong choice, they can be shown the consequences of their decision; e.g. physical incident, legal fines, damage to brand reputation. If they make the right decision they continue through the video to see the beneficial outcomes of their approach. This feedback system helps participants to understand what the best behaviour is in any situation and helps them develop knowledge retention.
Update your old video-based training
Interactive Videos take eLearning one step further and can complement any suite of training materials companies already have: this means your old video-based training can be used and re-built into an interactive activity for your learners. The visual cues deliver engagement to the users while their ability and performance can be tracked through the detailed reporting system. Old-fashioned videos cannot provide any feedback on the user interaction with the content; instead, interactive videos enable you to fully understand the knowledge of your employees on any given topic and ensure you are 100% compliant throughout the business.
Health & safety compliance training
Interactive videos are ideal for companies which have a set of strict legislative or health and safety procedures involving – for example – heavy machinery. Manufacturing businesses could be the big beneficiaries with this learning technology: Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) can now be taught using video demonstrations of the correct way to conduct processes. Learning Management System will capture the performance of each learner in the videos and other interactive activities and record this digitally, helping businesses protect themselves, their staff and their customers.
Interactive videos present many possible uses:
- Workplace Navigation – Interactive videos give the learner the chance to be in control of the video. For a site tour or inspection, they can choose the direction and order in which they see the site, or click on specific hotspots to have more details.
- Sales Training Scenarios – These are simulations of realistic situations and conversations that allow learners to apply knowledge and make decisions in the same way that they would at work. Combining this with video means they get immersed in a situation and see the consequences of their decisions unfold in real time. This is especially useful for sales scenarios.
- Next-generation Explainer Videos – Everyone loves explainer videos – they’re short, sweet and interesting to watch. With interactive videos we can supercharge them by adding questions and other activities into the mix, increasing knowledge retention.
- Easy Compliance – Interactive videos are an engaging way to instruct employees about basic compliance messages. By creating a video, we can add assessment questions into the mix at various points, pausing the video as the learner watches it.
- Demonstration of Processes, Procedures & Best Practice – If employees need to follow dozens of hands-on processes at work, or they need to understand the functioning of a software, videos are an excellent way to demonstrate them. Making the video interactive is even better as we can then include interactions that will increase the impact of the content.
Sponge is continuing to challenge traditional training methods to ensure companies are providing engaging, informative and pedagogically rich learning content which is a catalyst for actual changes in behaviour. Sponge can create interactive videos which are a formidable tool for the eLearning industry and have already been proven to enhance learning performance and knowledge retention.
If you are looking to increase the attention span and the learning retention of your employees, start implementing interactive videos in your training today. We can help you with that.