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Employee training takes up a considerable amount of a company’s budget. According to industry data, more than 100,000 companies in the United States spent $1,286 on training per learner (Training Magazine, 2019). Creating instructional video materials, specifically, can be very costly. The average cost for an instructional video is estimated to be $30,420. This is calculated by multiplying the average hourly cost to produce any type of training material, $507, with the average number of hours it takes to produce an international video which is 60 (Brandon Hall Group, 2017).
Today, 82% of businesses are still using learning management systems (LMS) for training and evaluation comments. Newer methods, however, are catching up in terms of popularity. These include virtual classrooms, webcasting, and video broadcasting. Last year, it was found that these tools had the highest growth in usage compared to LMS, rapid elearning, application simulation, and mobile applications. In 2019, the adoption of these technologies posted a 6% growth. In contrast, LMS usage only grew by 1% while rapid elearning tools growth was only 3% (Training Magazine, 2019). If you are not familiar with rapid learning, they allow users to quickly convert PowerPoint slides into online course content. Examples of these tools with PPT to video converter capabilities include Articulate 360, Adobe Captivate 9, Lectora Inspire 17, and iSpring.
Given the time and money that companies pour into video training, it begs the question of whether or not investing in video training is worth it. What environmental conditions and employee behaviors do companies have to factor in when considering video training? Most importantly, how can companies ensure that video training is effective? To answer these questions, this article will discuss the important video training statistics you should know in 2023.
Even though instructor-led classroom training remains a popular way to conduct corporate training, recent surveys have shown that video is a widely used learning platform for corporate training (Mimeo, 2019; Training Magazine, 2019). Likewise, it is adaptive to different learning methodologies, and it can readily be integrated with the latest technologies that impact learning. This makes video training a positive addition to an organization’s training toolkit. Today, a majority of companies are using video to train employees.
Companies are also making plans to incorporate virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI) into their training. VR is a fully simulated environment, while AR is a real-world environment enhanced by computer-generated objects.
With AI, companies can create personalized employee learning that blends video training with other methods. AI can learn a trainee’s strengths, weaknesses, and learning preferences to recommend the appropriate training courses for the employee. One such example is LinkedIn learning, which suggests courses based on what skills the user needs and what courses their peers are taking (Barnard, 2019). Testing in video-based and other types of training can likewise be improved through AI. For instance, the automatic detection of the affective state of the user via AI-based classification of facial expressions can be used to analyze if a video is the right tool to deliver training. Moreover, an AI-powered training program can design tests for individual learners based on a trainee’s skill level. Subsequent courses taken after the assessment can then be tailored based on the trainee’s test results.
Source: Training Magazine, 2019
Designed byVideo training is not without obstacles, as these findings have indicated. Any organization that is integrating or plans to integrate video in their training toolkit must anticipate the following issues if they want to optimize learning outcomes.
Source: Mimeo, 2019
Over time, humans forget what they have learned, which creates an obstacle to making video training effective. One of the famous theories that explain this phenomenon is the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve. Sometime in 1879, German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered that people quickly forget what they learned 20 minutes after they have learned it (Finkenbinder, 1913). When applied to training, this means that on average, employees will forget 90% of the information learned during training within one month (Cloke, 2018).
The research below has shown that video training has a positive impact on employees gaining procedural knowledge. In a similar vein, video training was shown to help learners retain information for up to a month.
Source: Harvard Business Review
A study shows that peak engagement is at six minutes and dwindles down afterward. In 2014, researchers analyzed 6.9 million video watching sessions on the edX massive open online course (MOOC) platform. It is said to be the largest study of video engagement in terms of scale. The researchers looked at viewer engagement to know which kinds of MOOC videos lead to the best student learning outcomes. They measured engagement by analyzing how long a student watched the video (Guo et al., 2014). The results show that no matter the length of the video, the median engagement time is at most six minutes.
Videos that were less than three minutes long showed the highest engagement, with 75% of viewing sessions lasting three-fourths of the video length. However, engagement starts to drop during the ninth to 12th minute. At this point, students often fail to watch less than halfway through the video. Thus, the researchers recommended that instructors plan their lessons before making a video and dividing it into chunks under six minutes (Guo et al., 2014).
Though the participants of the study were students, the researchers noted that video engagement has relevance beyond the academe. They cited as an example, YouTube, where the revenue of a video is tied to engagement as a measure of viewer satisfaction. Thus, this insight can be useful to those producing videos for corporate training.
A study shows that intermittent testing leads to better retention. Moreover, it makes video interactive, which more employees prefer. Okano and company’s study on workplace digital learning used video with interpolated testing on one group. After approximately one-minute intervals, employees were presented with multiple-choice questions asking about the content that they just watched. After they choose an answer, they are shown the correct one with a green checkmark. Employees stayed on the screen with the correct answer until they clicked a button to move on to the next part of the video (Okano et al., 2018).
With interpolated testing, employees who watched the video and answered the quizzes retained information after 20 to 35 hours. They also fared better in a test that had free-form and multiple questions. In the said test, some questions were asked in the video, while some were new questions.
Thus, the researchers concluded that interpolated testing enhanced learning for all information, not just for the information asked during interpolated testing.
Moreover, giving quizzes is a great way to make your video interactive, which 82% of employees prefer over traditional videos (Kaltura, 2019).
Khan-style tutorials feel more personal and lead to higher engagement than PowerPoint slides and/or code screencasts. Another important takeaway from Guo and company’s empirical study of MOOC videos is that Khan-style videos are more engaging. Salman Khan, founder of the Khan Academy YouTube channel, uses a tablet to draw text, numbers, or doodles on the screen. These visuals supplement his video discussion on the topic.
The study shows that students engaged with Khan-style tutorials for 1.5 to twice as long compared to tutorials with PowerPoint slides and/or code screencasts.
Also, 40% of Khan-style tutorial viewing sessions were followed by an attempt to answer a multiple-choice problem. In contrast, only 31% of other tutorials were followed by problem attempts.
Video producers and program managers at edX noted that drawings with the instructor’s own handwriting felt more personal than computer-generated fonts (Guo et al., 2014). Corporate trainers who wish to make Khan-style tutorials can do so with a tablet and a program like Microsoft paint as the digital whiteboard. The instructor’s scribbling on the digital whiteboard can then be recorded with a screen recording and video editing software like Camtasia (Agarwal, 2011).
Just make sure to give active instructions, make it accessible on-demand, and make it part of a holistic training program. To maximize video simulation games, Sitzmann suggests providing active rather than passive instructions where trainees can learn work-related competencies as they played the game. Secondly, learners should be able to play the game as many times as they wish. Lastly, simulation games work best when it’s treated as part of a holistic program rather than being a stand-alone training method. Thus, employees should still receive instruction before and after the game to ensure that they understand the entire scope of their responsibilities (University of Colorado Denver, 2010).
The use of video for training employees is a trend that shows no indication of going away soon. Studies have shown that video training helps employees gain knowledge as well as retain them more effectively than other methods of instruction. As such, it is a worthwhile training method to incorporate into your training program. Companies looking to leverage video training must consider employee mobility, inattention, and search accuracy issues when designing video training. It will also be beneficial for companies to follow research-backed best practices to make their training videos highly effective and worth the investment, namely: