by
Imed Bouchrika
All data points, statistics, trends, and predictions presented in this article have been gathered by the G2R research team led by Imed Bouchrika, Ph.D. You are free to quote, share, and distribute the information here for your own purposes without any limitations.
Companies allot a considerable amount of their budgets to employee training. Based on industry data published in Training Magazine (2019), over 100,000 companies in the United States spent $1,286 per learner on training expenditures. For video specifically, the overall average cost is $30,420 for an instructional video, which is $507 (the average hourly cost to produce any kind of training) multiplied by 60, the number of hours it takes to create an instructional video on average (Brandon Hall Group, 2017).
Today, 82% of companies still use learning management systems (LMS). However, newer methods like virtual classrooms, webcasting, and video broadcasting are catching up in popularity. These tools posted the highest growth in usage compared to LMS, rapid elearning, application simulation, and mobile applications last year. In 2019, the adoption of these technologies posted a growth of 6%. In contrast, LMS grew only by 1% and rapid elearning tools only by 3% (Training Magazine, 2019). Rapid elearning tools like Articulate 360, Adobe Captivate 9, Lectora Inspire 17, and iSpring allow you to quickly convert PowerPoint slides to online course content.
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 2020.
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 video 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:
