Increasing Use of Video Educational Content in Universities

With the rise of smartphones and social media, there has been a shift in how people consume video. Nowadays, viewers are more likely to watch videos on their mobile devices than on TV or desktop computers. This presents both challenges and opportunities for universities that want to maximize the use of their video content.

Many university systems lack organization when it comes to managing and distributing video content across different departments and offices. This can make it difficult for students who need help finding what they need quickly. With digital distractions like Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat vying for student attention, schools must work hard to ensure that students know where to find high-quality educational material when they need it most (e.g., during exam periods).

What Is Video Content and Why Do Schools Need It?

Video content is any type of media that is recorded and distributed through video formats. This can be anything from a student's lecture to an admissions tour on campus.

Many universities are already using video content to engage with students in different ways, such as career services videos that help students explore various industries or engagement campaigns that encourage students to take part in campus activities.

Schools can also use video content to advertise continuing education courses or highlight student/faculty research through interviews and testimonials.

Finding video content

Schools can find video content in a few different ways, most commonly through their own marketing and communications departments and by producing it within individual schools (e.g., law school, business school, etc.).

Regular videos vs live streaming

Live streaming refers to capturing real-time footage of an event or person while simultaneously transmitting it via the internet. Live video is often accompanied by a chat feature where viewers can post comments in real time. Live content enables students to interact with faculty and other students, giving them more opportunities for student/professor engagement.

The LMS and video content

Universities are using video content to enhance their learning management systems (LMS) by adding features that enable faster, more efficient video encoding. This makes it easier for instructors to upload and access video content in the LMS, enabling them to create a rich multimedia experience for students.

How to Get the Most Out of Your Video Content

Video content can be beneficial to students and universities, but they must be able to drive the usage of it. Institutions need to know what they're looking for in their video content in order to achieve this goal. Also, students should be able to find the video content that they need quickly and easily.

Ways to Organize Your School's Videos

Organizing videos can be a challenge due to how much video is being produced and the fact that not all of it is high quality.

1. Organization by school or college: If you organize videos according to relevant departments, students looking for specific content can easily find it.
2. Standardized naming: This enables students to conduct searches in the LMS based on certain criteria to streamline finding relevant video content. They should be able to search by video title, video topic, school office, or professor.
3. Use a video CMS: A content management system is a great option for those who want to make it as easy as possible for students and faculty to access their videos from any device. It enables users to upload, encode, and tag various pieces of video content much faster than they would using other methods.

How to Increase Student Engagement with Your Videos

Many students today have access to hundreds of entertainment options at their fingertips. Schools must find ways to keep students watching and engaged with video content. The most important thing to remember is that students usually don’t seek out school videos unless they're required to watch them.

Tips for increasing the use of your videos in classrooms, in libraries, and on campus

The main things to consider when promoting your video content are its relevance to the audience and how easy it is for them to access it.

1. Create landing pages in your LMS: This is a dedicated space where you can offer video content that corresponds with certain courses or departments. Students taking these courses/in these majors will be able to easily access video content for their course/major.
2. Post videos on social media: One of the best ways to get students excited about your school's video content is by promoting it on social media. Post links to your videos on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc., and include reminders that they're required viewing before coming to class.
3. Create playlists for students: If you have a large amount of video content on the same subject, consider creating playlists that let students watch them consecutively.

Resources for using video in education

Many universities create videos to distribute to their students, but these videos are often seen as afterthoughts. A quick Google search reveals many technology companies providing solutions for using video in education. These include:

• IBM Cloud Video (formerly Ustream): Stream your lecture to students who can watch the stream in real time or on demand.
• Vimeo: This is a video-hosting and -sharing website that requires users to pay for its service. It could be used by schools because it costs a school-owned domain name.
• YouTube: The most obvious choice for hosting videos online, but universities often use this free option without any intention of engaging their students with their online content. However, there are ways of using YouTube to increase student engagement with your university video content.
• Udemy: This website allows users to post courses for free or for purchase by others interested in the topic. It could be advantageous for instructors to use this platform because it costs no money and has more than 28 million users.

Also, there are video hosting websites dedicated solely to higher education like P2PU and iTunes U (though not all universities utilize this option).

Final Thoughts

What is the purpose of higher education and why should students go to college? The answer is multifaceted and varies from person to person, but most would agree that formal education can help someone achieve their goals. How does this relate to video use in lectures and other events on campus?

If a university can create engaging video content (and how they present it), students will likely be more receptive to the information being taught. A higher percentage of student engagement with course material is linked to better overall academic performance.

The argument can be made that if a university invested time in creating quality video lectures, tutorials, etc., then they did so for the betterment of their students. Addressing the student perspective, it should be noted that video use is growing exponentially. This means that universities may risk losing potential students if they are not using this medium to engage them. With an unprecedented number of people possessing high-speed internet access, universities must take advantage of all technologies available to them.

Warpwire’s video platform provides analytics to help you track media assets, media libraries, and system-wide usage. Designed to explore engagement, Warpwire’s reports provide deep insight into how your institution interacts with media.

To see how we can help you better leverage your video content, get in touch with us today!