![[02] Making Educational Videos Engaging](https://images.beamly.com/fetch/https%3A%2F%2Fauth.jellypod.ai%2Fstorage%2Fv1%2Fobject%2Fpublic%2FCoverImages%2Forg_01K7DBDW6Z6WY8F3DV1EPJM2Z4%2Fusers%2Fuser_01K7DBDW1MF050KSA7ZE8CDR69%2Ftxb_VHcLKOBN7KCowR1jw.jpg?w=365)
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Welcome back to Research Topics on Digital Education.
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I'm Elisabeth Kensington, and I'm joined by Martin Nottingham.
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Martin, do you remember when MOOCs first started making headlines?
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Oh,
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absolutely.
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I mean, it feels like a lifetime ago,
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but I still remember the buzz around edX launching in 2012.
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Suddenly, you could take a real MIT or Harvard course online,
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for free.
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It was wild.
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I actually signed up for one of those first edX courses-Intro to Computer
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Science, I think.
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I was just amazed that I could watch these university lectures from my
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living room.
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It felt like the future had arrived,
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you know?
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Yes, and edX really played a pivotal role in shaping what MOOCs
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would become.
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They started with a handful of courses,
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but the scale grew so quickly.
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Universities all over the world wanted to join in.
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But, as exciting as it was, there were a lot of early lessons-like,
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just putting a camera in a classroom and recording a lecture didn't always
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work out as well as people hoped.
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Right,
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and I think that's something we touched on in our last episode too with
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Elena and Jack-how just moving traditional education online doesn't
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automatically
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make it better.
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There was a lot of trial and error in those early days.
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But the promise of free, global access to university-level content?
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That was a game changer.
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Exactly.
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And it set the stage for a lot of research into what actually works in
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online education, especially when it comes to keeping students engaged
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with video content.
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So, let's talk about the study we're focusing on today.
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It was published by Philip Guo,
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Juho Kim, and Rob Rubin.
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The title: How Video Production Affects Student Engagement: An Empirical
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Study of MOOC VideosIt is not so recent,
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it dates back to 2014 but it seems that the results obtained have not
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yet been well received in education!
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This was the largest-scale empirical
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study of MOOC video engagement at the time...
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6.
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9 million video watching sessions across four edX courses.
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That's a massive amount of data!
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It's huge!
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And what's really interesting is how this kind of big data lets us see
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patterns that just aren't visible when you're only looking at a single
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class or a few dozen students.
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For example, you can actually measure how long students watch each video,
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when they pause, if they try the follow-up problems,
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and so on.
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It gives a much clearer picture of what keeps people engaged-or when
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they tune out.
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Yeah, and I think that's something that's easy to overlook.
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Like, before this, a lot of decisions about online courses were based
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on gut feeling or what worked in a physical classroom.
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But with this kind of data, you can actually see,
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"Hey, students are dropping off after five minutes," or "They rewatch certain
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parts of tutorials."
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It's a whole new way to improve teaching.
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Absolutely.
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I remember working with a team to redesign a video curriculum,
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and we used this kind of engagement data to decide which videos to split
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up, which ones needed more visual cues,
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and even which instructors needed to change their presentation style.
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It was a real shift from intuition to evidence-based decisions.
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And that's
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the power of big data in education.
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It takes the guesswork out and helps you make changes that actually matter
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for learners.
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So, what did the data actually show?
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The biggest finding was that shorter videos-under six minutes-were way
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more engaging.
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No matter how long the video was,
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students rarely watched more than six minutes at a time.
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Yeah,
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and that's kind of funny, right?
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Because a lot of professors, myself included,
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used to think, "Oh, I'll just record my hour-long lecture and put it online."
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But the reality is, people just don't stick around that long.
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The median engagement time was at most six minutes,
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even for longer videos.
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Exactly.
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And it wasn't just about length.
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Videos that mixed things up-like switching between the instructor's face,
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slides, and code-kept students watching longer.
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There was something about seeing the instructor,
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even just for a few moments, that made the video feel more personal and
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less monotonous.
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And here's the part I find really interesting: the videos
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filmed in a professor's office,
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just talking to the camera, actually outperformed the ones shot in fancy
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studios.
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It's almost like the more informal,
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conversational style made students feel like they were having a one-on-one
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chat, not just watching a broadcast.
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Yes,
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and that's a bit counterintuitive.
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You'd think higher production value would mean higher engagement,
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but the data showed the opposite.
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Sometimes, less is more-especially if it means the instructor is more
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relaxed and direct with the audience.
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So,
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if you're making MOOC videos, don't stress about the perfect studio.
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Focus on being clear, concise,
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and a little bit personal.
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That's what keeps people watching.
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Another big takeaway was about presentation
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style.
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The so-called "Khan-style" tablet tutorials-where the instructor draws
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and talks through the material-were much more engaging than just PowerPoint
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slides or code screencasts.
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Yeah,
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and I think that's because there's something about seeing the material
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come to life in real time.
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It's more dynamic, and it feels like the instructor is working through
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the problem with you, not just reading off a slide.
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Plus, the study found that faster speech rates-up to 254 words per minute-actually
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increased engagement.
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So, being energetic and enthusiastic really matters.
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Right.
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And it's not about rushing, but about bringing energy.
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In fact, one MOOC in the study switched to chunked,
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more personal videos-short, focused,
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and conversational-and saw a measurable jump in engagement.
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Students were more likely to watch the whole video and attempt the follow-up
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problems.
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That's a great point.
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And, you know, sometimes instructors worry about speaking too quickly
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or making mistakes, but the data suggests that a natural,
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enthusiastic delivery is more important than being perfectly polished.
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Editing out long pauses and filler words helps too,
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but you don't have to sound like a robot.
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Exactly.
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It's about being yourself, but with a bit more energy.
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And planning ahead-thinking about how to break up the content and how
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to present it visually-makes a huge difference.
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So,
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what does all this mean for people actually making online courses?
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First, intentional pre-production planning is crucial.
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Don't just hit record-think about how to segment your material into short,
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focused chunks, ideally under six minutes each.
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And don't underestimate
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the importance of data literacy.
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Being able to look at engagement data and adjust your approach is key.
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I once worked with a professor who was really hesitant to change his
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style.
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He was used to formal lectures,
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but after seeing the engagement numbers,
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he agreed to try a more conversational,
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informal video.
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The difference was immediate-students watched longer,
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and more of them attempted the follow-up exercises.
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He was actually surprised by how much more comfortable he felt,
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too.
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That's a great story.
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And I think it shows that sometimes,
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just being willing to experiment and look at the data can lead to big
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improvements.
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You don't have to be a video expert-you just have to be open to feedback
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and willing to try new things.
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Exactly.
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And as we saw in the last episode with the ECOBI model,
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digital education is all about flexibility and continuous improvement.
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The same goes for making engaging videos-plan,
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measure, adapt, and don't be afraid to get a little personal with your
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audience.
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Well, that's all for today.
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Thanks for joining us as we dug into what really makes MOOC videos engaging.
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Elisabeth, always a pleasure.
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Thank you,
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Martin.
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And thanks to everyone listening.
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We'll be back soon with another research topic on digital education.
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Until next time, goodbye!
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Take care,
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everyone.
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See you next time.