The Video Learning Curve

It wasn’t until a few days before my last undergraduate final exam at the University of Pennsylvania that I realized the professors had made it possible to take the entire course without ever stepping foot into the classroom.  The video, audio and PowerPoint presentation from each lecture had been recorded and uploaded onto the class portal website as a virtual resource for the students to access 24/7.  And Penn isn’t the only university using video to aid its students.

Many universities are at least starting to investigate the opportunities video can facilitate as they seek a way to communicate with and educate the technologically-savvy 21st century student.

Although the majority of university professors still at least recommend text books as part of class materials, it is becoming clear that it is increasingly difficult to capture the attention of today’s student with traditional forms of media.  This could be due in large part to the fact that this generation of students has been inundated basically since day one with digital information.  The students’ comfort level with this way of receiving information, coupled with a shortened attention span due to the flexibility that digital media offers, is slowly pushing print media out the door in favor of a digital world in which video is a principle player.

Just look at universities such as Penn, the University of Michigan and the University of Texas at Austin are moving away from paper announcements and brochures, and are instead using digital signs to convey information from schedules to events to directions around campus.

And as students become increasingly connected and savvy, it is inevitable that universities will be tasked with staying ahead of the technology curve to keep up.

Posted by Parisa Bastani at 08:26AM PST