Video in Education From ‘Sage on the Stage’ to ‘TV Talk Show Host’: Where to Next?

Abstract

This paper looks back at the last 20 or so years of research into using video in education and seeks to see what it tells us about creating video to support learning. The exploration is literature-based and involves a critical discussion of articles on video-based learning and related pedagogical principles and methodologies. Literature chiefly focuses on the principles and characteristics of video that help to transmit and wrap the learning content in a way that will call the learner’s attention. Few of the discussed articles attend to learning as the transformation of information per se. Nor do they speak to a clearer pedagogy for video. The scholarly inquiry into the pedagogy within the video, a certain pedagogical style and design of the video necessary to support and thus lead to learning, is lacking. Therefore, the explanatory power of the instructional video and the elements that enable a more transformative learning pedagogy for video are to be yet identified. The video format proves to be effective when compared to other forms of presentation. However, the effectiveness of a learning video is not due to the format itself, but to the principles of its judicious use. This study seeks to advance this premise and insists that transformation in learning is possible through a successful video experience. Upholding this presumption should encourage instructional designers and lecturers to make good the pedagogical principles rather than searching for unending technology and production techniques in order to design an effective learning video and employ its affordances to good ad-vantage. Since creating videos for learning purposes largely adopts a transmission of knowledge approach, this paper discusses the results of a literature review that supports the transmission styles of learning. However, additionally, it explores the literature to identify the elements that enable a more transformative learning pedagogy for video. As a consequence, the tension be-tween the two approaches has been revealed. These discrepancies emphasise the urge for clarification to help research into video-based learning move forward and make headway towards a more efficient learning experience.