On reading this article your first question may be – ‘what is an explainer video?’. Explainer videos are (typically) short, engaging breakdowns of larger concepts. They are engaging, stimulating, and, most importantly, informative video content. Because they are so versatile, they can be used in many different ways.

An explainer video can be created to cover anything from a summary of legislation or a compliance requirement to a key skill area. The possibilities are endless.

Another important question to ask yourself is, ‘what are the benefits of using explainer videos’?

1. Address learner preferences

Regardless of whether you have a team of 10 or a workforce of 10,000, one thing is for sure, each individual employee will require training of some sort and each person will have their own preferred learning style. So, it goes without saying that blended learning and a suite of accessible learning resources are a must.

Learning resources need to be constructed to meet, among other things, the visual and auditory needs of a learner.

Explainer videos deliver their messages through the use of engaging visuals, written text, animation, motion graphics, and auditory stimulation. See a preview of a typical explainer video here.

When considering learner-led training, the majority of evidence demonstrates that people turn to videos to learn new skills, new techniques or to gain knowledge.

The preference for video learning has also been evidenced for senior executives. Forbes Insights, in association with Google, surveyed more than 300 C-level and senior executives and discovered that video has evolved from a novelty into a mainstream method for executives to receive business information.

2. Gain better information retention

If explainer videos are easily and readily accessible, learners can watch them wherever they are, and most importantly, when they are most receptive and in need of the information.

Because explainer videos are more focused, learners don’t clutter their memories with irrelevant information. This makes retention easier. Learners digest only small chunks of information, which makes comprehension easier and therefore application of learning more likely.

3. Provide ‘in work-flow’ learning

A trend to watch in 2022 is repurposing training content into multi-modal content. For example, using existing course content but reformatting it into video, audio, text-based, and visual content.

With this diversity of material delivered using a learning management system or other collaborative tools, it allows learners to access what they want at the exact moment of need, without leaving their digital tools.

This type of accessibility to bite-size learning (micro-learning) provides employees with the right content at the right time, in a more engaging and interactive way. It reduces overall training and onboarding time and ultimately it can improve the productivity of employees.

4. Micro-learning is the future

The future of our workforce are millennial learners, and they demand that learning is customised to their needs, on-demand and informal.

Micro-learning does just that. Explainer videos, as a form of micro-learning, provide a successful alternative to longer eLearning courses because it allows learners to digest things quickly, when they need it and retain the information more effectively because it is a more digestible format.

Learning architect Ray Jimenez, Ph.D., states in his book 3-minute eLearning, “by creating micro-courses learning developers can reduce development costs by 50% and increase the speed of development by 300%”.  

5. Micro-learning is cost effective

As mentioned above, micro-learning, such as explainer videos, are much more effective than traditional training, they provide employees with relevant, stimulating, and engaging content ‘in the flow of work’. This allows employees to become more productive, instead of spending dedicated time on ‘what-if’ training and development.

Micro-learning is also more cost-effective. In deploying explainer videos as a form of micro-learning, there is no need to pay for the instructor’s time, rent or book suitable venues, or spend money on training equipment or delegate refreshments. In addition, it is easier and less time and resource-intensive to update digital information than reprint training manuals and conduct supplementary training sessions.

See our full range of explainer videos here or contact us to find out how we can re-purpose any content you have.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *