Recently, a group of my colleagues and I read Brain Rules by John Medina. It was a fascinating book filled with practical implications. This year, thanks to my colleague, Janelle Hagen, I also learned how to use Camtasia and combine it with animation tools like GoAnimate. Inspired by the flipped classroom movement, the library team decided to focus on creating tutorial videos. I was excited by the fact that teachers could assign a video for homework, have students take our quiz, and instantly get feedback on how much support they need for this topic. However, after reading Brain Rules, the use of videos in the library curriculum encourages me for a different reason.
In the chapter titled “Sensory Integration (Rule #9),” Medina urges educators to “stimulate more of the senses.” He refers to the work of cognitive psychologist, Richard Mayer, which shows that students learn better when information is given through two modes (i.e. sight and hearing) versus one. Not only did students have better recall but it also lasted longer (208). Two of Mayer’s other findings made me feel like we were on the right track with our videos. According to Medina, Mayer’s work has shown that
“Students learn better from words and pictures than from words alone.”
“Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation and on-screen text” (210).
Though I have a long way to go in my video creation skills, this research has strengthened my resolve to make quality videos with engaging animations and narrations that students can then watch and re-watch if necessary. This can also free up time for the library team to meet with students more frequently to focus on the process of research rather than the features of it (e.g. in-text citations, how to find preformatted citations). They can also serve as a precursor to concepts that require more critical thinking, such as paraphrasing and evaluating sources. Videos and their accompanying quizzes can provide an overview of basic content and check for understanding, so librarians will know where students are and what to cover during our precious time in class with students.
Though they take a long time to create, the promise of library videos to improve student learning makes them worth it. Too see our current collection of videos both created by us and by the companies of the products we use, see our LibGuide. You can also see all of our “homemade” videos on our Vimeo channel.