Video training is one of the most efficient and impactful ways to train, share knowledge, and to enable people to address problems quickly. It has immense potential because videos take away the bulk of tedious lecturing time and it gives the trainer the control of class time. The medium has become a sound resource for scaling up learning programs and improving a learner’s career readiness as learners can pick up content based on their varying levels of knowledge.

Anupama Nithyanand, Managing Director at Accenture notes that “the right learning ecosystem should empower learners to learn all the time, in adequately sized bites, to aid absorption and apply the knowledge gained quickly. Video learning is one of the most popular, powerful, and effective modes that modern learners prefer. It takes away the stress of learning, making learning a cool experience! It is interesting to note that it has also emerged as a first choice for learners across varied experience and expertise levels.”

A study by KPMG and Google estimates the size of the online education market in India at $ 247 million, expected to grow at an 8x rate over the next five years to reach $1.96 billion. Continuous technology updates, interaction on virtual forums and dynamic updates make the platform an ideal learning tool.

Here are some tips to make effective use of video training:

1)    On deciding what type of videos to use:

Before you start implementing video training, decide your budget and goals. How much do you want to rely on video training for the core curriculum and how much will your budget allow?

Free resources: If you need videos to teach simple tools and techniques, there are a number of free resources available on YouTube and Vimeo. However, make sure these videos offer the right information suited to your business needs. The key things you need to make sure here is the content of the videos. The content of the videos should be relevant and engaging to the learners for the success of the training.

Match the skill level: Different users have different needs, make sure that your videos are directed to a relevant audience. If a video is directed to a beginner, make sure that it is being directed to that target audience.

“Why” and not just the “how”: While identifying course materials make sure that the video also addresses the question of why a certain method or step is important and understanding the benefits as a result. Instead of directly addressing the question of “how”.

2)    On making videos accessible:  If you’re creating your own video training material or utilizing free resources, make sure you plan and organize the best way for students to view the content. If you are using subscription video training services, they would have means of organizing videos with things like courses and playlists. There are many options out to help you in the process.

YouTube Playlists: You can use a site like YouTube to create playlists or separate ‘sections’ that videos live in. From there it can be as simple as ordering the videos in the way you want students to watch them. You can create courses full of videos as playlists, and then have students follow each playlist in a certain order.

Internet listing: Once you’ve gathered or created your training, it will be important to organize the links to the video content into a central location so learners can access those videos. Google Drive, Dropbox are examples of tools that allow you to store data, links, and other files and share it with your learners quickly.

3)    On tracking your learner’s progress: After you take your video training online, you need to determine if tracking their progress and habits is important. In many cases, you can depend on personal accountability by ensuring that learning is a key element of the individual’s KRA.

If you believe monitoring their learning is significant for their progress, consider using subscription training services which offer tools to help you monitor individual progress. Using external tools will also help you analyze your learners’ demographics, adoption, and process, identify trends or patterns to ensure their continued growth.

Video training helps learners to capture new skills faster and in a more engaging way than lectures and workbooks. The visual feature makes the content easier to follow, easier to learn from and in a format that is adaptable for your entire class. A key advantage of using video-based training is that it allows learners to have access to self-paced learning, whereby they can watch a lecture or a concept multiple times and whenever they want to.