Does Video Improve Engagement and Learning?

A Huffington Post article title tells us that Research Confirms Video Improves Learning Results. According to the article, the author asked 500 learning practitioners if they believed that video improves learning outcomes. He measured respondents’ opinions of video. No learning outcomes were measured.

A recent article about why we should use video explains that the brain prefers video because it retains visual content better than text content. We know this because people remember 95% of a video message. At least this has an element of (possible) truth based on the picture superiority effect, a researched phenomenon where pictures and images are more likely to be remembered than words (but this effect is debated). But percentages like these have been debunked by many, including my friend Will Thalheimerand the percentage (95%!) was likely made up or based on made up information found elsewhere.

My point: We need to be skeptical about wild claims about video. Or simulations. Or ice cream. The devil is in the details.

See the full post on eLearning Industry.