The global communication bandwidth is now mostly used to exchange videos, so this mode of expression must have an important function. If we exclude the tailings of this global audio-visual digital lore like funny cats footage and so-called "fails" videos, most serve a significant usage in their specific context, be it cultural (music, fiction), academic (documentary, lectures, how to) or even therapeutic.
There are several aspects in which video is a great add-on to learning material. Research has shown that most students cannot stay focused on a task for a long period of time. Being able to alternate between text and video could actually better match the attention span abilities of most students, as long as the embedded content is integrated with the learning process in mind. Also, thanks to the audio-visual dimension, video format content is usually denser and richer, so it works much better in keeping the learner's attention. Not to be neglected is the practical aspect of being able to pause a video to take back where we left of which is not as easy as remembering where we stopped reading a long text.
For a student or anybody who wants to learn something, video enhances greatly the experience of a website. Students often tend to go on webpages when the teacher's explanations were not clearly understood or if they want to learn more about the subject. Since videos allow listening to someone who explains a concept as well as to show visual clues that illustrates it, it sure enhances the experience of a student who browses a webpage as he learns in a more dynamic way than just reading the text. We all intuitively recognize that learning using different methods is the best way to really understand and remember a new learning. According to Thierry Karsenti, M.A., M.Ed., Ph.D., watching videos leads to an increase in cognitive activity and helps memorization. It is especially true for students with learning difficulties. For example, video does greatly enhance dyslexic students learning performance as they may listen again what the teacher explained and process images instead of words.
When language is a barrier, videos can be really helpful for people who want to use information on a website without knowing the language really well. According to Internet Live Stats, there were 3.4 billion of Internet users in July 2016 all around the world, but many of those users obviously do not use English as their primary language. However, a significant core of this Internet content, including prime learning material, is in English. So if video content greatly helps learning just by itself, its benefit is multiplied tenfold for non-English speakers. I can affirm that with concrete experience being myself a French speaker in my first year of studying in an English environment. I do appreciate how much easier it is to not only read something, but to use all my senses to totally assimilate the signification of words and ideas in an audio-visual context. When watching a video embedded in a webpage, it allows me to complete my reading with visual clues (I see what I just read); I can then pronounce correctly these new words that I encounter for the first time (I hear what I just saw) and I can usually close the loop by reading again what is seen and heard whenever the captions are available. I do understand better with videos.
To conclude, videos are really useful for many aspects of life and for many types of people, they engage all senses in learning and therefore websites are very much enhanced by videos. There's an expression that says that an image is worth a thousand words; so a video must be worth a million !
*This entry is submitted for the Matinee Multilingual – Annual College Scolarship. Visit their
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