Storytelling
Discussion
1. Both scripts demonstrate an element of storytelling by introducing the topic at hand. Which one does it better and why? (Don't include graphics and such in your assessment)
2. Students are more likely to pay attention if they're engaged in a story, or a progression of ideas with an introduction, connecting thoughts, and a conclusion/summary that brings it all together. How can video makers use storytelling principles to teach concepts that aren't thought of as stories like math problems, science processes, or grammatical elements?
3. An important element of storytelling is the tone of the speaker. How does the tone of each of these videos help convey the message of the video or motivate the learner?
The Research
Romanelli, Cain, & McNamara (2014) compare TED Talks to traditional lectures and offer some insights as to why TED Talks might be so successful. TED Talks typically utilize graphs and infographics that make only one point whereas traditional lectures include graphs and infographics that focus on multiple points. TED Talks use small amounts of text while traditional lectures use bullet point lists of information. TED Talks tell a story; traditional lectures are usually about disseminating large quantities of information. The simplicity of their design and powerful storytelling might be the reason TED Talks can garner millions of views on YouTube compared to many instructional videos that only garner a few hundred. Swartz (2012) analyzed instructional YouTube videos for common characteristics. Low-rated videos spent little time introducing the content; highly rated videos did the exact opposite. Furthermore, each segment of highly rated videos presented a new learning objective and in doing so, the speaker effectively gave the lecture meaning and direction. Much like a TED Talk tells a story, an instructional video can do the same by having a clear introduction, body, and conclusion.
TED Talks also often times switch the video shots from wide view of the stage, a medium shot of the presentation, and a close up of the presenter. Swartz (2012) mentions the importance of thinking like a cinematographer. Teachers may not be cinematographers, but they should attempt to think like them. Mixing up wide, medium, and close-up shots will engage the viewer much more so than one wide shot. Programs like Camtasia and apps like Explain Everything allow the instructor to do this. For example, if demonstrating a calculus problem, the shot might start showing the entire slide but when working on a specific step, the teacher can zoom in (medium). When finished, they can zoom back out to reveal the entire problem (wide shot). If teaching about a specific symbol in a problem, zooming in tight to that symbol will help draw more attention to it (close-up).
Lastly, TED Talks teach us the importance of using a conversational tone when presenting narration (Romanelli, Cain, & McNamara 2014). Swartz (2012) calls this the Affective Design, or the elements of the instructional video that encourage, motivate, and build confidence in the viewer. Atkinson, Mayer, & Merrill (2005) studied the effects of a robotic voice and a human voice on learning. Students worked harder for the human voice rather than the robotic voice. Mayer (2009) summarized eleven other studies in which multimedia presentations that used a conversational style as opposed to a formal style. All forms of multimedia that used a conversational tone to present content outperformed those done in a formal style with an average effect size of 1.11. He guides multimedia creators with what he calls the Personalization Principle, which states that, “people learn better when a conversational tone is used in instead of a formal one.”
TED Talks also often times switch the video shots from wide view of the stage, a medium shot of the presentation, and a close up of the presenter. Swartz (2012) mentions the importance of thinking like a cinematographer. Teachers may not be cinematographers, but they should attempt to think like them. Mixing up wide, medium, and close-up shots will engage the viewer much more so than one wide shot. Programs like Camtasia and apps like Explain Everything allow the instructor to do this. For example, if demonstrating a calculus problem, the shot might start showing the entire slide but when working on a specific step, the teacher can zoom in (medium). When finished, they can zoom back out to reveal the entire problem (wide shot). If teaching about a specific symbol in a problem, zooming in tight to that symbol will help draw more attention to it (close-up).
Lastly, TED Talks teach us the importance of using a conversational tone when presenting narration (Romanelli, Cain, & McNamara 2014). Swartz (2012) calls this the Affective Design, or the elements of the instructional video that encourage, motivate, and build confidence in the viewer. Atkinson, Mayer, & Merrill (2005) studied the effects of a robotic voice and a human voice on learning. Students worked harder for the human voice rather than the robotic voice. Mayer (2009) summarized eleven other studies in which multimedia presentations that used a conversational style as opposed to a formal style. All forms of multimedia that used a conversational tone to present content outperformed those done in a formal style with an average effect size of 1.11. He guides multimedia creators with what he calls the Personalization Principle, which states that, “people learn better when a conversational tone is used in instead of a formal one.”