Applications

eLearning

There are numerous causes for the significant increase in the use of video in teaching over the past few years. The digitisation of learning content and the production technology is surely a decisive factor, but there is also the fact that videos are in line with the media usage habits of the students.  

But videos are not suitable for teaching per se, which raises the question as to its targeted didactic use: where can a video provide real added value for the learning process that other media are unable to provide? The "Teaching Innovation" team of LET has put together a series of such areas of application. Detailed information an a short article on this subject can be found in the LET blog.

A external page MOOC (open for members of ETH) produced by Zurich-based universities offers an overview on "videos in university teaching" - and a very good preparation for your own video production. For a more detailed clarification and planning, we recommend collaboration with the colleagues from LET.

Scientific communication

Just as it has outside the academic world, video has also significantly changed communication within universities, especially as it often fits in perfectly with the usage patterns of the young target group. In social media, in particular, the use of videos generally leads to higher hit rates than when using just text or pictures.

• Testimonials: students report on their experiences while studying, which provides those interested in studying with authentic insight; cf. statements.
• Video abstracts: for external page multi-modal publications, researchers report about the findings of their work combining people videos with content videos, sometimes also with recordings prepared in the laboratory.
• Conference contributions: where travel is not possible or not wanted for reasons of climate protection or cost, presentations recorded in advance can replace a visit to a conference; cf. statements.
• Greetings: a "welcome message" from the head of the department, a few introductory words from the researcher regarding the project - videos enrich websites and can be used as a reference in social media; cf. statements.

Research

The studio provides researchers with the possibility to produce videos on their research objects: small and medium-sized objects can be recorded in detail, whereby multiple cameras can be used. During post-production the video can be enriched with explanatory texts, graphics or additional material (slides, etc.) and, if required, provided with background music/sound afterwards; cf. videos of objects bzw. supervision camera.

The resulting video can be used for demonstration purposes, as illustrative material or external page as a supplement for publications (cf. also scientific communication).

Organisation

Organisations and administrative departments can improve the documentation of processes, which are traditionally created with a combination of text and screenshots, by using content videos: the instructions for a software product are a good example, as is the utilisation of a portal or an IT service. The resulting video can be supplemented with text or graphics during post-production, and it is also possible to zoom in on relevant areas to improve legibility or dub sound.

Videos also offer the possibility to make relevant, but generally boring information, more attractive, which in turn significantly increases the probability of it being used, because videos are suitable for more communication channels than a PDF with the same content.