What is it about YouTube?
Why do people go there first when they want to know something?
YouTube shows me how to do what I want to do right now.
Sometimes we get so caught up in the breadth of our learning projects that we miss the simplicity of that most elemental learning request.
People want what they want, and they want it right now. Shorter is better than longer. Frequently I find multiple videos, with one that looks really professional but is maybe twelve minutes long while another has scant production values but comes in at three minutes or fewer.
The longer video will provide more in-depth information, perhaps contextualize the task, and discuss dealing with edge cases or problems. I don’t want that.
I’ll try the short one first, every time. I want to get to the action, and I want it real.
Lawrence Eaton, a Strategic Learning Consultant at Rivian, told me about working on a series of virtual instructor-led trainings (VILT) in Asia last year. He cut the time spent presenting a new piece of software to his audience to the minimum. Then Lawrence put a new user in front of the group, demonstrating how he’s been using the app for the last three months. Not an expert. A colleague just a bit further down the road than the group.
Learners hear each other better than they do teachers and facilitators. With the newbie demonstrating, the audience was hooked. Questions flew in to the chat, more than if Lawrence had done everything himself.
He told me, “If I can step back in the shadows a little more every time, then I’ll be providing them with something of value.” By not taking the spotlight, he provided his learners with the chance to learn from a peer, just as as they might learn at home on YouTube. Or better, because he’d used design expertise to set up the whole thing.
Modeling is showing people how it’s done rather than telling people how to do it.
Modeling shifts the perspective from what the learner needs to know to what the learner needs to do. And sets up the practice learners need most.
Modeling is me watching a YouTube about how to change the windshield wipers on my Honda.
Of course, there are many times when your audience will need a deeper, broader understanding that requires other learning methods. Modeling may not explain the reason to do the task. Introducing the big ideas your learners can apply in multiple situations probably requires other approaches.
So what is it about YouTube? Most people creating content there aren’t learning professionals, but they’ve figured out that there audience wants to watch a demonstration.
When a person just wants to know how it’s done, show her. And cut out the other stuff, so she doesn’t have to ignore it.