Video is widely used in education today. Lecturers show students short films related to the topic at hand to vary the class, explain a difficult idea or illustrate a specific example. One thing is worth keeping in mind:
Watching a video is not yet learning.
If the instruction reads only “Watch the video”, we have no idea what the student understood, what they noticed, or whether they can use what they picked up.
What matters most in video learning is therefore what the student has to do with the film, more than the film itself.
Beyond “watch the video”
Video learning can take many forms. A lecturer can use a film available online, record their own, or ask students to create their own material. The key question remains:
What is the student supposed to do with this film?
The activity should go beyond watching. Watching is only the first stage of the task. After that, the student should do something with the film: analyse it, pay attention to particular elements, assess the arguments presented, discuss them, or make a decision on the basis of them.
Here are a few simple examples.
1. Point out what surprised you
After watching, you can ask students to identify three facts, ideas or situations they did not expect.
Listing them is not enough on its own. The student should explain:
- why that element surprised them,
- what it might mean,
- what question it raises.
This moves the student from watching the film to working actively with its content.
2. Analyse a decision
An interview with an entrepreneur, a manager, a doctor or another specialist, recorded on video, makes an excellent case study. Students can answer questions such as:
- What was the problem?
- What decision was taken?
- Which constraints influenced it?
- What were the consequences?
- What could have been done differently?
- Can the conclusions be applied to another situation?
The video then does more than supply information. The student also practises analysis and decision-making.
3. Assess an expert’s arguments
An interview or an expert talk can be used to analyse opinions and arguments.
Instead of “Watch the interview”, you can ask the student:
Identify the three most important ideas the expert presents. Choose one opinion you agree or disagree with, and justify your position.
The student then has to locate the information, judge it and put forward arguments of their own.
4. Observe rather than simply watch
Video can also be used to practise observation.
Students might watch a recorded conversation, meeting, negotiation or customer service situation and apply a simple observation protocol.
They can note:
- the point in the film,
- the behaviour observed,
- the type of behaviour,
- its possible meaning.
A task like this teaches students to observe carefully and to hold off on drawing conclusions too quickly.
5. Let students create
Video learning does not have to mean watching alone. A student can also prepare a film of their own, for example:
“In a three-minute recording, explain a difficult concept to someone who has never encountered it before.”
To do this well, the student first has to understand the topic, select the most important information, organise it and explain it clearly. They become a maker of the content as well as its audience.
Video learning in the age of AI
With generative AI available, the way a video task is designed matters even more.
A task such as “Watch the film and summarise it” can now be completed by AI from a transcript. This instruction demands considerably more:
Identify one decision presented in the film that you disagree with. Give the moment it appears, explain why you disagree, and propose an alternative, referring to the material covered in class.
The student then has to find a specific example in the film, interpret it, connect it to what they learned in class and justify a position of their own.
In the age of AI it is therefore worth designing activities that require students to carry out:
- analysis,
- observation,
- assessment,
- application of knowledge,
- decision-making and justification.
What a good video task should specify
Choosing a film is only the first step. The harder part is preparing an activity that genuinely engages students and supports the competences we want them to develop.
A clear set of instructions shows the student what to do step by step. It also specifies:
- the context in which the task is carried out,
- whether the student works alone or in a group,
- which materials or data they should use,
- what the result of their work should be,
- how they should present or submit the task,
- the criteria the task will be assessed against.
If you allow students to use AI, say when and what they may use it for, and the role it should play in that activity. It helps to write the prompt yourself, so that the AI supports the student while carrying out the task without doing it for them.
Because what matters most in video learning is what we ask students to do with the film, more than which film we show them.
And if you later want to see how the student actually carried the task out, you can use Turingo.net to analyse their working process.
