Keep them watching (short post)

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Can I please get your attention…I want to talk about attention!

I am currently working on some projects that involve reviewing and building online programmes that use video recordings as significant parts of the teaching.

A key discussion point we have had is the question - what duration should the recordings be?

The perceive wisdom is that attention spans are shrinking, and as such a 10-15 minute norm has developed as the ideal duration of a recording.

Influenced by the TED talk approach (max 18 minutes for a talk) and the average YouTube video duration of 11.7 minutes, this perceived wisdom has taken hold.

Personally I rarely if ever watch a YouTube recording at normal pace, I listen to audio books at 2x speed, and recently find myself wanting to speed up live TV programmes! However, I frequently watch video podcasts that are 2-3hrs in duration – I just don’t watch them in one go.

So what does this mean for the duration of educational recordings?

·       While seeking to be concise and to the point should be the default – thinking about the function of the recording is key – if it is factual information then keep it short (10-15mins), if it is more discussive story telling then longer can be appropriate.

·       Let the learner decide – allowing the recordings to be watched at different speeds, and providing timestamps that split the recording into sections are two ways that allow learners to consume recordings in a way that suits them.

·       Make it interesting! Even the most fascination of topics can be made boring by uninspiring delivery, many people turn off not due to their attention span but because they are bored.


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