Continuations: Why Is Microchunked Video for Education Not (Yet) Taking Off?
michaelgalpert
· 2 months ago
my advice to these education companies would be to upload their videos to YouTube if they have not already done so. I'm fascinating everytime I watch the younger generation use YouTube by default for their search queries opposed to the google.
albert
· 2 months ago
That's a an interesting thought. Maybe put some fraction of the content there as an experiment. It is unclear to me though as to how good Youtube is at driving traffic back to their site.
michaelgalpert
· 2 months ago
the company would have to test to see which content converts the best 1 minute chunks vs 3 vs 5 vs full As well as test which embedded links work best
albert
· 2 months ago
Those are good suggestions!
kidmercury
· 2 months ago
damn albert sometimes you make posts that are so precisely up my alley. my trading site makes microchunked educational videos for precisely the reason you noted.
youtube remains our second biggest traffic driver (not counting type-in traffic), with organic search being the first, so i am convinced that youtube can drive traffic. i think a lot of the companies you reference are too institutional, i expect viral marketing to work better in more chaotic environments (i.e. twitter, P2P networks).
also, the boring institutinoal companies are generally not including game play, or at least not making it a fairly prominent part of their user experience. i view social gaming and online learning as correlated complements.
albert
· 2 months ago
I agree that figuring out how to make the microchunked video fun is a key challenge. That will vastly increase the possibility of it being shared. Wrapping it with some kind of game play is an interesting idea.
Alasdair
· 2 months ago
There are four key challenges in your post:
1) People have to find your content 2) People have to find your content compelling 3) People have to WANT to share your content with classmates 4) People have to have a SIMPLE mechanism to share content
I think #2 is pretty well-solved (or at least solvable), but the challenges lie with #1,#3 and #4.
While the YouTube/SEO approach is an obvious answer to #1 (and one we've experimented with), microchunked content, by definition, is long-tail - and as such any one video attracts minimal traffic. You need to put a lot of content on YouTube to drive any significant views. It doesn't even move the needle on referred traffic though. YouTube has thousands of videos on adding fractions alone - the problem is attention, not information. I don't think 'search' is the way to solve this - but rather integration with existing textbooks, curricula, past exams etc. These are the 'pain points' for most students, and if you can directly tie videos to the context of their pain - I think that's the place to start.
On #3, I think the key lies with incentives. Points, virtual currencies - or somethine more innovative perhaps - it will just take a few cycles of experimentation and iteration to crack this one.
On #4 - this is perhaps the most challenging. Just as with YouTube on my first point, Facebook appears to be the obvious place to start when considering how to share microchunked videos with friends. That's the challenge though - we're not talking about sharing videos with friends - we're talking about sharing them with classmates.
The relationship you have with classmates is different from that you have with 'friends' - its more akin to a twitter hashtag or a LinkedIn group - a set of people with a shared interest in topics that are likely to be distinctinly non-interesting to anyone not a part of the group.
We've experimented with this - but haven't cracked the code on this one. My working hypothesis- it's time to take a step back into the offline world and consider ways to go viral using teacher/parent word of mouth rather than via student clicks...
albert
· 2 months ago
Alasdair -- great comment! Glad to see you guys are thinking along the same lines and experimenting, but not sure about your ultimate conclusion. It seems to me that the next generations of students are entirely net native and share links all the time. So going back to traditional word of mouth seems like a step back.
Alasdair
· 2 months ago
yeah - I phrased it poorly. We're still working to crack the online sharing challenge - and when its solved it will dwarf the effectiveness of other modes of viral growth. That said, I do think that there's an important role for traditional word of mouth which will complement the online sharing. There's data to suggest that 4/5 parents take the advice of their students' teacher when purchasing academic products- so either we have to position as an educational, but 'non-academic' product (perhaps this is just a function of price) or we have to find ways to enable the online support of teachers.
David
· 2 months ago
Albert, the sites that you mentioned like brightstorm (korean-backed) are all heavily influenced by the success and model of Megastudy. I'm sure you're familiar with them. Megastudy's success here in Korea is directly attributable to "Sooneung" which is what all high school students must take in order to get into college. In other words, it's a test that essentially determines your future here in Korea. I've been in the institute/academy biz for about 7 years now and I can tell you one thing... there's a shift happening in English education. It's going from goal oriented learning (which is still high) to one of immersion. The best case immersion scenario is of course, sending your kids to the States or Canada for a year and then come back to Korea and then build on top of that acquired cultural and linguistic knowledge. But with broadband everywhere, smart phones gaining traction, and the need for English increasing, there's a great opportunity in creating a "virtual immersive learning environment" where English isn't just learned it's lived. In essence, it's a lifestyle choice. That's a trend worth looking out for.
albert
· 2 months ago
Thanks -- have actually been actively looking at learning English as a big opportunity. Haven't seen anything that takes an "immersion" approach -- other than playing World of Warcraft in English :-) ...
davidhkim
· 1 month ago
Albert, immersion is a difficult idea for westerners to truly grasp. It's not that they're not capable but the opportunity for them is just not there. I am an American but culturally I'm both Korean and American. My white counterparts in school didn't have the same identity issues as me. In essence, they were always comfortable in their own skin. They were true blooded Americans. They didn't have to immerse themselves in a different cultural environment. For them, there was only one.
However, other minorities such as myself, had to immerse ourselves in the so called "American environment". I really couldn't bring in wrapped seaweed rice rolls (kimbab) and eat them with my fermented cabbage (kimchi) in the school cafeteria. I had to bring in a good ole peanut butter and jelly sandwich to fit in and avoid awkward stares. For Asians, in particular, we had to check our cultural tendencies and assumptions at the school door.
There are many examples that I could write about but they all arrive at the same conclusion: immersion is a powerful tool in creating (self) change. The environment whether real or digital can aid in that process. Language is all part of that immersion. What we did in high school to learn Spanish never proved to be quite effective for the vast majority of those who took it as a second language. Only those who adopted it as a lifestyle truly went on to excel in it.
Perhaps, these are all just theories or observations but I plan on seeing if it really works. My company is about to sign a deal with a well known internet company here in S. Korea. I'd like to share my journey with you because the bridge between this side of the world and the other side is exactly what I intend to build. East Asia is about to go through something truly transformative but it cannot do so without understanding and learning from its counterpart on the other side of the world.
albert
· 1 month ago
I had an immersion experience of sorts myself when I spent my first year in the US as an exchange student in Rochester, MN. Definitely interested in learning more about Paedea, although at present we are not planning to invest in Asia.
All Comments
minute chunks vs 3 vs 5 vs full
As well as test which embedded links work best
youtube remains our second biggest traffic driver (not counting type-in traffic), with organic search being the first, so i am convinced that youtube can drive traffic. i think a lot of the companies you reference are too institutional, i expect viral marketing to work better in more chaotic environments (i.e. twitter, P2P networks).
also, the boring institutinoal companies are generally not including game play, or at least not making it a fairly prominent part of their user experience. i view social gaming and online learning as correlated complements.
1) People have to find your content
2) People have to find your content compelling
3) People have to WANT to share your content with classmates
4) People have to have a SIMPLE mechanism to share content
I think #2 is pretty well-solved (or at least solvable), but the challenges lie with #1,#3 and #4.
While the YouTube/SEO approach is an obvious answer to #1 (and one we've experimented with), microchunked content, by definition, is long-tail - and as such any one video attracts minimal traffic. You need to put a lot of content on YouTube to drive any significant views. It doesn't even move the needle on referred traffic though. YouTube has thousands of videos on adding fractions alone - the problem is attention, not information. I don't think 'search' is the way to solve this - but rather integration with existing textbooks, curricula, past exams etc. These are the 'pain points' for most students, and if you can directly tie videos to the context of their pain - I think that's the place to start.
On #3, I think the key lies with incentives. Points, virtual currencies - or somethine more innovative perhaps - it will just take a few cycles of experimentation and iteration to crack this one.
On #4 - this is perhaps the most challenging. Just as with YouTube on my first point, Facebook appears to be the obvious place to start when considering how to share microchunked videos with friends. That's the challenge though - we're not talking about sharing videos with friends - we're talking about sharing them with classmates.
The relationship you have with classmates is different from that you have with 'friends' - its more akin to a twitter hashtag or a LinkedIn group - a set of people with a shared interest in topics that are likely to be distinctinly non-interesting to anyone not a part of the group.
We've experimented with this - but haven't cracked the code on this one. My working hypothesis- it's time to take a step back into the offline world and consider ways to go viral using teacher/parent word of mouth rather than via student clicks...
However, other minorities such as myself, had to immerse ourselves in the so called "American environment". I really couldn't bring in wrapped seaweed rice rolls (kimbab) and eat them with my fermented cabbage (kimchi) in the school cafeteria. I had to bring in a good ole peanut butter and jelly sandwich to fit in and avoid awkward stares. For Asians, in particular, we had to check our cultural tendencies and assumptions at the school door.
There are many examples that I could write about but they all arrive at the same conclusion: immersion is a powerful tool in creating (self) change. The environment whether real or digital can aid in that process. Language is all part of that immersion. What we did in high school to learn Spanish never proved to be quite effective for the vast majority of those who took it as a second language. Only those who adopted it as a lifestyle truly went on to excel in it.
Perhaps, these are all just theories or observations but I plan on seeing if it really works. My company is about to sign a deal with a well known internet company here in S. Korea. I'd like to share my journey with you because the bridge between this side of the world and the other side is exactly what I intend to build. East Asia is about to go through something truly transformative but it cannot do so without understanding and learning from its counterpart on the other side of the world.