This morning, accompanied by a butter croissant and a mug of freshly brewed peppermint tea, I set about my work for the day: watching videos. On the menu, a 15 minute and 46 second video about composting.
Whilst crunching down on my delicious baked good I learnt that there are 10 steps to composting. I learnt that there is a layering technique used by composters to ensure balance between carbon and nitrogen deposits in the heap, a balance essential to produce the most fertile compost. I learnt that there are “red wrigglers” (or slimy worms) and microorganisms that work hard to break down household waste into fine, dark, healthy soil; and I learnt that with the help of nature and a bit of patience it’s possible to turn arid or semi arid soil into rich dark fertile soil that can sustain food production.
I learnt all of this from a video accessed for free on the internet created by Garden Africa. The video is the first created as part of a series on sustainable farming techniques. It is designed to teach small scale farmers how to optimise their soil by creating environmentally non-degrading, resource conserving, technically appropriate and economically acceptable farming systems.
Garden Africa is part of a new movement towards the use of online videos as part of training courses. Online learning resources are fast becoming the new platform for organisations to exhibit their material in an open and vastly more accessible medium. For instance, Garden Africa estimates that their online videos reach an audience three times the size of their more conventional methods of training.
The videos are based on the idea of the “living classroom” that practices ‘learning by doing’, a process of hands on learning engaging pupils with both issues and solutions in tandem. There is little innovative about this technique, it seems like something humans have practiced for millennia; however, innovation lies in the medium. Garden Africa have taken an ancient concept and updated it for the modern era.
A recent internal study showed that the knowledge gained from watching the videos went up from an average of 24% knowledge about compost, to 78% after watching the video. This was further increased to 92% knowledge when the film was accompanied by a trainer. Even more staggeringly though, when asked about practicing the techniques shown to them, over half (56%) said that they would take up the techniques shown to them. This went up to 92% when the video was accompanied by training. Clearly, there is a place for online learning in demonstrating skills based training.
In his 2006 study on the effectiveness of video learning for skills based teaching, Paul Van Mele pointed out that the best case examples were videos that took inspiration from in depth local interactions and multi stakeholder consultations. This ensured that the videos were regionally relevant and geared towards issues and solutions that were both locally doable and locally inspired. Garden Africa’s regionally relevant technique uses a well known ‘storytelling’ device widespread in the intended area that livens up the dialogue and further engages the viewer.
Allversity will soon be creating its very own videos for various subjects. In this pursuit, it is of significant value that the materials be as effective and culturally appropriate as possible. Our brand new entrepreneurship course, planned for development in Kenya in the coming year, will be the first created of its kind at Allversity. We will be taking inspiration from our partners at Garden Africa and Global Health Media Project to produce regionally relevant, engaging material for the next generation of entrepreneurs in Kenya.
The course will incorporate practical information in how to set up and sustain your own business, as well as fostering client and investor networks and helping your business bloom. The course is aimed at passionate innovators both young and old who want to set up their own business, but just don’t know where to get started. As well as this, we hope to have a collection of real life examples from entrepreneurs in Kenya who can tell their own fascinating stories.
Skills based learning has traditionally been practiced rather than preached through traditional mediums of workshops and one to one training. However, with new developments in universal access to video content on the web, there is no longer a reason for it to stay that way. Demonstrations of skills are not only possible in person but also now on your PC, smartphone or laptop.
As for my own experience this morning, I hope to be in that 56% of people who watch the video and take up practical action in composting, though that is a tale for another time.
Author: Ysanne Choksey, Project Manager at Allversity
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