Using Educational Video in the Classroom Theory, Research and Practice

Multimodal Learning Styles 
There are three widely accepted types of learning styles: aptitude-based, which 
draws on Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences; personality-based, measured by 
using the Meyers-Briggs test; and sensory-based, which looks to the modalities through 

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which students take in information (Pruitt, 2005; Miller, 2001). What all of these 
conceptions of learning styles express is the need to expand instruction beyond single 
modes of instruction.
There are three primary modalities through which people take in information: 
visual, auditory and tactile. Silverman (2006) relates these three modalities to how 
students process information, deriving three basic learning styles: visual-spatial, auditory-
sequential and tactile-kinesthetic. Visual-spatial learners take in new information through 
visualization of the whole concept and think in holistic, often three-dimensional, images. 
Auditory-sequential learners, by contrast, think in words, processed auditorally, and 
generally learn in a sequential, step-by-step process. Finally, tactile-kinesthetic learners 
take in information through physical touch and sensation, and they benefit from 
demonstration or application more than from verbal explanations.
The benefits of video—where much of the content is conveyed visually—for 
visually-oriented learners is immediately apparent (CPB, 1997; Denning, no date). 
However, video also benefits auditory learners, with its inclusion of sound and speech, 
and can provide demonstrations not otherwise possible in classrooms for tactile learners.
Dual-Channel Learning 
In fact, all students, both with and without a strongly dominant modality 
preference, benefit from instruction that includes video. Marshall (2002) cites the 
conclusions of Wiman and Mierhenry (1969), extending Dale’s “Cone of Experience,” 
that: “people will generally remember: 
10% of what they read 
20% of what they hear 
30% of what they see 
50% of what they hear and see” (pp. 7-8). 

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Video is a form of multimedia that conveys information through two 
simultaneous sensory channels: aural and visual. It often uses multiple presentation 
modes, such as verbal and pictorial representations in the case of on-screen print and 
closed-captioning (Mayer, 2001). This multiplicity means that video communicates the 
same information to students through simultaneous learning modalities and can provide 
students with “multiple entry points” (Gardner, 2006) into the content:
The richness of these forms of information [images, motion, sound, and, at times, 
text] benefits learners, by enabling them “…to learn through both verbal and 
visual means, to view actual objects and realistic scenes, to see sequences in 
motion, and to view perspectives that are difficult or impossible to observe in real 
life” (Wetzel, 1994). …[M]ost researchers agree that “…when viewed together, 
each source provides additional complementary information,” thus increasing the 
chances that comprehension will take place (Kozma, 1991).” (CPB, 2004, p.5)
Citing Wood (1995), Aiex (1999) notes that video can be used “to promote 
awareness of the interrelationship between modes (picture, movement, sound, captions)” 
(p. 2). Kozma (1991) found that the mix of spoken language, text, still images and 
moving images in television and video results in higher learning gains than media that 
rely primarily on only one of these symbol systems. Wetzel et al.’s 1994 review of 
research concluded that combining sound with either still or moving images resulted in 
more learning than simply adding motion to still images (cited in CPB, 2004).