Interactive Video for Education

Recordeded lectures don't work well for education: Why too many recorded lecture videos may be bad for maths students' learning (theconversation.com). This applies to educational videos in general, not just lectures. Even if we pay attention, it just washes over us, giving a warm glow of understanding that actually lacks the depth to answer questions in the subject area. It is also boring when you know some of the subject matter and are keen to get to the stuff that is new to you.

It is now possible to control video in a browser with javascript. This is currently available in Safari, and with experimental settings in other browsers. This provides the opportunity to turn watching into a more engaged experience, and to pick up when the viewer has missed something. Here's the plan:

• With the lecture on one frame, another frame shows a sequence of easy multiple choice or short answer questions. The viewer is told not to guess.
• If the viewer answers questions before that part of the video has past, then the video will jump past that material.
• There is an "I don't know" answer for questions, but it is greyed out until the user gets past the relevant part of the video.
• When the video has gone past the material for a question then the video pauses waiting for the viewer to answer.
• If the viewer answer "I don't know" then something useful happens, such as showing an alternative explanation, or repeating a section, or getting a tutor or other viewer involved. Wrong answers might have more complicated responses.
• The video can also have some larger questions which are associated with longer breaks. These might require human evaluation, so might be timed to when a tutor is available to evaluate it.