How Video Lectures Can Free Up Time For Other Learning Activities

Abstract

The Norwegian Defense University College (NDUC) is continuously challenged with cost reduction while increasing instructional quality within the educational system. Specifically, in 2017, the educational sector within the Armed Forces was challenged with reducing overall training costs by 65 million US dollars over the next few years. Less money, fewer instructors and constrained student training time forced the NoD to rethink resident training requirements and leverage online courses. This paper highlights how video lectures have begun to replace the traditional classroom Power Point-based lectures in the Norwegian military. Furthermore, this paper discusses how NDUC, based on well-known learning principles and instructional science, uses an in-house video studio to produce video lectures in close cooperation with the Subject Matter Experts (SME). Finally, the paper presents the evaluation results from NDUC students engaging in online video lectures and recommends development guidelines for producing online video lectures to maintain, if not increase, instructional quality and decrease overall costs.