Video Education

Wednesday April 20th, 2011

Viral marketing and online videos are not just for deodorants. These days the ivory towers are also making their entry, using video formats to spread information. One interesting recent example was explained by Inside Higher Ed:

Last Wednesday, Michael Wesch was one of thousands of Internet users to add material to the video-sharing site YouTube. He posted a  five-minute clip, set to techno music, that helps explain Web 2.0 — the so-called second wave of Web-based services that enables people to network and aggregate information online.

The next morning, Wesch, an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, sent the link to 10 colleagues and friends. It was a second draft. He mostly wanted their feedback. And they responded positively by forwarding the link to a few of their friends. Within hours, the video had more than 100 hits on YouTube.

“I was elated,” Wesch said. “By that time I was already satisfied that I generated a viral video.”

This practice has spread beyond professors by now, of course, and now the institutions themselves are using the format to market to potential applicants. And among the most interesting examples is the work of John Davis, a Baltimore-based photographer who does motion work. Take a look at his video for the Maryland Institute College of Art, which combines photography and video to profile a student:

According to a report published at the higher education-themed education marketing page .eduGuru, we can expect to see more of this kind of material in the future. According to the summary by author Rachel Reuben, Director of Web Communication & Strategic Projects in the Office of Public Affairs at State University of New York at New Paltz, internet video “has enormous capabilities and potential. This is an area where you can really see a lot of ROI with no real post-production costs and an infinite audience (vs. creating CDs/DVDs, paying for postage to mail, distributing at fairs, etc.).” So check out more video interviews at John’s Vimeo page and watch the trend unfold.

-Asad