In the year 2012, Dr. Wiseman made a video of himself conversing with a class.
In case you don’t know, Dr. Wiseman is one of the most renowned psychologists. He’s written 10 books and his videos on YouTube are being viewed in great numbers by psychologists, marketers, and educators alike.
For a fun experiment, Dr. Wiseman took the video and turned it into a scribed version. He didn’t change the audio to make the video sound more humane and natural.
He made a group of people watch both of the videos one after another and also asked them which one helped them better understand the concepts.
What he found surprised him completely. He realized that the whiteboard-animated version of the video had a 15% higher retention than the original live-action video.
He remarked that achieving 15% retention across a learning material was seriously impressive. He pointed out that even achieving 5 or 10% retention could be a painstaking job for anyone who’s working in education and research.
Just with the use of simple whiteboard animation, he was able to achieve 15% retention of content. The finding was groundbreaking, and also the stepping stone for the trend of whiteboard animation.
In this blog, we’ll discover key reasons why whiteboard animation is the best tool for learning. So, without further ado, let’s jump right in!
Whiteboard animation holds the attention
Animated videos are naturally engaging. They tend to pique our curiosity and are always successful in holding our attention, forcing us to watch a piece of content till the very end.
To make people listen to you, you need to do something that catches them off guard right from the get-go. It can be extremely difficult, if you want to do it by the book. There’s no code to crack. Trust me, everyone’s different.
And, people show interest in what appeals to them, which can be purely subjective and vary from person to person. In that case, the presenter or educator has to think out of the box to draw the audience towards them.
As per the findings of the Wiseman Study, it could be said that for a presenter to achieve effective delivery, they must be able to share their information in an engaging, and entertaining fashion.
Dr. Wiseman has said that whiteboard animated videos can catch attention instantly.
Plus, if you’ve put close thought into your work, you’ll not just be able to hold the attention of your viewers, but also hammer in the concept with a lot more ease.
And, let’s be honest, whiteboard animation is not something new. So, there’s no barrier to trying and experimenting it for yourself. Interestingly, whiteboard animation cost is only getting more affordable.
Whiteboard animation can teach with infotainment
Dr. Wiseman has remarked whiteboard animation is fun and highly engaging. That’s one reason why it can be a lot easier for anyone to retain information from a whiteboard-animated video.
Interestingly, we all tend to be more productive when we feel more engaged, confident and excited about something. Your colleagues would rather sit for a movie than listen to your boring PowerPoint presentation.
Similarly, your website visitors don’t want to read a long block of text and get bored for eternity. It just won’t end well. They won’t retain anything from it.
So, how exactly do we make our audience retain information for longer, and perhaps not lose it from their memory?
According to Dr. Wiseman, whiteboard animation has the potential to educate by serving as a medium for infotainment. It can be fun, engaging, thoughtful and ultimately educational.
When people are excited about something or let’s say more curious. Curiosity brings them to discover something new, enticing, and noteworthy. As a result, learning happens in a breeze.
They don’t have to be actively involved to learn something. Whiteboard animated videos, if crafted with perfection can create that moment of awe. That leaves the viewer with wonder, making the moment memorable.
Whiteboard animation can help educators achieve that moment of awe. If you too want to enhance retention of your content, you can always opt for a whiteboard animation service.
Whiteboard animation can release positive dopamine
This is probably the most important reason for any organization to invest in whiteboard-animated videos for their training programs.
Some of the best whiteboard animation specialists have done extensive research on how exactly whiteboard videos help the information to sink in effortlessly.
Whiteboard animation contains hand-drawn tracing of objects and characters. Since the drawing happens in front of the viewer, they tend to anticipate the form and outcome.
They become more curious and are naturally engaged in the video. The brain experiences surprise and as a result, it releases a pleasure chemical, ‘dopamine’. As dopamine is being released, the engagement of the viewer’s peaks.
Researchers have said that the chemical response to the video is exactly what makes the whiteboard-animated content more memorable than anything else.
Getting the message across becomes easier and perhaps more natural.
You can read more about this amazing research in the book named, Video Scribing.
This work by researchers draws parallel to the statement given by Dr. Wiseman that whiteboard videos can be exciting to watch and memorizing their content can be a lot easier.
Wrap up
Let’s wrap this one up. Above we gave you three of the most important reasons why whiteboard animation works to achieve a higher level of retention. We started with how exactly whiteboard animation holds attention and why educators should opt for it to improve learning outcomes. Next, we delved into the science behind whiteboard animation being engaging and fun, and how the release of dopamine makes them a worthy tool to invest in for organizations that have training programs.
