Learning in the 21st Century: Grow With Technology, Not Against It

People love video. Recent statistics show that people are engaging more with digital video than any

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other social media channel. As Ayla Horlick and Kurt Salter noted during their presentation at the 27th Annual Chicagoland Safety Health and Environmental Conference, nearly 300 hours of video content are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

For OSH professionals, digital video presents a wealth of opportunities to engage workers in workplace safety. One great example, according to Horlick and Salter, is to use a video to demonstrate how to conduct a job safety analysis rather than simply presenting a diagram or written instructions.

For many OSH professionals, however, the idea of creating such a video may seem daunting. Yet, with tools like Apple’s iMovie software, which is available for both iPhone and iPad, the process really isn’t that difficult, Horlick and Salter explained. Essentially, you can break down the process four elements: the iPad/iPhone device, the iMovie app, the videographer and an actor. Horlick shared a video she made then asked for volunteers to create one about changing a trash bag in a trash can and offering steps to create a successful video. These included selecting the process, writing down the process steps, filming, compiling the clips, sending the draft out for review, making revisions and finally, uploading the clip.

To be successful, Horlick and Salter recommend the following:

• Keep it short--80 seconds is a good guide.
• Make it entertaining. Remember, you want to keep the audience’s attention.
• Include a voiceover to explain the action in the video.
• Have the actor to perform the action in the clip.