Challenge B substantive post – IBM Technologies educational video

The video

Back in 2023, when ChatGPT was first released, it took the internet by storm. This was brand new technology for me, I wanted to learn more about how it worked. That’s when I discovered the channel IBM Technologies, they mostly post educational videos with the defining feature being a knowledgeable lecturer drawing on a glass whiteboard. This form of explaining really resonated with me, something about seeing the concept being broken down to digestible chunks live helped my understanding greatly.

The learning theory

Upon opening the video, I can infer that the intended learners are people with per-existing Computer Science knowledge, and is looking to learn more about AI and Large Langue Models. The video is also categorized as an Explainer Video.

As per utilizing learning theory, I want to first look at the video in the lens of Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, which proposes that different types of memories have limited capacities, called Cognitive Loads. In order to account for this, I can clearly see that the video utilizes Allan Paivio’s dual coding theory as both non-verbal and verbal explanation through “drawing on a whiteboard” as the explainer introduces concepts.

I also noticed some key considerations for managing Intrinsic Cognitive Load:

• Segmenting: The video clearly breaks the concept down to smaller manageable chunks and even go 1 step further by drawing those “chunks”.
• Pretraining: The video starts with an explanation of the concept, and as it introduces more and more concept, it always start with a simple explanation or an illustration.
• Modality: The video utilized minimal amount of text on screen and focuses on illustrating clear “objects”, and the lecturer clearly explains before introducing each object.

Taking inspiration from this video, I think I will format my video similar to this, maybe I cal utilize Paint or some illustration software to “draw” on the screen as I explain concepts!