Video clips are increasingly being incorporated into classroom and elearning courses, to engage learners and improve the effectiveness of the training, according to a new survey by Video Arts.

Of 535 learning professionals surveyed, 83% use video clips in their classroom-based training courses. Video is also used in their organisations for short pieces of bite-sized learning (52%); for informal learning (34%); to support one-to-one coaching (25%); in self-authored elearning courses (22%) and for mobile learning (7%).

79% of learning professionals source their video content by buying it off the shelf; 39% shoot their own video clips and 19% use external providers to custom-create their video content.

"Video has always been a great way of adding extra impact to training because it can bring a subject to life and it challenges learners to think, feel and do things differently," said Martin Addison, managing director of Video Arts. "Our study found that video content is predominantly shown in classroom courses from a DVD, however the tide may be turning as a growing number of learning professionals are now licensing video clips to download or stream online. Some trainers are even creating 'rapid deployment' elearning resources by combining ready-made video clips with their own expertise and content."

The survey also reveals the top ten priorities for organisational learning. These are: leadership and managing people, communication, performance management, teamwork, attitude and motivation, change management, customer service, innovation, interviewing and sales. Public sector organisations are placing even more emphasis than their private sector counterparts on leadership and management, communication, teamwork, change management and diversity training.

To deliver against these priorities, 89% of organisations use classroom-based training courses; 77% provide coaching; 50% use rapid deployment elearning and 46% use bought-in elearning courses.

The percentage of organisations using elearning has increased from 48% in 2009 to 67% in 2010. Advocates of elearning are predominantly using it to provide training in: compliance and legal skills (54%); soft skills personal development (54%); health & safety (52%); leadership and management (50%); professional and technical skills (44%); IT skills (44%); diversity and equal opportunities (42%); customer service (39%) and project management (26%).