Summary: The rapid evolution of video and AI tools now empowers L&D teams to create and measure credible, learner-centered content. Discover best practices for embedding, testing, and evaluating video learning.
Shifting Video Tools and Rising Expectations in Learning
The past five to ten years have seen video creation and consumption change at an extraordinary pace in the learning space. What was once the domain of specialists, requiring advanced skillsets and significant resources, is now much more accessible to teams of all sizes. Video production tools have become more intuitive and affordable, while video has grown into a preferred and highly-expected modality for digital content consumption in professional environments.
Video-based learning is no longer a novelty, it is now a baseline expectation from employees seeking clarity, engagement, and immediacy in how information is presented. A strong video strategy supports both compliance and growth by meeting learners where they are, in the formats they trust and use frequently outside of work as well. As this modality matures, learning leaders face the opportunity and the challenge to ensure that every learning journey incorporates video thoughtfully and with strategic intent.
To serve this demand, learning and development professionals must keep pace with evolving platforms and production capabilities, ensuring video content is not only present but purposefully embedded at key touchpoints across the learning journey.
Embedding Video and Leveraging AI to Expand Capabilities
Integrating video into learning programs is most effective when centered on intentional design that begins with a deep understanding of the learners’ needs. Video can clarify complex steps, illustrate best practices, and make abstract policies relatable. It serves as a bridge for learners who prefer to see information demonstrated, not just described.
A significant shift has come with the introduction of AI-powered video tools that reduce the learning curve for content creators. These platforms empower designers and developers—even those without a video background—to quickly gain skills in video production. AI-driven solutions streamline editing, automate repetitive tasks, and accelerate content assembly, allowing more learning team members to contribute to video creation than ever before.
Notably, AI enables rapid prototyping and experimentation. Learning leaders can produce AI-generated video samples or versions of content and then test how each approach lands with their audience before investing in a professionally recorded version with a subject matter expert. For example, an L&D team might use A/B testing to compare a couple of AI-generated video presentations, collecting feedback from learners on clarity, tone, and comprehension. Insights from these early tests help refine the final filming strategy, ensuring resources are invested in the most resonant and effective approach.
Bringing in the subject matter expert after such tests ensures that both expertise and the proven delivery style can combine for maximized learner impact. By relying on both AI efficiency and SME credibility, teams offer learning content that is polished, relatable, and suited to organizational culture.
Measuring and Tracking Video Learning ROI with Genuine Engagement
For L&D professionals in growing businesses, measuring ROI from video-based learning is essential. The most compelling evidence of value starts with direct, authentic feedback from the learners themselves. After deploying new videos, teams can solicit reactions about how well the content matched their needs—did the format support their understanding, did it feel relevant to their job, and did the presentation style hold their attention?
A practical approach involves pairing these learner assessments with experimentation. For example, responses to AI-generated prototype videos during the A/B testing phase can be especially revealing about which approaches feel most engaging and effective. Rather than relying solely on completion rates or passive viewing, teams gain invaluable context by asking, “Which version helped you grasp the material? Where did you need more clarity?”
Once finalized videos featuring SMEs are in circulation, teams continue to measure success through periodic check-ins and feedback cycles, ensuring each piece remains current, credible, and valuable to its intended audience. Over time, these insights—drawn directly from the end-users—ensure video learning resources stay in sync with evolving organizational needs and learner preferences.
In highly regulated environments, this level of alignment between assessment, content, and genuine learner experience not only encourages ongoing engagement but also supports compliance and operational priorities.
Centering Learners and Emphasizing Credibility in Video Learning
Video-based learning has become a preferred and expected part of professional development. However, simply producing more video is not enough. Effective use of video begins with a commitment to understanding learners, deploying AI-driven tools for greater agility, and rigorously testing and adapting content based on authentic feedback. Bringing subject matter experts into the process at the right moment ensures every piece of content is grounded and credible. Learning programs that prioritize these elements deliver training that is valued, relevant, and impactful.