Video use in higher education has been found to have multiple benefits for students. Short video clips have long been used to introduce students to new material, stimulate interest, and provide valuable contextual and emotionally resonant information (White, Easton, and Anderson 2000; Mitra et al. 2010). Student enjoyment of video has been argued to help facilitate a low-anxiety learning context (White, Easton, and Anderson 2000). Video can provide alternative viewpoints and access to experts who would not appear in the classroom. As noted by Shepard (2003), video supports “narrative visualisation” and “dynamic modelling” and, as such, can facilitate better descriptions and “real life” examples and can enhance student recognition of content and identification with it. As Sherer and Shea note, enormous “versatility, accessibility, breadth of content and up-to-date materials” appear to be offered to staff and students (Sherer and Shea 2011, p. 58). Clips interspersed in lectures can add variety, increase engagement, and enliven challenging or dry material, and a vast range of associated activities including introductory, follow-up, and group tasks can support rich discussion (Berk 2009; Tiernan and Gurrin 2012).

Claims that integration of video can facilitate deep learning are grounded partly in the capacity of video to supply rich contextual information that can enable students to identify links between the video content, other material presented, and their existing knowledge (Mitra et al. 2010). Video may also support memory of content that is presented (Mitra et al. 2010). The use of video in assessment can lead to deeper engagement in tasks (Skiba 2007) and student understanding of abstract concepts and complex processes that may be challenging to visualize (Eick and King Jr. 2012). Furthermore, video, Berk (2009) notes, may potentially support students’ creativity, concentration, and collaboration and may enhance connections with students and instructors.

Amid the burgeoning literature on video in higher education and the multiple ways students can consume, create, and exchange video, a question does exist, however, of what roles may remain for the in-house creation of such content. This is a question that remains little addressed in the literature (Spicer 2010).

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