The Story Behind the Video: The Apple Cinnamon Dessert of My Childhood
Social media is a great platform to share narratives, whether it's a story, a memory, or even a lesson or joke. It has the power to spread the narrative worldwide with a click of a button. Of course, this has exponential learning potential. Many social media platforms share workout tips, cooking tips, and other types of content. However the most engaging social media videos often have a narrative, or a story attached to them. Influencers create their entire platform based on the narrative they present, as a cook, a fitness enthusiast, a joker, a movie or food reviewer; the possibilities are endless. I decided to create a video teaching viewers how to create my favorite dessert. This dessert has a special meaning to me, and sharing it with my viewers is a way to share part of my story with the world.
Learning videos can be improved on by including an interesting narrative. The story of bonding with my mother over cooking and food, helps viewers engage with the narrative of the meal, and its meaning beyond sustenance. Watching a ten minute video of someone cooking is only fun for a minority of viewers. The narrative of growing up adds a dimension to the video that immerses the viewer in its importance in my own narrative, and my relationship with my mother. A video on cooking becomes an educational tool concerning connection and relationships with others. I hope you enjoy the tale of the apple cinnamon dessert of my childhood, and maybe make it yourself!
Statement of Need
The power of social media is that it helps people spread their stories. Many people have wonderful memories that they hope to share, but they struggle to find the courage, or don't know what to do. This is especially true in the kitchen. Food is such an integral part of society, and being able to share powerful narratives concerning food makes social media the perfect medium for learning. This video provides people with a way to learn a recipe, but it also provides them with a framework to share their own videos and stories.
Concept Description
This is a video explanation of how to create an apple cinnamon dessert dish. The video shows each step of the process, with a voice overlay explaining the steps, while also sharing the stories and memories behind the recipe. The idea is that watchers will be able to make their own dishes using the video as a guide. They may also share their own recipes and associated memories, using the video as a framework for their own narratives. The outline below shows how the video explains each step of the video.
Target Audience and Learning Goals
The target audience will be cooks of any age who are able to understand English. The video does require using a knife if the apples are not cut, but pre-cut apples allow watchers to avoid using a knife, allowing younger children to finish the recipe.
There are two specific goals for this video:
1. Watchers will be able to create their own dish by following the steps in the video.
2. Watchers will have the ability to create their own video, by following the same framework as the video t they see.
Outline
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Introduce myself and the recipe.
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Cutting Apples Step
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Begin explaining why this recipe is so important to me (this explanation continues throughout the other steps).
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Mixture for cut apples step and why it's my favorite part.
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Adding Sugar.
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Finding the cinnamon.
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Adding mixture and stirring.
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Microwave steps!
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Taste Session.
Learning Theories
There are a number of learning theories that were used to make this video. I decided to remove the audio of the cooking itself, and instead recorded my own voice explaining the importance of the recipe in my own life. The inclusion of a human voice is proven to engage listeners on a higher level than robotic or AI voices. While recording over the audio might have taken away from the immersion of the recipe, I decided to use sound effects to connect the narrative to the process of making the dish, and thus try to immerse watchers into the recipe and the narrative. This will help with learner engagement.
There is another, social aspect to this video. As it is meant for social media, users will be able to watch and comment on the recipe. Furthermore, other people will be able to add their own videos and recipes. This creates a social network that becomes a learning environment, with the change of other recipes and narratives connecting to create a social constructivist framework. While there is constructivist learning in the creation and uploading of the video, the sharing of each video creates a framework of ideas that allow users to learn from the shared ideas and narratives. This shared framework allows for the creation of a playlist, where users learn techniques and tricks from the playlist as a whole, rather than just through each individual video.
Multimedia principle theories also apply. The inclusion of both verbal/audio and visual information follows the dual coding theory and multimedia principle. Viewers connect with multiple forms of knowledge through these different channels, which has been proven to increase recognition. As people have limited capacity in their working memory, the different types of media allow viewers to get multiple inputs of the same information, ensuring their recognition and recall of the information is improved.
Reflection
When I began thinking of what type of video I wanted to create, I decided to make this project more personal. My parents suggested that I come eat dinner with them, and I decided right then and there I knew exactly what I wanted to teach. Cooking is something that I tend to struggle with, and I thought that a great thing for people to learn are some easy recipes for delicious food. Just as importantly, this recipe is extremely important to me, and I really wanted to share the story of why I like it so much.
The project itself was fun, as I got to watch my Mom make the recipe just as I used to when I was a kid. There were a couple of hiccups (my Mom didn't want her face to be recorded, and the sound of my Dad in the background made it so the audio would be difficult to manage) but overall it really was just fun. Recording my own story while watching the video actually made me very emotional at times, and I had to take a couple of breaks just to regain my composure. Splicing the video and the audio to match wasn't too difficult, as I had some experience with previous projects.
Overall, this was probably one of my favorite projects to create, not just because it was fun but also because it felt so personal. I really felt like I was sharing a piece of myself as I created this project, and I was very proud of the end result. In the future I will continue to work on more natural pauses where I can add sound effects, but other than that I feel this was a very fun and engaging project!