MRUniversity, the Hollywood Toolkit and an IAWTV Award nomination: Universities have been making educational resources available online for free for sometime now with many of these resources are videos. I think it would be fair to say that the quality of these videos can vary quite considerably, so it was really interesting to see Marginal Revolution University, better known as MRUniversity enter Everyday Economics to an awards ceremony for web series.
The IAWTV Awards can be tough with entants competing against shows that feature very high production standards. MRUniversity have passed the first hurdle and have got a nomination for Best Documentary or Educational Series. In April they will find out if they have won. Roman Hardgrave, the Chief Product Officer of MRUniversity was kind enough to talk to me about how high quality media fits into their mission and what an IAWTV Award would mean to them.
Can you explain briefly what MRUniversity is all about?
We are passionate about teaching economics. We believe that economics can help you understand the world around you and, in turn, can help you make better decisions in your daily life. On MRUniversity’s homepage, you can find a library of more than 800 videos divided into 12 courses, and they’re completely free to use (we’re a non-profit funded by donations). There’s something for everyone — from the first-time economics student to more advanced learners. You can watch videos on supply and demand, the leading thinkers in development economics, causes of the Eurozone crisis, Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, and everything in between.
MRU's materials are popular with professors and students as a teaching/learning supplement to use in classes. With our Everyday Economics series, we’ve also seen interest beyond the classroom from lifelong learners who are generally intellectually curious. Our founders, Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok of George Mason University, have been using the lens of economics to explore the world with their popular blog and our namesake, MarginalRevolution.com, for over a decade.
How does video fit in to your mission?
Video is a core part of our product and our primary teaching device. In the past year we have transitioned to applying the "Hollywood toolkit" to our videos, combining great teachers with top creative talent, with the goal of making learning both entertaining and engaging. We believe there are many untapped way to provide a better online learning experience - we are excited to continue to push the envelope.
How do you use social media to increase awareness of your site and its educational content?
We use social media primarily in three ways: to build a community of econ-loving friends and followers who can interact with others like them; to provide support and related resources to the students and professors who use our content; and to gain real-time feedback on our product so that we can make continuous improvements with each new release. We’ve found Twitter to be particularly effective at reaching new audiences and opinion leaders in the world of economics. YouTube and Google search marketing is effective at reaching students and professors who are looking for teaching supplements.
Do you feel that high production values are important in your videos?
We try to think first about what the viewer needs to learn the content. Many economic concepts are complex - visuals can help make these concepts more intuitive. So for those videos, the "Hollywood toolkit" is crucial. I don't think we could have achieved nearly what we did on "The Hockey Stick of Human Prosperity" or "Comparative Advantage and the Tragedy of Tasmania" without going high production.
However, some content doesn't benefit as much from the "Hollywood toolkit," so we pick and choose where to spend our limited resources. Thanks to the generous support of our donors, we are able to steadily improve our video library and add more high production content.
Do you feel the audience expects or does not expect them?
Within the sphere of economics videos, we feel that our audience is pleasantly surprised by what we've created. Most teaching videos consist of a taped lecture or basic motion graphics. However, for the broader audience of the "intellectually curious," I think they absolutely expect better videos. They're watching Veritasium, CGP Grey, and fellow IAWTV finalist Tiffany Shlain - they've set the bar pretty high.
How did you get to where you are today when it comes to production values?
We started with basic narrated powerpoints - we were a startup initiative just trying to get off the ground. We felt pretty constrained in that format, so we were thrilled when we gathered the support to invest in improving the quality of our videos. I have a background in both filmmaking and economics, so I was excited to take a swing at some highly produced videos to explain economics.
The Everyday Economics series that is an IAWTV finalist was our first experiment in using high production videos. We are incredibly lucky to have had a great partner, Tilapia Film, to help us produce those videos.
We were pleasantly surprised by the reaction - Vox, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and VentureBeat covered us immediately. A personal thrill for me was when Marc Andreessen tweeted about it. The success of that experiment has led to more investment - we recently released a new Principles of Economics course that features many more high production videos.
If you did win an IAWTV Award, what would it mean to you?
It would be such a thrill. Just browsing through the other finalists in our category I was blown away by the company we are in. An IAWTV award would be a huge validation for our assumption that the line between learning and entertainment is blurring — education can be fun! We want to keep pushing the envelope and an IAWTV award would be an inspirational factor in us continuing to do so.
What advice would you give to other universities producing online video?
It takes time (and money)! The amount of time and attention to detail required to get one of these videos right is often an order of magnitude higher than what people expect. Even the most minute details are discussed and iterated. In the hockey stick video, we went over the sound effects for the part on smallpox over and over again. First it was too light and funny. Then too dark. Finally we realized that what it needed was silence - but that was probably 5 iterations in!
The other difficult thing is effectively combining the teaching of great professors and the creative skills of great producers. Professors are used to lecturing - using motion graphics and sound/music is not part of their thinking. On the other hand, the creative folks don't always get the nuances of the concepts being taught. So if the professor designs the whole video, he will often miss opportunities to utilize all the tools filmmakers have. However, the professors' insight into the material and the nuances of teaching it are crucial.
So the challenge is getting the best out of everyone. We iterated a lot on the process of producing videos and how we communicate between all parties. Getting it right requires a strong team and a great deal of trust.
Do you feel that you could learn from or be influenced by the wider online video production community? If so, what sort of things?
Absolutely! I feel like I know my little corner of the online video world pretty well, but there is a whole other world out there that is foreign to me. I can't wait to go to Vegas and meet and learn from other great producers. I think there is a great deal to learn on how to effectively produce and market content.
You can find MRUniversity's courses online at http://mruniversity.com. I have watched a few videos and learnt quite a lot already! Thanks to Roman Hardgrave for the interview.
