Abstract:

The research question behind this presentation is: what type of short astronomy videos have the most appeal and the biggest reach for a worldwide audience of informal learners? The several thousand videos discussed here have been viewed 1.4 million times and they have accumulated over 80,000 hours of viewership. They serve college students taking an introductory astronomy class, and informal audiences such as lifelong learners enrolled in a massive open online class (MOOC), or people simply interested in astronomy. All these videos were created using a rotating cast of undergraduate students who pitched ideas and then helped with the scripting, filming, editing, and dissemination. This talent enables videos to be created on a modest budget. Usage patterns and user demographics are presented for short videos covering a variety of astronomy topics, delivered to public audiences from three websites, three YouTube channels, and three massive open online classes, or MOOCs. The data spans over a decade in some cases. The modality of the content ranges from short lecture presentations of sub-topics in astronomy to longer scripted pieces created by students to Q&A sessions held by the MOOC instructor with live audiences of 100-200. Most of the viewers are not based in the United States. Viewership rose dramatically at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels. The videos watched by lifelong learners taking a MOOC show a decline in usage as they progress through the online course. But for the same videos on a YouTube channel, where viewers can choose according to their interests, the most popular topics are cosmology and exoplanets. Suggestions are made for effective ways to create and disseminate astronomy videos.

Keywords:

Education, technology, videos, astronomy.