
Our video team tested new ways to present mathematical formulae in videos and asked students what they thought. Which was the students’ favourite? Read on to find out!
We produce a lot of educational video: in 2024 we created over 1500 videos for our online programmes, in many disciplines. To make sure we’re doing a good job, we wanted to investigate how effective these videos are for our learners. In this post we’ll share the feedback we received from students, and how we responded to it.
We asked students what they thought

Working with my fellow videographer, Daniel Bennett, we met with our Student Voice Group, made up of students from across our programmes. We showed them a selection of videos and asked them what they thought.
The feedback was pretty mixed. Half of the students said that they were satisfied or very satisfied and the other half were pretty ambivalent being neither satisfied nor unsatisfied.
Overall, how satisfied are you with the educational videos you have just watched?

Mathematical formulae were an issue
When we probed further, one comment caught our attention “I don’t like the way formulae are presented on PowerPoint”. This raised alarm bells with videographer Dan as he’s a passionate mathematics enthusiast and has worked on many maths related videos. Dan was particularly concerned because many of our most popular programmes are in quantitative disciplines and use formulae in one way or another.
In our video lectures, the ‘go to’ method has always been to use PowerPoint to teach maths. When presented in PowerPoint the formulae tend to be quite static with text surrounding them, so we set about testing some alternative approaches for presenting formulae in maths videos.
We trailed four alternative presentation methods
1. LaTeX + Adobe After Effects
LaTeX provides technical typesetting in a consistent format aligned with standards used in traditional STEM text books. It is great for complex equations involving integrals, displaying matrices, fractions, multi-line equations and much more. Adobe After Effects provides animation. This combination allowed us to produce well formatted and animated notation.
Visually, this is very clear, and editable. However it is very fiddly and time consuming to produce. Definitely not a scalable solution.
Determined to find a better way, Dan went back to the drawing board and explored three further options for teaching maths with video.
2. Green screen
Lecturer presents to camera, and we edit in animated equations.
3. Lightboard
Lecturer explains concept while writing it out onto our lightboard. Very similar to in classroom use of blackboard or whiteboard.
4. Screen recording
To produce a screen recording the lecturer writes on a tablet computer using a stylus to write out and explain formulae and equations.
We showed these three options to students in our Student Voice Group.
Student reaction to the final three
We returned to the Student Voice Group to get feedback on these alternative production methods. Here’s what students said:
Green screen: Students liked the synchronicity between audio and visual information


The feedback was fairly positive with students finding it easy to follow and it felt ‘quite familiar’. They enjoyed the fact that there was synchronicity between audio and visual elements. This makes sense as we know that presenting narration and animation simultaneously reduces cognitive load and is recommended by Mayer (p46 Mayer, 2003). However not all feedback was positive: one student thought it felt ‘a bit formal’. But does this matter?
Lightboard: Students liked how this creates an in-person feeling

Students commented that watching a lightboard lecture felt ‘immersive’ and they felt it was better for accessibility as ‘you can see the speaker’s face and lips which make it easier to follow for hard of hearing students.’ For accessibility, we do provide a downloadable PowerPoint file to accompany the video.
Students also liked that this format had an ‘in-class’ feeling; it felt ‘in person’, perhaps recreating the feeling of being in campus and a connection with the teacher. One benefit of the lightboard is that the lecturer faces the camera and can maintain eye contact with the learner as they explain concepts.
However, as the old adage goes, you can’t please everyone all of the time. One student commented that it was, ‘…visually harder to process as the writing and lines are slightly slanted and some of the symbols from the top are unclear to me.’ To address this, we provide a LaTeX produced PowerPoint download, and we have also bought a large ruler and spirit level to help prepare a clear board!
Screen recording: Students liked the hand-written notation

The students found this to be more ‘dynamic’, and that they preferred handwritten formulae to typed. This might be because it feels familiar, perhaps like a chalk and talk experience learners had in earlier education, or when they are working out equations with pen and paper. The absence of an academic in-frame gained a few detractors, and one student said that it felt more ‘static’ than the lightboard.
The results, ranked!
Our students ranked the three video types in order of preference:
- Lightboard
- Screen recording
- Green screen
We were really surprised at this result! Currently, we produce mostly green screen videos, with few lightboard-based lectures.
Takeaways
Three themes have emerged from our discussions with students.
- Students want to see more use of the lightboard and although it raises some accessibility issues we provide an accompanying ppt with the content written using LaTeX so it’s clear. We would like weave the light board into the fabric of more of the videos that we produce and will encourage academics to consider it.
- Students enjoyed seeing an academic on screen. In future the team will work to ensure this happens whenever possible and appropriate, bearing in mind issues around cognitive load.
- Students like the synchronicity of hearing and seeing the formulae revealed on screen simultaneously – this is something we should do consistently from now on.
Plans for the future
To help us implement further good practice, we are developing improved media workshops with academics which will help them to improve their verbal explanations of visual content, ensuring that all learners benefit from the enhancements in their video presentations.
Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to refine our approach and strive for excellence in our educational content!
Huge thanks to Daniel Bennett for his creativity and knowledge as we collaborated on this project. And to Elizabeth Kingston, our Senior Content Production Manager who suggested that we take on this project.