The Playbook to Design the Instructional Videos Course
There's no denying it: making online courses requires an enormous amount of effort -which can turn into a painfully lengthy procedure, particularly when you make a whole lot of instructional videos.
What can assist you in simplifying the course creation and design process? Storytelling
Elise London, our resident video specialist who film all of our internal and marketing classes The key to making engaging online classes is using stories in order for planning and delivering details.
Finding the narrative in the course's problem and structuring content using the storytelling method of hero's journey is a game changer. Here's everything you need to accomplish to effectively design, organize and film an engaging online course that includes all the necessary tools.
Jump ahead:
- Find the perfect subject for your online course
- The process of planning and structuring an online class
- Shooting your course video content
- Do you have the skills to design your own online course?
The perfect topic to use for your online course
You don't need a new concept, straight from the box to create your online course.
Instead, identify a topic which is already popular. Understanding your business objectives and target public will assist. Here's how:
Identify what's already resonating
Make use of data measurement tools like Google Analytics to find high-performing publications. Find an ebook that covers one particular subject that performs exceptionally well? Consider expanding it into a detailed video course.
Also, you can look over your email list to unearth topics your audience wants a virtual course on. Send the same survey out to social media (if you have an engaged public there) and to communities you're associated with.
Keep in mind that the aim is to choose a subject that the audience has an interest in.
Do it deep and not wide.
"If you consider the kinds of questions that learners ask around your subject, and the emotions they experience as they work through the concept you want to address will help you position your video course as an answer to this.
In this case, the idea"live streaming" can be vast, but it can be overwhelming for students to grasp." Elise London, Senior content production manager
What can you do? Reexamine the emotions your audience is facing when it comes to the subject.
You can ask yourself:
- What confusion is our audience experiencing as they work to solve the problem?
- Are there feelings that are so overwhelming they need help to conquer?
In the case of live streaming, as an example there could be anxious feelings as you create their very first live streaming. The subject of a course will then include "How to set up a live stream so you aren't overloaded."
A tip to help you prepare the course's name
If you're thinking of names for your program, take into consideration the way your viewers thinks about the specific problem you're addressing and work that into the title.
Planning the structure of your online class
Elise suggests using hero's quest to design the online training course. It involves:
- Addressing the issues that students are facing. Find these by understanding questions folks have concerning the topic of your class.
- Helping them overcome challenges and discovering solutions. It is here that you divide the subject into modules as well as video lessons with each lesson answering an inquiry.
- leaving them with the promised change. Offer additional resources, such as checklists, templates and other forms to help students apply the lessons they have learned.
This is how you can dig up the audience's questions and goals to plan and structure your class:
Ask your audience members questions about research
Instead of making assumptions, take these instructions:
- Explore Reddit or Quora to compile a list of questions that are frequently asked.
- Survey and make one-on-1 phone calls with the learners for questions.
- listen to calls from customers by sales and support representatives to uncover common questions.
- Look up bestsellers' page indexes on Amazon for a deeper understanding of the issues they answer on the topic of instruction.
If you've held webcasts related to the topic it is also possible to examine questions that attendees have asked for information to help you conduct your own investigation.
The course's topic can be broken down into buckets
Then, refer to the questions and challenges of your audience for breaking your subject into narrative modules that build on each other to create the next step to the learning journey.
"Instead of saying that we're going to show you how how to use Interactive Studio' (which is a broad, hard-to-wrap-my mind-around thing), say 'We're going to teach beginners, intermediate advanced, and intermediate features. In this means that the subjects for your online course] will fit into one of those three categories." Elise London, Senior content production manager
Put simply, break "disparate ideas " into smaller pieces and then put them into buckets so that when you're looking over the course from a distance it all seems more doable."
Pro tip for course structure
It is important to lay out the course structure to meet learners where they are in their development. It's often easy to overshare and confuse students, thanks to the curse of information (a cognitive bias that presumes target viewers know as much as you know). So remember to review your course design for simplicity.
Create video lessons
- Touch on your student's challenges that relate to the issue a video lesson will be able to solve.
- Provide solutions to the issue that they're dealing with.
- Summarize the video or offer other resources to assist them in their to change.
Videos on demand with scripts
pro tip
Shooting your course video content
You'll require tools
To get a good manufacturing tool kit and set up, you'll need:
- Microphone, cameras (two at the minimum) and a 3 or 4-point lighting kit
- Learning Management System (LMS). The software will house the course's video which makes it easily accessible to students. Examples include: Teachable, Podia, and Kajabi.
- . An ad-free video platform to host, record edit and also add elements of interactivity to educational videos which you could and then upload to your LMS.
- Teleprompter. A device for display that displays scrolling text on the screen in order to make it easier for those on screen to take video.
- Music pedal. A foot-operated, budget-friendly keyboard that lets you change course slide slides displayed on screen.
Making the perfect video setting
Elise recommends you:
1. Never use overhead fluorescent lights
The shadows can be harsh over your face. The lights of fluorescent bulbs can flicker occasionally and can cause a greenish hue and impacting your video's quality and consistency.
2. Record with no natural light
Natural light patterns change through the day, and should you are filming for several hours in a row and the quality of light of your footage won't be uniform, Elise warns. This is also a problem should you decide to move segments from one video to a different one.
3. Set your cameras at different angles
The second camera isn't "just make editing more interesting" (which helps even if you're working with a script, and even if you do get it all done in a single take) as well as to help break the monotony of people looking at the face of the instructor."
"More crucially, a different camera is used to cover cuts," Elise adds. "So when you're making a presentation that is not going to come out in a single take The way you hide that edit can be done by using B-roll or cutting into another camera."
4. Make sure you have a tidy and clutter-free background
Avoid bright colors like magenta, orange, and yellow as they can cause color reflections and be distractions for the viewers. Choose neutral backgrounds like grey, dark blue or soft white. These are great for photography and also feel comfortable on your eyes.
Recording your online video course
Naturally, recording can feel a little nerve-racking. If you've put in the time planning and writing your course, filming isn't a big deal.
5. Always use an Teleprompter
Teleprompters can prevent you from getting stuck on the screen while you attempt to recall which point you need to remember.
The recording process is easy, and reduces edits, but "it will also allow you to maintain eyes on the camera when you are looking into the screen on your teleprompter" adds Elise.
6. Use a music pedal to change between slides
"Instead of using a keyboard or clicker that's visible in your palm, you can use a music pedal to [change your slides]. It's basically just a USB Bluetooth keyboard with a left and a right. Using it means the speaker doesn't need to look for the keyboard or the mouse for it to progress."
Editing on-demand video content
Make sure to trim for clarity and provide an engaging viewing experience using these professional suggestions:
7. Edit ruthlessly
8. Add B-roll content for maximum participation
One method to break through the monotony of a talking head video is to change between camera at an ad-hoc rate.
It is also possible to add animations, graphics, slides, stock footage, or custom recordings for an immersive learning experience.
9. Layers of interactivity
- Enjoy a build-your-own-learning path
- Click on video hotspots to dig into more learning resources
- Jump between sections most relevant to them (useful for onboarding video in the company)
The result is that interactive videos improve viewer engagement and increasing retention. Also, you can assess your students' understanding by creating video-based quizzes with Interactive.
Ready to design your online course?
Designing a video course you love by your viewers can be summarized as:
- Being specific about the problem you wish to resolve
- Building the information into a cohesive story
- Then, organize the information so it's straightforward to follow and digest
And don't forget, using the correct tools will alleviate the strain making high-quality instructional videos, guaranteeing an immersive learning experience.