A Playbook for the Design of an instructional video course
It's true: creating online courses takes many hours of laborwhich can turn into a painfully lengthy process, especially as you record a ton of videos for instruction.
A way to help you simplify course design and production? Stories.
Elise London, 's resident video expert who film all of our in-house and marketing courses The key to creating engaging virtual courses is using stories to organize and present the information.
Identifying the story in the course's problem and structuring your content with the storytelling method of hero's journey is a game changer. The following is what you should do to efficiently design, organize and produce an effective online video course. It includes all the necessary tools.
Jump ahead:
- The perfect topic to teach online
- Designing and arranging the online courses you offer
- Shooting your course video content
- Ready to design your own online course?
The perfect topic to use for your online course
It's not necessary to come up with a brand new innovative, outside-the-box concept to create your online course.
Choose a subject that's already in high demand. Understanding your business objectives and target market will be helpful. Here's how:
Find out what's already resonated
Make use of data measurement tools like Google Analytics to find high-performing published pieces. Spot an ebook on a specific topic that did exceptionally well? Consider expanding it into a detailed video course.
You can also survey your email list to unearth the topics that people would love to take for a virtual class on. You can also distribute the survey via social media (if you've got an engaged audience there) as well as to the communities you're involved in.
The goal is to choose a subject that the audience has an appetite for.
Deepen your dive, don't widen it.
"If you look at the kinds of questions that learners ask around your topic, the feelings they feel as they tackle your subject, you can present your course's video as the solution to it.
In this case, the idea of 'live streaming' is vast, but it can be overwhelming for students to wrap their heads around." Elise London, Senior content production manager
The answer? Examine the struggles that the audience has to face when dealing with a topic.
You can ask yourself:
- What difficulties are our readers facing as they attempt to resolve the problem?
- How do we deal with overwhelming feelings? they need help to conquer?
In the case of live streaming, for example, the answers could be anxieties as people create their very first live streaming. An instructional course in this area will then include "How to easily set up live streaming so that you don't feel overwhelmed."
The best tip you can use for the course's title
When you're brainstorming names for your class, consider what your target public is feeling regarding the particular issue you're solving and integrate this into the name.
Planning and structuring your online course
Elise advises you to use the hero's journey to lay out the course online. This involves:
- The challenge that target students are facing. Find these by asking the right questions regarding the subject of your class.
- Guide them in overcoming obstacles and finding solutions. This is where you split the content into sections as well as video lessons with each lesson answering an inquiry.
- leaving them with the promised change. Give them additional tools like checklists and templates that help students apply what they learn.
Learn how to identify audience questions and desired outcomes to structure and plan your course:
Ask your audience members questions about research
Instead of assuming, follow these actions:
- Browse Reddit as well as Quora to compile a list of questions that are frequently asked.
- Survey and make one-on-1 calls with learners to ask questions directly.
- Take calls from customers from support and sales teams to uncover common questions.
- Look up bestsellers' page indexes on Amazon for a deeper understanding of the issues they ask about the topic of instruction.
If you've hosted webinars on the course topic You can review questions attendees ask for information to help you conduct your own investigation.
The course's topic can be broken down into buckets
Then, refer to your audience's challenges and questions to break your topic into narrative modules that are built upon one another to create the next step in the learner's journey.
"Instead of saying, 'We're going to train you how to use an interactive program' (which is a broad, hard-to-wrap-my mind-around thing), say 'We're going to teach beginners, intermediate advanced, and intermediate features.' This is how the subject matter for the course you'll be taking within one of these three buckets." Elise London, Senior content production manager
Simply put "disparate ideas and put them in buckets, so that when you're looking over the course from a distance the course appears more manageable."
Pro tip on course structure
Be sure to outline the structure of your class to accommodate the students at any point in their journey. It's often easy to overshare and make students confused due to the trap of information (a cognitive bias that assumes target viewers know as much as you are). Remember to revise the course's design to ensure it is simple.
Plan video lessons
- Touch on your student's challenges related to the question a video lesson will be able to solve.
- Respond to the questions with solutions to the issue they're confronted with.
- Summarize the video or offer other resources to assist them in their transform.
Script on-demand video lessons
pro tip
Shooting your course video content
You'll require tools
To get a good production tool kit and setup, you'll need:
- Microphone, cameras (two minimum) and a 3 or 4-point lighting kit
- Learning Management System (LMS). The software will house the course's video and make it available to students. Examples: Teachable, Podia, and Kajabi.
- . An ad-free video platform that lets you host, record edit and even include interactivity elements to educational videos that you can then upload to your LMS.
- Teleprompter. A device for display that displays scrolling text on the screen, making it simple for people on the screen to record videos.
- Music pedal. A foot-operated, budget-friendly keyboard that lets you change course slide slides displayed on screen.
The ideal video production setting
Elise suggests:
1. Avoid using overhead fluorescent lighting
They can create harsh shadows on your face. The lights of fluorescent bulbs can flicker occasionally creating a green color and affecting your quality of video's stability.
2. Recording with no natural light
Natural light patterns change through the day, and should you happen to be filming for several hours in a row the lighting quality in your video won't look even, Elise warns. Also, this could be a issue when you choose to transfer sections from one video to another.
3. Set your cameras at different angles
The second camera isn't "just make editing more interesting" (which is helpful even if you're using scripts in the event that you manage to get everything done in a single take) however, it also helps to break the monotony of people looking at the face of the instructor."
"More importantly, a second camera is utilized to conceal cut-outs," Elise adds. "So should you decide that what you're saying does not have the potential to be rolled out in one take and you want to hide it, the method by which you hide that edit is either using B-roll or simply cutting it into another camera."
4. Clean free of clutter background
Beware of bright colors such as orange, magenta, and yellow, as these could cause color reflections and be distracting to viewers. Choose neutral backgrounds like grey, dark blue or soft white. These look great on camera and are also comfortable on your eyes.
Recording your online video course
Naturally, recording can feel a little nerve-racking. If you devote enough time to planning and scripting your plan, recording 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 what the next point is.
The recording process is easy, and helps with editing, however "it will also allow you to maintain eyes on the camera as you look into the screen on your teleprompter" notes Elise.
6. Make use of a music pedal switch between slides
"Instead of a keyboard, or clicker, which is 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 right. It means that the presenter doesn't need to look for the keyboard or mouse to advance it."
Editing the videos you have on demand
Make sure to trim for clarity and provide an engaging viewing experience using these professional suggestions:
7. Make a ruthless edit
8. Include B-roll video content to ensure maximum participation
A way to break up the monotony of a talking-head video is to change between camera at an ad-hoc rate.
It is also possible to include animations, graphics slide as well as stock footage or custom recordings for an immersive learning experience.
9. Interactivity layer that is layered
- Enjoy a build-your-own-learning path
- Click on video hotspots to explore more educational sources
- Jump between sections most relevant to them (useful to create in-house videos onboarding)
The result is that interactive videos improve viewer engagement and resulting in better retention. You can also check your students' skills by creating video-based quizzes with Interactive.
Do you have the skills to develop your online course?
The process of creating a video course that you love by your viewers is as simple as:
- Being specific about the problem you wish to resolve
- Converting the information into a coherent narrative
- Then, organize the information so it's easy to follow and digest
Don't forget that with the right equipment, you can help ease the burden the process of creating high-quality videos, guaranteeing an immersive learning experience.