A Playbook to Create an Instructional Video course
In reality, making online courses requires many hours of laborand can become a very long process, especially when you create a lot of instructional videos.
A way to help you simplify course design and production? Stories.
Elise London, our resident video expert, who records all of our internal and marketing classes. She explains that the secret to making engaging online classes is to use stories to organize and present all the relevant information.
Identifying the story in the topic you're addressing and structuring your contents according to the process of storytelling using hero's journey can be game changers. This is the information you must be able to use to organize, structure, and film an online course that is engaging. This includes all the equipment you'll need.
Jump ahead:
- The ideal topic to use in your online course
- The method of planning and structuring the online courses you offer
- Shooting your course video content
- Are you prepared to start your own on-line course?
Finding the ideal topic to teach online
You don't need a fresh, out-of-the-box idea for your virtual course.
Choose a subject which has already been a hit. Knowing your objectives and the public will assist. Here's how:
Find out what's resonating currently
Utilize the tools for data analysis like Google Analytics to find high-performing books. Perhaps you can find an ebook on one specific subject that performs particularly well? Consider expanding it into a detailed video course.
You can also survey your email list to find out what topics they would love to take a course in virtual reality. This survey should be distributed to your social media accounts (if you have an engaged group of people on there) and also to any communities you're involved in.
Keep in mind that the aim is to find a course topic that people have an appetite for.
Deepen your dive, don't widen it.
What's the solution? Review the feelings your audience faces when tackling a topic.
It is possible to ask you:
- What type of confusion do we face as we resolve the problem?
- How do we deal with overwhelming feelings? How can we help them get over?
If you are using live streaming for instance, it could result in anxieties as people create their first streams. The subject of a course could follow "How you can easily setup live streaming to ensure that there isn't any overload."
This is the most effective tip you can apply to the name of your course
If you're thinking of names for your class consider how your community experiences about the problem you're trying to solve and incorporate this into your name.
Designing for and structuring the online course
Elise advises utilizing the hero's quest as the basis for designing the online training course. This would include:
- Addressing the issues which students confront. Find these by asking the correct questions on your subject.
- Guide them in overcoming difficulties and finding solutions. That's why you break the content into sections along with video lessons with each lesson answering questions.
- leaving them with the promises of improvement. Offer additional resources, like templates, checklists and other templates to help students implement the knowledge they've learnt.
Discover how to determine your target audience's requirements and concerns to plan and structure the course.
Research questions your audience has
Instead of thinking about the issue, take these steps:
- Search Reddit as well as Quora for the creation of an index of commonly asked questions.
- Surveys and one-on-one conversations with students to answer questions direct.
- Take calls from customers who are contacted by Support and sales personnel to find common issues.
- Find bestsellers' page indexes on Amazon for an understanding of the questions they have to answer regarding the course topic.
If you've been hosting webcasts related to the topic, you can also examine the questions guests asked during the event to aid in investigation.
The subject matter of the course can be divided into buckets
Then, consider the issues and worries of your audience in order to divide your subject into narrative segments that are built upon one another in order to take the next move in the learning process.
"Instead of saying that we're training you with Interactive Studio' (which is complex, and difficult to wrap my mind around issue) Instead, say "We'll teach the beginner intermediate advanced, intermediate, and intermediate features. So, your topics (for the online course) will fit into one of those three categories." Elise London, Senior content production manager
Put the "disparate concepts " in smaller chunks and the buckets will be placed in them in such a way that, looking at the course from afar, the course seems more manageable."
A tip to help structure your course
Make sure you lay out the course structure to meet students where they are at within their growth. It's not uncommon to overload the classroom and make students confused because of the fear of knowledge (a mental bias that presumes people are as well-informed as you are). Be sure to review the plan of the course to make sure it is simple.
Video lessons to be planned
- Be sure to address your students' challenges that relate to the issue the video lessons will help solve.
- Respond to questions with responses to the questions they're tackling.
- Summarize the video or offer other resources to assist them with their journey to transformation.
Video lessons on a script-on-demand
pro tip
Shooting your course video content
You'll need the tools
To get a good manufacturing kit, and to set it up You'll require:
- Microphone, cameras (two at a minimum) and a 3 or 4 point lighting kit
- Learning Management System (LMS). It will store the course's video and make it available to students. Examples: Teachable, Podia, and Kajabi.
- . A platform for video which is free of ads that let users host, record and edit and incorporate interactive elements into educational videos which you could then upload to your LMS.
- Teleprompter. A device for display that has scrolling text on the screen, making it easier for those on the screen to record videos.
- Music pedal. It is a budget-friendly, foot-operated keyboard which allows you to switch the direction in which slide slides are shown on the screen.
Building an ideal film production environment
Elise is adamant about:
1. Avoid using fluorescent overhead lights.
They may create dark shadows that can be harsh on your face. In some cases, the fluorescent light flickers and create a green shadow, and can alter the video's quality and stability.
2. Record with no natural light
The natural lighting patterns vary throughout the day, and should you record over a prolonged period of time the lighting quality in your video may not look uniform, Elise warns. Additionally, this might cause problems if you choose to transfer sections from one video into another video.
3. Set your cameras at different angles
The second camera won't "just add some spice to the editing (which could be beneficial regardless of whether you're making use of a script or if you are able to accomplish it in one go) but it aids in breaking up the monotony of viewers looking at the face of your instructor."
"More important, a second camera is a great way to cover cut-outs" Elise adds. "So whenever you're creating presentations that don't offer the possibility of being completed in one go and then the method by which to hide the cut-out can be accomplished by either B-rolling or cutting onto a different camera."
4. Create a clean backdrop free of clutter
Don't use vibrant colours like magenta, orange, and yellow since these could reflect colors, which can distract viewers. Choose neutral backgrounds like grey, dark blue or gentle white. They are great for photography and also feel comfortable on your eyes.
Recording your online video course
The recording process can be somewhat nerve-wracking. If you dedicate sufficient time planning and drafting the course of the recording process, it's not an issue.
5. Always make use of the Teleprompter
Teleprompters can help you avoid getting trapped in a screen freeze while you try to remember what the next step is.
The recording process is easy, and helps with editing, however "it will also allow you to keep eye the camera while you are looking into the display on your teleprompter" says Elise.
6. Make use of a music pedal toggle between slides
"Instead of using a keyboard or clicker, that is visible on your palm, utilize the music pedal to switch the slides you're playing. It's basically a USB Bluetooth keyboard with a left and right. The presenter does not have to reach for the keyboard or the mouse to advance it."
Editing videos on-demand
Make an effort to reduce the length of your editing and to provide a fun watching experience by following these guidelines:
7. Edit your text ruthlessly
8. Add B-roll content for maximum engagement
One method to break through boredom of talk-head video is to change between cameras frequently.
It is also possible to incorporate graphics, animations slides or slides of stock footage, customized recordings that provide the most engaging experience for learning.
9. Layers of interactivity
- Enjoy a build-your-own-learning path
- Hit the hotspots to watch video for additional information on instructional tools for learning.
- You can jump between sections related to the video content (useful to create a video for onboarding in the company)
In turn, interactive videos boost viewer participation, resulting in better retention. You can also test your students' knowledge by designing video-based exams using Interactive.
Are you ready to create your own online course?
Designing a video course the people enjoy could be described as follows:
- Make sure you are specific about the issue that you are trying to resolve.
- Converting the information into a coherent story
- Then, organize the information so it's simple to comprehend and read
Don't forget that with the right tools, you'll be able to reduce the strain the process of creating high-quality videos as well as provide an immersive learning experience.
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