A Playbook for Creating an Instructional Video Course
It's true: making online courses requires many hours of laborand can be a very time-consuming procedure, particularly when you make a whole lot of videos for instruction.
One thing that can aid in reducing the complexity of course design and production? Stories.
Elise London, 's resident video expert who film all of our internal and marketing classes The key to creating engaging virtual course is to use stories for planning and delivering details.
Finding the narrative in the problem your course solves as well as structuring the content according to the technique of storytelling using hero's journey is a game changer. Here's everything you need to do to efficiently plan, structure, and create an exciting online course that includes all the necessary tools.
Jump ahead:
- Finding the ideal topic to teach online
- 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
There's no need for a fresh innovative, outside-the-box concept to create your online course.
Instead, identify a topic which is already popular. A thorough understanding of your goals and market will be helpful. Here's how:
Recognize what's currently resonating
Use data measurement tools like Google Analytics to find high-performing published pieces. Find an ebook that covers one particular subject that performs very well? Consider expanding it into a detailed video course.
You can also survey your email list to unearth subjects that your readers would like for a virtual class on. The same survey can be distributed via social media (if you've got an engaged public there) and also to any communities that you are associated with.
The goal is to choose a area that your students have an appetite for.
Deepen your dive, don't widen it.
"If you look at the types of questions students ask about their topic and the emotions they feel as they tackle your subject will help you present your course's video as the solution to it.
In this case, the idea"live streaming" is wide, yet it is a challenge for novices to comprehend." Elise London, Senior content production manager
What can you do? Review the emotional struggles your audience faces when tackling the subject.
You can ask yourself:
- What kind of confusion are we facing as they attempt to resolve the target problem?
- Are there feelings that are so overwhelming they need help to conquer?
In the case of live streaming, as an example, the answers could be anxieties as people create their very first live streaming. The subject of a course would then be "How to easily set up live streaming so that you don't feel overloaded."
The best tip you can use for the course's name
When you're brainstorming names for your course, think about how your public is feeling regarding the particular issue you're addressing and work this into the name.
Planning and structuring your online course
Elise suggests using hero's quest to design the online training course. This involves:
- The challenge that target students face. Find these by answering the questions people ask about your course's topic.
- Guiding them through overcoming challenges and discovering solutions. This is the time to split the content into sections as well as video lessons with each lesson answering an inquiry.
- Then they will be able to experience the promised change. Offer additional resources, such as checklists and templates to assist students in applying what they've learned.
Here's how to dig out audience questions and desired outcomes to plan and structure your program:
Find out what questions your target audience might have
Instead of thinking about it, try these steps:
- Search Reddit as well as Quora to create a list of commonly asked questions.
- Survey and make one-on-1 phone calls with the learners to ask questions directly.
- Listen to customer calls from support and sales teams to answer common queries.
- Check bestseller books' index pages on Amazon to gain insight into the topics they answer on the subject of study.
If you've hosted webinars about the subject it is also possible to look over questions the attendees asked in order for information to help you conduct your own research.
Divide the topic of the class into buckets
Then, refer to the challenges and concerns of your audience in order to divide your topic into narrative components which build upon each other as the next logical step to the learning journey.
"Instead of saying that we're going to teach you using an interactive program' (which is a broad and difficult to wrap my mind around), say "We're teaching beginners, intermediate and advanced capabilities. That is how the subject matter for your online course] will fit in one of the three buckets." Elise London, Senior content production manager
Put simply, break "disparate ideas and put them into buckets so that when you're looking over the course from a distance, everything seems more achievable."
A tip to help structure your course
It is important to lay out the structure of your class to accommodate the students at any point in their learning journey. It's easy to share too much and confuse students, thanks to the trap of information (a cognitive bias that presumes your audience knows as much as you know). So remember to review the design of your course to make it simple.
Plan video lessons
- Make sure you address your students' challenges in relation to the problem a video class can solve.
- Respond to the questions with solutions to the problem that they're dealing with.
- Recap the video, or give additional resources that can help the students change.
Videos on demand with scripts
pro tip
Shooting your course video content
The tools you'll require
For a decent set-up and production tool kit for a decent production setup, you'll need the following:
- Microphone Cameras (two at a minimum) as well as a 3- or 4-point lighting kit
- Learning Management System (LMS). It will host the video content and make it available to students. Examples include: Teachable, Podia, and Kajabi.
- . An ad-free video platform for hosting, recording edit and also incorporate interactivity into educational videos that you can and then upload onto your LMS.
- Teleprompter. A display device that shows moving text on screen in order to make it easier for people on the screen to record video.
- Music pedal. It is a budget-friendly, foot-operated keyboard which allows you to change the direction of screens.
The ideal video production set
Elise suggests:
1. Never use overhead fluorescent lights
They can create harsh shadows over your face. Sometimes, fluorescent lights flicker and can cause a greenish hue and impacting your video's quality and consistency.
2. Record in darkness without natural light
The natural light can change throughout the day and if you're filming for several hours consecutively, the light quality in your video won't look even, Elise warns. This is also a problem should you decide to move sections from one video into a different video.
3. Set your cameras at different angles
The second camera isn't "just make editing more interesting" (which helps even if you're using scripts in the event that you are able to do it all done in a single take) but also to prevent the monotony of people looking at the instructor's face."
"More important, a second camera is utilized to conceal cut-outs," Elise adds. "So if whatever you're delivering will not come out in a single take, then the way that to cover that cut is either using B-roll or you simply cut to another camera."
4. Make sure you have a tidy free of clutter background
Beware of bright colors such as magenta, orange, and yellow, as these could cause color reflections and be distracting for viewers. Go for neutral background tones like grey, dark blue or soft white. These look great on camera as well as are comfortable for your eyes.
Recording your online video course
Naturally, recording can feel somewhat nerve-wracking. If you devote enough time to planning and scripting the course of your recording, it should not be a problem.
5. Always use an Teleprompter
A teleprompter saves you from freezing up on screen as you struggle to figure out what you'll need to do next.
This makes recording easy and reduces edits, but "it will also allow you to maintain eyes on the camera while looking at the teleprompter screen," adds Elise.
6. Make use of a music pedal change between slides
"Instead of using a keyboard or clicker, which is visible in your hands, try using the music pedal in order to switch the slides you're playing. It's essentially an USB Bluetooth keyboard with a left and right. It means that the presenter doesn't need to grab the keyboard or mouse to move it."
Editing the videos you have on demand
Make sure to trim for clarity and create a memorable watching experience by using these expert tips:
7. Edit ruthlessly
8. Incorporate B-roll to increase participation
One way to break boring talking head video is to change between cameras at a regular pace.
It is also possible to include animations, graphics, slides, stock footage, or personalized recordings to provide an engrossing learning experience.
9. Layers of interactivity
- Enjoy a build-your-own-learning path
- Hit the video hotspots below to dig into more learning tools
- Jump between sections most relevant to these sections (useful for in-house onboarding videos)
The result is that interactive videos improve viewer engagement and increasing retention. Also, you can test your students' knowledge through conducting video quizzes through Interactive.
Do you have the skills to develop your online course?
The process of creating a video course that your audience loves can be summarized as:
- It is important to be specific in the problem you wish to resolve
- Making the data into a coherent narrative
- The content should be organized so that it's straightforward to read and understand
And don't forget, with the right equipment, you can alleviate the strain making high-quality instructional videos that provide an engaging learning experience.