The production professional's guide to designing and recording an instructional course
The truth is that creating online courses takes many hours of labor- often becoming a frustratingly long procedure, particularly when you make a whole lot of videos for instruction.
What can aid in reducing the complexity of your course's design and production? Storytelling
Elise London, our resident video specialist who film all of our in-house and marketing courses She explains that the secret to making engaging online course is to use stories for planning and delivering details.
Identifying the story in the course's problem and structuring your content with the storytelling method of hero's journey can be game changers. The following is what you should accomplish to effectively design, organize and produce an effective online video course. It includes all the necessary tools.
Jump ahead:
- The perfect topic for your online course
- The process of planning and structuring your online course
- Shooting your course video content
- Do you have the skills to design your own online course?
Find the perfect subject to your online class
There's no need for a fresh innovative, outside-the-box concept to create your online course.
Choose a subject which is already popular. An in-depth understanding of your goals and public will assist. Here's how:
Find out what's already resonated
Use data measurement tools like Google Analytics to find high-performing publications. You may find an ebook about particular topic that performed particularly well? Consider expanding it into a detailed video course.
You can also survey your list of email subscribers to discover subjects that your readers would like to take a course in virtual reality on. Send the same survey out to social media (if you have an engaged crowd on those platforms) and to communities you're a part of.
The goal is to identify a course subject that the audience has an interest in.
Do it deep and not wide.
"If you look at the types of questions students ask about your topic, the feelings they experience as they work through the concept you want to address could be a good way to present your course's video as the solution to it.
In this case, the idea"live streaming" can be broad but overwhelming for learners to comprehend." Elise London, Senior content production manager
The solution? Reexamine the emotions your audience faces when tackling a topic.
You can ask yourself:
- What kind of confusion are we facing as they attempt to resolve the issue?
- Are there feelings that are so overwhelming we can help them overcome?
When it comes to live streaming for instance, the answers could be anxieties as people begin the first stream. A course on this topic could be "How you can easily setup a live stream so you don't feel stressed."
Pro tip for the course's title
When you're brainstorming names for your course, think about the way your audience is feeling regarding the particular issue you're trying to solve and incorporate that into the title.
Designing for and structuring the online class
Elise advises you to use the hero's journey to lay out the online training course. This includes:
- Addressing the issues that students are facing. Find these by answering the questions people ask concerning the topic of your class.
- Guide them in overcoming difficulties and identifying solutions. It is here that you break the topic into modules as well as video lessons -- each answering an inquiry.
- leaving them with the promised change. Provide more resources like checklists and templates that assist students in applying what they learn.
Learn how to identify the audience's questions and goals to structure and plan your course:
Find out what questions your target audience might have
Instead of making assumptions, take these steps:
- Browse Reddit as well as Quora to create a list of commonly asked questions.
- Surveys and one-on-one phone calls with the learners to answer questions direct.
- Listen to customer calls with sales and support teams to uncover common questions.
- Look up bestsellers' index pages on Amazon for a deeper understanding of the questions they ask about the topic of instruction.
If you've held webinars about the subject You can examine questions that attendees have asked in order to guide your research.
The course's topic can be broken down into buckets
Then, refer to the challenges and concerns of your audience to break your topic into narrative modules which build upon each other to create the next step on the journey of a learner.
"Instead of saying, 'We're going to teach you how to use Interactive Studio' (which is a broad and difficult to wrap my mind around) Instead, state "We're teaching the beginner, intermediate advanced, and intermediate features. That is how the subject matter for the course you'll be taking in one of the three categories." Elise London, Senior content production manager
Simply put "disparate ideas and put them in buckets to ensure that when you're looking over the course from a distance, the course appears more manageable."
Pro tip on course structure
Make sure you lay out the course structure to meet the students at any point in their learning journey. It's often easy to overshare and confuse students, thanks to the trap of knowledge (a cognitive bias that assumes target viewers know as much as you know). Remember to revise the course's design to ensure it is simple.
Plan video lessons
- Touch on your student's challenges that relate to the issue the video lessons will help be able to solve.
- Respond to the questions with solutions to the problem that they're dealing with.
- The video should be summarized or provide additional resources that can help the students change.
Videos on demand with scripts
pro tip
Shooting your course video content
You'll require tools
To get a good 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). This software houses the course's video which makes it easily accessible to students. Examples include: Teachable, Podia, and Kajabi.
- . A platform for video that is ad-free for hosting, recording edit and even incorporate interactivity into educational videos that you can then upload onto your LMS.
- Teleprompter. A display device that shows rolling text on the screen to make it easy for people on the screen to record video.
- Music pedal. A foot-operated, budget-friendly keyboard which allows you to change the direction of screens.
Making the perfect video setting
Elise suggests:
1. Do not use fluorescent overhead lights.
They can create harsh shadows over your face. Fluorescent lights also flicker sometimes, bringing about a greenish hue and impacting your video quality's consistency.
2. Record with no natural light
The natural light can change throughout the day, and should you happen to be recording for a long time consecutively the lighting quality will not appear consistent, Elise warns. It's also an issue in the event that you want to change parts of your video from one into a different video.
3. Set your cameras at different angles
The second camera doesn't "just spice up the editing (which is helpful even if you are using a script or even if you are able to do 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 importantly, a second camera is used to cover cut-outs," Elise adds. "So if whatever you're delivering is not going to come out all at once and you want to hide it, the method by which the edit can be hidden can be done by using B-roll or cutting onto a different camera."
4. Clean, clutter-free background
Avoid bright colors like orange, magenta, and yellow as they can cause color reflections and be distracting for viewers. Go for neutral background tones such as dark blue, grey and soft white. These are great for photography and are also comfortable on your eyes.
Recording your online video course
The recording process can be somewhat nerve-wracking. 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 being stuck in a screen freeze as you struggle to figure out what the next point is.
It makes recording simple and reduces edits, but "it can also help you keep eye contact with your camera when you are looking into the screen on your teleprompter" adds Elise.
6. Use a music pedal to switch between slides
"Instead of a keyboard, or clicker that's visible in your hands, try using the music pedal in order to switch your slides]. It's really an USB Bluetooth keyboard with a left and right. The speaker doesn't need to look for the keyboard or the mouse to move it."
Editing on-demand video content
Make sure to trim for clarity and provide an engaging viewing experience using these professional guidelines:
7. Refine your edits ruthlessly
8. Incorporate B-roll to increase participation
One way to break the monotony of a talk-head video is to switch between cameras at a regular pace.
Additionally, you can include animations, graphics, slides, stock footage, or personalized recordings to provide an engrossing 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 relevant to the content (useful for onboarding video in the company)
The result is that interactive videos increase viewer engagement, increasing retention. Also, you can assess your students' understanding through making video quizzes using Interactive.
Are you ready to create your own online course?
The process of creating a video course that you love by your viewers boils down to:
- It is important to be specific in the problem that you are trying to fix
- Making the data into a coherent narrative
- Then, organize the information so it's easy to follow and digest
Don't forget that using the correct tools will alleviate the strain of filming high-quality courses that provide an engaging learning experience.