Considerations for Course Videos

The following are recommendations based on the experience of Bethel's instructional media designers

Video Summary

Identify the purpose of your media

Informal / Short-term / Section-specific Media:

Consider creating informal, low-production video or audio files for one-time use media. The benefit of these is that you can contextualize the content for a specific group of students, which can allow students to connect well with you and the course material. These are some examples of media that fit well into this category:

• Introduce the course
• Introduce yourself to students
• Make and announcement
• Preview the week ahead
• Summarize the previous week
• Summarize a forum discussion
• Respond to student questions
• Explain and assignment or activity
• Connect with students
• Build community

Formal / Long-term / Content-based Media: 

Create high quality media that will be used long-term, or that is content-based. For these types of media invest in pre-production planning and adhere to the suggestions below to extend the longevity of your media:

• Explain a concept
• Synthesize course content
• Give an example
• Demonstrate a skill or process
• Interview an expert
• Lecture on a topic not covered by other course materials

Suggestions for Formal / Long-term / Content-based Media: 

Tips to Increase Viewing

• Select content that is integral to students' ability to succeed in their coursework
• Create content that is unique and that does not repeat other required resources
• Create content that is engaging, meaningful for learning, and well-organized
• Ensure that the audio quality is good
• Ensure that the video quality is good
• Create slides that align with the audio
• Chunk content into short, discrete segments or topics
• Add a hook to set-up the presentation by telling students why the content is important, and what to look for
• Reiterate your hook partway through the presentation, or adding a pause partway through the video to ask a question for students to consider
• Limit your video length to 8 minutes or less
• Speak at your normal pace. Do not artificially slow down your speed
• Bring enthusiasm and energy to your presentation; avoid a monotone delivery

Sustainability

• Avoid specific course-centric language
• Avoid referencing time or location related events (e.g., weather, sports)
• Avoid saying how many years ago something happened; reference the exact date or year instead
• Avoid including assignment instructions in content-based videos
• Use technologies that allow you to easily update your video (e.g., narrated slides, audio files)
• Use strategies that allow you to easily update your content (e.g., well-organized, short segments of chunked content).

Planning

Preparation is the key to success. Pre-production = Planning = Effective Learning Objects
Ask yourself these questions:

• Does the content support the learning outcomes?
• Can existing content be used?
• Is the best option to create a video?
• What content is to be presented?
• How long will it take to present the content?
• How can my content be "chunked" into short segments?
• What descriptive titles will I use for each segment?
• What is the best media type for each video's content?

Media Plan Google Doc (rename and save to My Drive for your own use)

Media Type Examples

• Lecture to camera
  • With or without slides
  • With or without a whiteboard or a lightboard
• Demonstration
• Interview
• Documentary
• Narrated slides
• Screen capture

Preparation

• Identify the location for the recording
• Identify the set
• Script or outline the presentation
• Practice reading your script or presenting your outline out load several times before recording it
• Create graphics or slides to accompany your presentation, as needed

Slide Design

• Use a Bethel PowerPoint Template. This facilitates the use of:
  • a 16x9 widescreen format
  • a consistent font and font size
• Use a font size of 32 point for headers and 24-28 point for slide content; if there is very little text on a slide make it 32 point
• Create slides with a significant amount of white space (blank space); ideally 60% of your slide will be blank
• Emphasize important words or phrases by making them a contrasting color, or a larger font size
• Limit yourself to six bullets per slide (use more slides for more bullets)
• Consider limiting yourself to six words per bullet
• Avoid the use of underlining and italics
• Use PowerPoint animations to ensure your narration and text on-screen match, by revealing text as you discuss it.
• Do not use PowerPoint transitions between slides. These can create technical problems when converting a narrated PowerPoint file into a video format

Scheduling

• Determine the timeline
• Identify and schedule intermediate due dates
• Schedule the recording session
• Discuss the project with your videographer or producer (if you have one)
• Schedule time for editing
• Schedule time for approvals (if needed)