A Playbook for Creating an Instructional Video Course

The truth is that creating online courses requires many hours of work and can be an extremely labor-intensive process, especially when you make a whole lot of instructional videos.
    What can help in making simpler production and design of courses? Stories.
   
    Elise London is our an expert in video production who films all of our internal and marketing classes The key to designing a fun and engaging online course is using stories in planning and delivering details.
   
    Finding the narrative in the issue your course addresses as well as structuring the contents according to the methodology of telling stories through hero's story is a game changer. Learn everything you have to be able to do in order to design, organize and develop an engaging online course, which includes all the tools you need.

Jump ahead:

•       The perfect subject to instruct online
•       The process of planning and structuring an online class
•       Shooting your course video content
•       Are you equipped with the skills to design your own online courses?

The perfect topic to use for your online course

It's not necessary to have an original, innovative, out-of-the-box idea to design your online class.
   
    Choose a subject that is popular. An understanding of the market and your objectives will be helpful. Here's how:

Recognize what's currently resonating

Use data measurement tools like Google Analytics to find high-performing publications. Look for an ebook on one particular subject that performs extremely well? Consider expanding it into a detailed video course.
   
    Also, you can take a survey of your mailing list to find out what topics your readers would like for an online class. It is also possible to have the same survey shared on social media (if there is an active public on the platform) and also to any communities you're associated with.
   
    It is important to select an area your students have an appetite for.

Deepen your dive, don't widen it.

    What are you able to do? Review the emotional struggles your audience faces when tackling the subject.
   
    It is possible to ask yourself:

• What kind of confusion is the situation causing confusion as we seek to fix the problem?
• Are there feelings that are so overwhelming they need help to conquer?

For live streaming as an example, the answers could be anxieties as people create their very first live stream. The topic of the course would then be "How to easily set up live streaming so that you don't feel overloaded."

One of the best tips you could use for the course's name

While you're looking for names to your course, think about what your audience is feeling in relation to the subject matter you're dealing with and then incorporate this into the names.

The process of planning and organizing your online course

Elise recommends using hero's search to design the online training course. It involves:

• The problem that targeted students have to face. Find these by responding to questions that students ask about your course's topic.
• Guiding them through overcoming challenges and discovering solutions. The time is now to break the content down into parts and videos with every lesson responding to a question.
• After that, they'll be able to experience the promised changes. Offer additional resources, like checklists or templates to help students succeed in using what they've learned.

Here's how to dig out the audience's questions as well as desired outcomes for planning and structuring your event:

Learn about the questions that the people you are targeting might ask

Instead of contemplating the issue Instead, follow these steps:

• Search Reddit as well as Quora to make an index of frequently asked questions.
• Survey and call one-on-one with the learners to answer questions directly.
• listen to calls from customers from sales and support teams to help answer questions commonly asked by customers.
• Browse bestseller book Index pages of bestseller books on Amazon to get a deeper understanding of the topics they address on the subject of study.

If you've held webinars on the topic, it's possible to look over some of the questions that attendees had to gather information that can help you conduct the research you want to conduct.

Part the subject of the class into buckets

Next, you must consider the issues and questions of the audience you are speaking to in order to break your subject into narrative elements that connect to each other in the next logical step to your journey of learning.

"Instead of stating that we're going to teach you using an interactive software' (which is a broad concept that's difficult for me to wrap my mind over), say "We're training beginner, intermediate and advanced capabilities. This is the way that your topic for your online course] will fit in one of the three categories." Elise London, Senior content production manager

Simply put "disparate ideas " into smaller pieces and then put them in buckets, so that when you're looking over the course from a distance, it's easier to see the big picture."

A tip to help structure your class

It's important to set out the structure of your class to meet the needs of your students regardless of their learning journey. It's simple to talk about too much information, which can confuse students due to the danger of sharing knowledge (a cognitive bias that presumes the audience is as knowledgeable as you do). So remember to review the design of your course in order to simplify it.

Video lessons to be planned

1. Make sure you address the challenges of your students related to the challenge that a video class could resolve.
2. Respond to questions by offering solutions to the problem that they're trying to solve.
3. Capture the video and offer additional resources that could assist students to change.

Video on demand, with scripts

pro tip

Shooting your course video content

You'll need the tools

To set up a good setup and production tool kit for the production of a good setup, you'll need the following:

• Microphone cameras (two at the very least) and a 3- or 4-point light kit
• Learn Management System (LMS). It hosts the video content and make it accessible to the students. Examples are: Teachable, Podia, and Kajabi.
• . An ad-free video platform for recording, hosting and editing. You can include interactivity in educational videos that you can later upload to your LMS.
• Teleprompter. A display device that shows moving text on screen so that it is easy for users who are on screen to take videos.
• Music pedal. It's a cost-effective pedal that can be operated by foot, allowing users to alter the orientation of the screens.

The ideal video production set

Elise suggests:

1. Never use overhead fluorescent lights

They can create stark shadows on your face. Sometimes, fluorescent lights flicker and create an eerie green hue, which can impact the quality of your videos and their the consistency.

2. Record in complete darkness, minus any natural light

The lighting conditions in the natural world can vary throughout the day and if you're recording for a long time in a row, the quality of light in your video won't look like it does, Elise warns. It's also an issue when you choose to transfer portions of a video into an entirely different one.

3. Set your cameras at different angles

The second camera isn't "just make editing more interesting" (which can be helpful even if you're employing scripts so that you are able to accomplish all of this in a single take) however, it also helps to avoid from the monotony of viewers looking at the instructor's eyes."
   
    "More important, a second camera is utilized to conceal cut-outs," Elise adds. "So if whatever you're delivering isn't going to be delivered in one shot, then the way that to cover that cut is to use B-roll, or simply cutting to an additional camera."

4. You should ensure you keep your background clean and free of clutter background

Beware of bright colors such as magenta, yellow and orange as these could cause reflections in the color and cause distraction to viewers. Go for neutral background tones such as dark blue, grey or soft white. These are great for photography as well as are easy on the eyes.

Recording your online video course

It is normal for recording to be nerve-wracking. If you dedicate enough time in planning and executing the recording process this shouldn't be your issue.

5. Always make use of a Teleprompter

Teleprompters can help you avoid freezing up on screen as you attempt to work out what you'll have to do in the future.
   
    It makes recording simple and reduces edits, but "it can also enable the user to remain focused on the camera and look at the teleprompter screen," adds Elise.

6. Use an instrument that can change the tone between slides

"Instead instead of using a keyboard or clicker, which is easily visible on your fingers you can use the music pedal in order to toggle the slides that you're playing. It's basically a USB Bluetooth keyboard with a left and right. The presenter doesn't need to grab the keyboard or mouse to move the device."

Editing your videos on demand

Make sure to trim to increase clarity. Create a memorable watching experience by using these expert tips:

7. Refine your edits ruthlessly

8. Integrate B-roll into your strategy to improve the number of participants

One way to break boring talking head videos is to change between camera at a steady pace.
   
    Additionally, it is possible to include animations, graphics, clips, slides, or personalize recordings for engaging learning experiences.

9. Interactivity layers in the form of

• Enjoy a build-your-own-learning path
• Check out the video hotspots listed below for more ways to learn.
• Jump between sections that are most pertinent to these sections (useful to create in-house videos onboarding)

The result is that interactive videos improve viewer engagement and increasing retention. Additionally, you are able to test your students' knowledge through conducting video quizzes through Interactive.

Do you have the knowledge to develop your online course?

The procedure of creating an instructional video which your target audience enjoys is best described in terms of:

• It is important to pinpoint your goal to solve
• The data must be transformed into a coherent narrative
• The content must be organised so that it is easy to comprehend and read

Don't forget that by using the correct equipment you'll be able to ease the burden of producing high-quality instructional videos that provide an engaging educational experience.

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