A production pro's playbook for designing and recording an instructional course

The truth is that the creation of online courses involves an enormous amount of effort -which can turn into a painfully time-consuming procedure, particularly when you make a whole lot of educational videos.

A way to assist you in simplifying course design and production? storytelling

Elise London,  the resident expert in video who film all of our internal and marketing classes She explains that the secret to creating engaging virtual courses is using stories to organize and present the information.

Identifying the story in the course's problem and structuring content using the hero's journey storytelling technique are game-changers. Here's everything you need to be able to do in order to design, organize and film an engaging online video course. It includes the tools you'll need.

Jump ahead:

•    Find the perfect subject for your online course
•    The process of planning and structuring the online courses you offer
•    Shooting your course video content
•    Ready to design your online course?

Finding the ideal topic for your online training

There's no need for a fresh innovative, outside-the-box concept for your course.

Choose a subject which is already popular. An in-depth understanding of your goals and market will be helpful. Here's how:

Find out what's already resonated

Use data measurement tools like Google Analytics to find high-performing written pieces. You may find an ebook about particular topic that performed particularly well? Consider expanding it into a detailed video course.

Also, you can look over your mailing list for the topics that people would love to take a virtual course on. You can also distribute the survey via social media (if you have an engaged public there) and also to any communities that you are associated with.

Keep in mind that the aim is to find a course subject that the audience has an appetite for.

Do it deep and not wide.

"If you examine the questions learners have around your topic, the feelings they experience as they work through your subject will help you position your video course as the answer.
 
 For example, the concept"live streaming" can be broad but overwhelming for learners to wrap their heads around."   Elise London, Senior content production manager

What can you do? Review the emotional struggles your audience is facing when it comes to an issue.

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?

In the case of live streaming, for example it could result in anxious feelings as you set up their first live stream. A course on this topic could be "How to easily set up live streaming so that you're not stressed."

Pro tip for the course's name

While you're brainstorming names to name your program, take into consideration how your audience feels in relation to the issue you're addressing and work this into the name.

The process of planning the structure of your online course

Elise suggests using hero's quest to design the course online. This involves:

• The challenge that target students have. Find these by asking the right questions concerning the topic of your class.
• Helping them overcome obstacles and finding solutions. This is the time to split the content into sections as well as video lessons -- each answering a question.
• Leaving them with the promised transformation. Offer additional resources, such as checklists and templates to aid students to apply what they've learned.

Learn how to identify audience questions and desired outcomes for planning and structuring your class:

Research questions your audience has

Instead of assuming, follow these instructions:

• Browse Reddit and Quora to compile a list of commonly asked questions.
• Survey and hold one-on-one phone calls with the learners to answer questions direct.
• listen to calls from customers with sales and support teams to answer common queries.
• Check bestseller books' page indexes on Amazon for a deeper understanding of the issues they address on the topic of instruction.

If you've hosted webcasts related to the topic, you can also examine questions that attendees have asked in order to guide your study.

Divide the topic of the class into buckets

Next, reference the questions and challenges of your audience in order to divide your topic into narrative modules which build upon each other in the next stage on the journey of a learner.

"Instead instead of saying 'We're going to show you how to use the interactive studio' (which is a broad and difficult to wrap my mind around) instead, you can say 'We're going to teach the beginner, intermediate advanced, and intermediate features. In this way, the topics [for your online course] will fit in one of the three buckets."   Elise London, Senior content production manager

Simply put "disparate ideas and put them in buckets, so that, when you look at the course from a distance everything seems more achievable."

A tip to help structure your course

Make sure you lay out your course's structure in order to meet learners where they are in their learning journey. It's easy to share too much and cause confusion for students due to the trap of information (a cognitive bias that presumes the audience is as knowledgeable as you are). Remember to revise the course's design to ensure it is simple.

Plan video lessons

1. Bring your student's problems to the forefront related to the question a video lesson will resolve.
2. Answer the questions by giving solutions to the issue they're facing.
3. Recap the video, or give other resources to assist them in their to change.

Script on-demand video lessons

pro tip

Shooting your course video content

You'll require tools

For a decent production tool kit and setup You'll require:

•   Microphone, cameras (two minimum) as well as a 3- or 4 point lighting kit  
• Learning Management System (LMS). It will host 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 add elements of interactivity to instructional videos. You can then upload to your LMS.
• Teleprompter. A display device that shows moving text on screen, making it simple for on-screen folks to record video.
• Music pedal. It is a budget-friendly, foot-operated keyboard that allows you to alter the course of slide slides displayed on screen.

Building an ideal video production setting

Elise recommends you:

1. Do not use fluorescent overhead lights.

They can create harsh shadows upon your face. Sometimes, fluorescent lights flicker, bringing about a greenish hue and impacting your quality of video's stability.

2. Recording without natural light

Natural light patterns change through the day, and should you happen to be filming for several hours consecutively and the quality of light of your footage won't be consistent, Elise warns. It's also an issue should you decide to move sections from one video into a different video.

3. Set your cameras at different angles

The second camera doesn't "just spice up the editing (which helps even if you're working with a script in the event that you manage to get everything perfect in one go) but also to prevent the boredom of watching 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 does not have the potential to be rolled out all at once, then the way that you hide that edit can be done by using B-roll or you simply cut into another camera."

4. Create a clean, clutter-free background

Do not use bright colors like magenta, orange, and yellow, as these could reflect color, and are distracting to viewers. Use neutral tones for your background including dark blue, grey or soft white. They look stunning on the camera and are also comfortable on your eyes.

Recording your online video course

Naturally, recording can feel slightly nerve-wracking. If you devote enough time to planning and scripting the course of your recording, it isn't a big deal.

5. Always use the Teleprompter

Teleprompters can prevent you from being stuck in a screen freeze as you try to remember what the next point is.

It makes recording simple and also reduces editing time "it will also allow you to maintain eyes on the camera when you are looking into the teleprompter screen," adds Elise.

6. Use a music pedal to toggle between slides

"Instead of using a keyboard or clicker visible on your hand, use an electronic music pedal to change the slides you're playing. It's essentially an USB Bluetooth keyboard with a left and a right. The person presenting doesn't have to reach for either the mouse or keyboard for it to progress."

Editing your on-demand videos

Make sure to trim for clarity and provide an engaging viewers with these professional tips:

7. Refine your edits ruthlessly

8. Add B-roll content for maximum engagement

One way to break boredom of talk-head video is to change between camera at an ad-hoc rate.

You can also include animations, graphics slide as well as stock footage or personalized recordings to provide an engrossing learning experience.

9. Layer in interactivity

• Enjoy a build-your-own-learning path
• Click on hotspots for video to dig into more learning sources
• Jump between sections that are most pertinent to them (useful to create in-house videos onboarding)

In turn, interactive videos boost viewer participation, increasing retention. You can also test your students' knowledge by making video quizzes using 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
• Organizing the content so it's easy to follow and digest

And don't forget, the right tools can take the stress out making high-quality instructional videos, guaranteeing an immersive learning experience.