Video has become the dominant medium for consuming content online. According to Cisco, video accounts for over 80% of all internet traffic, and this trend shows no signs of slowing down. The engaging and immersive nature of video makes it a powerful tool for capturing attention and conveying information effectively.
Given video’s ubiquity and impact, it’s no surprise that it has also transformed the world of eLearning. For educators and training professionals seeking to create compelling online learning experiences, video offers a range of benefits. It caters to different learning styles, enabling both visual and auditory learners to engage with content in their preferred way. Video is also uniquely suited to simplifying complex topics by illustrating concepts, providing visual aids, and leveraging the power of storytelling.
Video can evoke an emotional response and forge a personal connection between the instructor and learners, driving engagement and retention. Interactive elements like quizzes and clickable hotspots can simulate a two-way learning experience, making learners active participants.
If you want to use video to improve your eLearning content, this guide will show you best practices and strategies. From crafting scripts to choosing the right format and adding interactivity, you’ll learn to create eLearning videos that inform, engage, and inspire your audience.
Best practices for tutorials and how-to videos
Tutorials and how-to videos are core content types that eLearning entities can use to offer clear and concise skill transfer to users. Creating educational videos that make a genuine impact may seem difficult, but breaking them down into simple steps can turn this into an achievable goal.
Tutorials and how-to videos are essential for eLearning. Creating impactful educational videos may seem difficult, but breaking them down into simple steps makes it achievable.
Understand your audience
Understand your audience’s skill level and learning objectives to tailor your content. Market research should reveal important information about your target audience.
Script for clarity
The video script is crucial. It must be well-structured and use clear language to convey information logically. Writing the script should be a top priority when creating your video.
However, too much scripting could mean that the natural delivery of the content is stifled, and learners might be less engaged. It’s best to balance your script with conversational, unscripted elements. If there are topics you know inside out, consider simply adding prompts or key points in your script so you can simply use it as a springboard for more natural delivery.
Visual aids and on-screen text
Visual aids help facilitate online learning, reinforcing information with images, animations, demonstrations, and more. They can improve audience understanding and memory while helping to structure the information presented. Visual aids also increase accessibility so that the video content is suitable for a wider audience.
Step-by-step procedures
Offering information broken down into multiple steps helps to make it more digestible and manageable. When creating a step-by-step learning process, ensure each step is clear and complete before moving on to the next step. Create logical connections between each step so that each flows into the next in a way that makes sense to learners. Clear instructions are a must to help prevent learner frustration and increase positive results.
Accessibility
Accessible content is designed in a way that enables easy access and understanding for everyone. This includes providing subtitles, clear narration, and audio descriptions for visual elements. Sensei supports tools that make accessibility easier to implement.
How to simulate a learning environment in lecture videos
Simulating a traditional learning environment is one of the top challenges of creating eLearning lecture videos. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to make it possible.
Environment set-up
Creating a distraction-free environment is crucial for mimicking an educational setting. Use a background that gives a classroom feel, like a whiteboard or blackboard. Aim for an uncluttered environment to keep the viewer’s focus on the subject.
Use three-point lighting for adequate light. Good sound requires quality recording equipment and smart editing. Great microphones for video content are the Rode NT-USB and the Audio-Technica AT2035.
Presentation techniques
You may not have a live audience, but it’s important to employ good presentation techniques in eLearning. These include making eye contact with the camera, using engaging body language, and making use of vocal modulation to create a personable video with the feeling of a classroom.
Use of on-screen graphics
Visuals and text overlays can emphasize key points like a teacher uses a whiteboard. Select the main facts to reinforce with visuals to help different learners.
Video quality
High-quality video enhances learning. VideoPress, supported by Sensei, integrates video content for WordPress sites, ensuring adaptive bitrate for the best playback.
Student interaction
Videos can have pauses for students to reflect or complete an activity, simulating classroom interaction. This could include providing questions, key points, or a quiz at the end.
Follow-up activities
To enhance video eLearning impact, provide assignments, further reading links, or discussion questions to reinforce the classroom learning loop and encourage continued learning.
Talking head vs talkover: Choosing a style for your explainer videos
“Talking head” and “talkover” (or “voiceover”) formats can be great for eLearning videos. Each has pros and cons, so carefully consider which approach is best.
Definition and purpose
A talking head video features a presenter or instructor speaking directly to the camera. It may work best to engage the viewer on a personal level.
A talkover video uses a voiceover with graphics instead of a speaker. It’s best when focusing on the on-screen information.
Advantages and disadvantages
The advantage of a talking head video is that it creates a personal feel and engages the viewer directly. This is great if you want your instructors to be recognizable, especially if you’re positioning them as experts.
A talkover video is better if you want to focus on on-screen information and a visual learning style.
Considerations for choosing talking head vs. talkover videos
When to use talking head format:
- Introducing a course or module: When you want to establish a personal connection with learners and put a face to the instruction, a talking head video of the instructor or subject matter expert can be effective. It helps build rapport and credibility from the outset.
- Demonstrating physical tasks or procedures: If you’re teaching learners how to perform a physical skill, like operating machinery, administering first aid, or performing a dance move, a talking head format allows you to demonstrate the steps directly to the camera.
- Delivering a personal message or story: When sharing a personal anecdote, case study, or motivational message, a talking head video can create a more intimate and authentic feel. It simulates a face-to-face conversation and allows the speaker’s personality and emotions to come through.
- Q&A or interview-style content: For content that’s structured as a question-and-answer session or interview with an expert, the talking head format is a natural fit. It allows viewers to see the speaker’s facial expressions and body language as they respond to questions.
When to use talkover format:
- Explaining complex or abstract concepts: If your video aims to break down a complicated topic or process, like how a machine works, the stages of a project, or the steps in a chemical reaction, a talkover format can be more effective. It allows you to pair the voiceover explanation with illustrative visuals, animations, or text callouts to reinforce the key points.
- Showcasing visual examples: When you want the focus to be on visual examples, like screenshots of software, design inspiration, or video clips, a talkover format keeps the visuals front and center. The voiceover can provide context and explanation without distracting from what’s on screen.
- Condensing a lot of information: If you need to convey a large amount of information in a short time, a talkover video can be more efficient, as you can pack more visuals and text on the screen.
When to opt for animated and whiteboard videos
Animated videos make use of animation to help present concepts and instructions in a visual way. Whiteboard videos are a genre of animation video that simulates the material being written or presented on a whiteboard.
Advantages of animated and whiteboard videos
Richard Wiseman, Professor of Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, found that 15% more information is retained from a whiteboard animation compared to a talking head video. They provide visual support and context, helping to explain complex ideas and benefit from the fact that we can process visual information faster.
Animated videos can also tell a story that resonates with learners. Using animation is also a great way to cater to diverse learning styles. Animation and visual metaphors can particularly benefit visual and auditory learners.
Criteria for choosing animation and whiteboard style
When assessing whether the content is suitable, consider the complexity of the information and the length of the content. For example, if the content is particularly complex, it could be more suited to an animated video.
Production resources are also important to consider. Creating an animated video doesn’t require a camera, but you will still need the right tools and software. Animation may also be more expensive and slower to produce.
Best practices for creating engaging videos
- A detailed but clear script ensures your video engages learners and fulfills its objectives.
- Closed captions improve accessibility. In addition to benefiting deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, this will also benefit the many other people who prefer to watch video content with subtitles.
- Be consistent with brand style and animation. It’s important to maintain this throughout your video to create a coherent brand image and improve brand recognition.
Potential drawbacks and how to overcome them
One of the key challenges of creating animated videos is keeping them up to date. If you want to create evergreen content, avoid following fads or short-lived trends.
Visual elements can facilitate learning, but it’s essential not to overwhelm the viewer. To avoid cognitive overload, try to keep graphics clean and ensure your animation focuses on just the key points.
Creating engaging interactive videos: Tools, techniques, and tips
Interactive videos deliver a number of excellent benefits in eLearning. They’re videos where learners can interact with the content, such as quizzes, branching scenarios, hotspots, and interactive timelines. By making video content interactive, you can enhance learner engagement, improve retention, and create more personalized learning paths for all learners.
Interactive videos can also allow for feedback from the learner. This benefits both the learner and educator, allowing the educator to make improvements and tailor material to learners.
Sensei’s Interactive Video Block can introduce interactive elements to any video. You can insert an interactive video block into a post, page, or lesson in the Gutenberg editor, with options to upload a video or insert it from a URL. To turn any video on the page into an interactive video block, just click “Add Break Points to the video” or click on the video icon and select “Interactive video” from the dropdown list.
You can add multiple breakpoints and content types to your video. Insert a quiz, enable video course progression, and use required blocks to ensure interaction before playback. Hide or show videos on sales pages and lessons based on parameters like course completion or user login.
Try not to use interactive videos too often or too close together. Ensure they are spaced out to prevent information overload. Give learners a chance to take in important information between interactive sections, ensuring they are able to understand and use interactive content to reinforce what they’ve learned.
Create a richer learning experience by incorporating different types of media. Sensei supports images, text overlays, assessments, and other content to help you provide an enhanced experience for learners.
Enhance your eLearning videos with Sensei
Armed with your newfound knowledge of how to create and deliver engaging eLearning videos, now you need somewhere to host your videos for optimal learning and student engagement. Sensei allows you to create multimedia-rich courses with assessments and all sorts of interactive features. It offers a range of excellent benefits, including the ability to integrate with VideoPress.
VideoPress supports multiple file types and provides high-definition quality options, ensuring all your videos have a professional look and feel. With a reliable platform like VideoPress, you don’t have to worry about bandwidth issues or uptime, which is crucial if you’re serving a large audience of learners. CDN delivery can help you save money and ensure your video content is delivered quickly to the user.
Another top benefit of Sensei is its interactive video block. This block can be used to insert interactive elements at specific break points while the video is playing, including questions, flashcards, image hotspots, CTAs, lead generation forms, and more.
Sensei delivers a robust suite of features tailored for eLearning video enhancement. It can help you overcome prevalent educational challenges and propel your video content to unprecedented heights of educational engagement and success.
Check out Sensei’s plans today to benefit from this essential plugin.
