What is the best way to structure an educational video?

I try to have a single purpose for each video. The purpose can have subpoints, but there should be one over-arching theme and purpose. When I forget this, my videos are muddled and not as helpful.

Echoing with other contributors, I must say setting the objective for any educational content is crucial. Additionally, I feel the importance of specifying the target audience as much as possible and designing the content contextualized so that the audience can relate easily. And, the first glimpse is undoubtedly significant to draw the attention of the viewers.

The most important thing when creating content is the hook. How are you going to engage the viewer, therefore being a bit clickbait sometimes for the first 3 / 5 seconds is ok. For my experience of growing over 3 Million followers creating educational content it needs a captivating hook at the beginning of the video. Then you pose a question which you don’t answer till the end of the video. Having an underlying subject of course but it’s about the layers you build on the video and how engaging it is.

First, start with clear learning objectives. Clearly define what you want your viewers to learn or achieve by the end of the video. This provides a roadmap for both you and your audience.

"Everyone is my customer!" Has been stuck in my head for over a decade now. Those were the words of a used car dealership owner during a commercial shoot where he was advertising "truck month." I didn't respond to him and just smiled politely, but "everyone" most certainly is not going to buy a truck. I can say with complete certainty that a toddler or a 90 year old will not be buying a pickup. My point isn't simply to regale you with tales of yore in Tennessee mountains. It's help you understand that your video is NOT for "everyone," so think about your audience and think about what a perfect audience member would look like, and what you'd want them to walk away with.

You need to be consistent with the visuals and style and pace the whole way through. If you have great images and footage cut in with your chat throughout your first module then that's the production value students will expect throughout the whole of your content.

It all starts with the Learning Objective and target audience for an instructional movie. In my LinkedIn Learning Courses, I'll always begin with a clear description of who the target audience is; as specifically as possible. Then, the specific goal for each movie is approached from that learner's perspective. What are their needs, mental framework, and knowledge gaps? This helps me begin to map out the instructional pathway I'll need to follow in the movie to ensure the learning objective is met by the learner after watching this movie.

Even more important than to clearly picture your learning objectives is to picture your audience. What do they need to know or be able to do to solve a specific problem. What is their past experience and level of skill within this topic? Where and how do they prefer to learn?

When developing the outline for a LinkedIn Learning movie, I'll often draw a story arch for each movie. Adding the key points that need to be covered along the way. This will often form the basis of my initial outline for the movie script.

Organize your content logically, ensuring that each point or concept flows smoothly to the next. Visual aids such as diagrams, charts, animations, and images can enhance understanding and engagement.

Being a developer/designer and a detail oriented person, I find it challenging to organize my content into a logical order. I mean, it seems logical to me but I am the SME, not the learner. The result is that my outlines are more of a brain dump than a usable outline. So I look at the behavior I'm seeking to change or encourage. What can I teach my audience to help with that change or development? Starting from the learner's perspective rather than my own has dramatically improved the content I produce. Having a workable outline is a critical step that you absolutely must take to ensure quality content that resonates with your audience.

When crafting a script consider a few things: 1. I am the subject matter expert, I am not a script expert, it's okay to get help. 2. As the subject matter expert I know the lingo, what level is my audience at? 3. What is my end goal and is that realistic? 4. How do I perform best? And how can I write the script to facilitate my best performance?

On regular education videos, I craft them with 3 to 5 key points based on the thesis of the video. I try to include one example/story for each key point to keep the audience engaged. Frequently, I will only use talking points so I sound less scripted and more conversational. I sometimes use a teleprompter to show the talking points and will advance to the next slide with a remote (I use the presentation clicker off camera to move the text).

Every video starts with defining the following: The intended learning outcome: at the end of this video what do you want your viewer to know? The call to action: what do you want your viewer to do to continue with this topic? I write exactly what I want to do or say here. The initial hook: Viewers disengage quickly if a video is boring, has poor audio, etc. Within the first 10 seconds they should be interested in watching the video. How will you hook them? There have been studies suggesting we like 3s. A repetition of an idea three times helps us remember, or three points on the same idea. Try to get threes into your outline: top 3 lists, three methods to pursue, repeating important points at three different moments, etc.

Moreover make sure your outline sticks to the key message in order to answer the learner's "why". This will keep your learner engaged. Make sure to visualise the process to further support learning.

Maintain an appropriate video length for the subject matter. Educational videos are often more effective when they are concise, focused, and avoid unnecessary repetition.

With the learning objective, learner profile, and story arch in hand, I'll sit down to craft my script. Usually in plain text and full screen so there are no distractions. Try to write like you speak. If recording a screencast movie, begin by pressing record and walking through the process yourself. Then go back and describe each of the actions that you took to accomplish the task. Everything on screen has a name, use it. Guide the learner with your voice. Listen to your script. Have the computer read the script to you. Does it sound like you? If not fix it. Read it aloud yourself. Where do you trip and fumble over your words? Make adjustments so it feels natural for you. Revise and refine as much as needed.

I must admit, I used to craft all of my narration but it never "sounded" right to me. So I quit writing out narration scripts and instead listed topics to cover or related stories to share. I rehearse my narration a few times to help clarify and focus it, but I never actually write out a narrative script. The result is a more natural, conversational tone in my videos. However, I must say it depends on the type of educational videos you are creating or the "feel" you're looking for in your content. Much of corporate training benefits from a more structured or crafted narrative.

Simple clean design of visuals that have the maximum impact is what I try to design. I build all of my slides in Keynote; for me this is the simplest and easiest tool to bring my ideas to life. Remove EVERYTHING that is not essential, so your visuals are clear and focused. Use a minimum of text and make it big and easy to read at a glance. Be consistent in the visual language you choose to use so your content feels cohesive to the learner.

When designing visuals for educational videos, it's crucial to strike a balance between simplicity and dynamism. While it's commonly perceived that "simple" and "elegant" visuals are static or basic, incorporating subtle movements can significantly enhance engagement. Consider integrating gentle Ken Burns effects or intricate parallax effects to maintain your audience's attention. Even your title screens can come to life with a subtle zoom or animation in the background. Supplement your educational content with visuals that serve as complementary aids. For example, use visuals to elucidate key concepts or terms, assuming your audience can both read and listen to the presenter. This not only saves time but also heightens viewer engagement.

Now, let's talk visuals. Think of them as your wingman – the images, graphics, animations, and text that tag along with your video content. They're there to drive home your points, highlight the important stuff, and tug at your audience's heartstrings. You've got a bunch of tools in your toolbox for creating these visuals – think PowerPoint, Canva, Adobe Spark, or Animoto. But here's the scoop: make friends with some basic visual design principles. These are like the secret sauce – contrast, alignment, repetition, and proximity. They'll jazz up your visuals and make 'em easy on the eyes.

In my experience as an Instructional Designer, Multimedia, and E-learning Developer, I use video for educational purposes to achieve the following: To help learners pay attention to the content of learning through direct observation that the video presents; To maximize learner’s engagement with the video; and To promote active learning from the video. To achieve the above objectives, it is essential that we keep the videos brief and focused on the learning objectives. This has to be enhanced by how visual elements such as images, audio, and animation are harmoniously combined and structured to complement the course's ultimate goals.

Don't underestimate the importance of good clear sound. Audiences will forgive non perfect visuals much more than they will bad sound. Make sure it is clear and that you also warm up your voice before you record and speak clearly and not too fast. Presenting is a learned skill which does take time to practice so be prepared that you won't be brilliant from the getgo.

As I say in nearly everyone of my LinkedIn Learning courses: We can all forgive imperfect video, but we can't tolerate bad audio. Audio really is half the picture, and good clear audio begins with proper mic selection, placement, and most of all calibration. Calibrate your mic to your voice in your room. Get your levels right. Record test recordings, learn to use levels meters. Listen critically to your own recorded voice. Listen for what else is in the recording besides your voice; identify each item and eliminate it if it doesn't support your story. Speak with your learner, not at them. Practice recording your voice and critically evaluate your recordings. Take the necessary steps to make corrections.

If you are recording talent in your projects make sure they are well lit. If possible try to avoid having a major lighting source behind your talent facing into the camera. In most cases the light behind the camera instead is preferred.

If you need to spend money somewhere, investing in good audio equipment is where you should start. It will not only improve the quality of your recordings, it can also cut down post production time. When you press that record button, still still and don't say a word. Let that mic capture the sound of you just existing in that room for a few seconds. You can later use this "room tone" to measure and remove unwanted background noise. Once corrected, you can also use snippets of this "silence" to replace or even add silent breaks to your recording.

Let's cut to the chase: - Clean audio recording by using a good quality microphone in quiet environment (even a fan in the room can ruin the audio). - Always run your audio through post-processing. A free and wonderful tool is Adobe Podcast. There are also many great presents built into multiple Adobe products. - Quiet lyric-free music that dips below the presenter helps occupy any gaps in audio that occur during editing and provide a gentle tool of engagement.

I do this one of two ways. If I am using a screen share platform like tella.tv or loom (I really like tella), I connect my microphone to my laptop and use it for recording. If want to record the video alone, I will use my Sony DSLR camera for the video and record audio with my microphone using Audacity. Once I press record on the camera and Audacity, I make sure to clap once loudly before I start speaking. This helps me line up the audio and video when I put it into Premiere Pro to combine the them into a single file.

Be paced and allow yourself room for edits. You can always tighten up the pauses when editing. Pay attention to your volume and articulate your words enough to be clear in speech, but not robotic.

First, realize as the subject matter expert you are not an editing expert, and that's okay! You don't have to be good at everything. If your goal is to reach a large audience, it's essential to consider enlisting the services of a seasoned professional and compensating them fairly. In today's society, we often undervalue the importance of investing in quality work. It's vital to understand that professionals are inherently driven to deliver exceptional results when there's a significant financial incentive. In my experience, I've never felt overcompensated for any video I've created. The additional time and effort I've dedicated have always been a testament to my commitment to delivering value that exceeds my client's expectations.

Don't panic if editing feels beyond you. You can record your chat and get all the bits of content and text you want to add and then get someone else to edit it all up for you. It is worth taking the time to get your style nailed down and create that along with a video editor then you can use that as a module of how you want things done going forward and make creating content cost effective . Many clients feel they can record and create the content but the editing is beyond them so dont let that stop you. This is not a hard job for a video editor at all.

When you edit make sure to edit in the format that can play universally so that your intended audience can access the educational content from any device if you want to have the most impact.

If you are passionate about your topic your video can be confusing and poorly recorded and it will still be popular. Excitement is contagious -- if you are presenting focus on what you love. If you select a presenter focus on one who seems happy to engage with the topic. Injecting personality is also important unless your platform is more formal. We like it when we see the 'behind the scenes', the mistakes. We feel more connected to the creator and better primed to engage with the topic. If things are too robotic, if content is all pre-recorded and re-used we don't feel the presence of someone invested in us caring about the material. If they don't care why should we?

You can get away with low quality images but you can't get away with low quality audio. That's a great lesson I learned when teaching basic filmmaking. Also I like to produce something that grabs your attention and has great production value since that's is key in today's world. Because your audience expects it from all it enjoys today like streaming services and even YouTube. Use some entertainment principles: like a scripted story introduction, music that is in line with the message or postpone the answer to a question that you'll answer.

Be good at what you're good at and trust others to be good at what they're good at. Trust fosters an environment of collaboration.

Stay on trend when considering your audience, as their preferences and attention spans change often. Do your research on where and how to reach your intended audience, and go to where they are with the presentation they enjoy.