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Guidelines for Producing Video
Designing Your Video
Define the Scope
After you have identified the appropriate use of video for your course or lesson, define
the scope of the content. Defining scope is important in terms of providing your students
relevant and connected content that is not too granular or wide in terms of scope,
otherwise students will have difficulty building a mental model and connecting content.
Be clear and explicit regarding the goal for a video, and eliminate tangential or
digressive information that doesn't contribute to that goal. Identify follow up questions or
activities for students to answer so that you can assess their understanding of the
material.

Keep Videos Short & Focused

Besides being brief, working memory has a very limited capacity. It can hold about “7
plus or minus 2” chunks of information (Miller, 1956). Likewise, even the most engaging
video content is a largely passive processing experience for the viewer, and over time
their attention may wane. Therefore, rather than presenting a continuous unit, chunk the
complex lesson into smaller, more manageable segments (3-5 minutes long) that focus
on a single objective and which are presented one at a time (Clark & Mayer, 2011). This
will help your learners maintain their attention on the topic as well as process it more
effectively in their working memory.
Segmenting a complex topic or lesson into more manageable and consumable chunks
also provides the perfect opportunity to engage your students with questions that check
their comprehension and reinforce their memory. Lastly, make sure the sequence within
a video and between videos is logical and well connected so that students build an
accurate mental model of the topic.

Chunking has several advantages:

-  Allows the learner to engage in essential processing without overloading the learner’s
cognitive system (Clark & Mayer, 2011).
-  It makes videos easier to navigate.
- It provides natural breaks to introduce interactive assessment or review.
- It makes it easier to utilize your content in other courses where subjects overlap.
Remember that one of the key strengths of an online video is the ease with which
students can re-watch it to concentrate on areas where they are having difficulty.
Burying specific content inside of lengthy, multi-subject videos undermines that use.

Keep Videos Visual

Keeping videos visual seems intuitive, but it is a good deal more work than many people
initially account for. Slides may be simple, containing only bullet points from the text of
the lecture. Even when they contain more detailed imagery, they are often static. A
single slide may remain on screen for several minutes or more.
The video format strongly highlights this lack of visual information in a way that in-
person lecturing often does not. It’s important to think through your content and
determine ways that you can illustrate your concepts consistently and actively. Choose
only imagery that is relevant and not extraneous to the instructional material. Even
simple measures, such as dividing a lengthy text slide into pieces or building out a
complex diagram element by element, can improve your students’ engagement with
video content.
Apply Multimedia Principles
1. Eliminate all non-essential information from the media message so as to
minimize demands on cognitive resources (Muller, Lee, & Sharma, 2008). Less is
more when learning is the primary goal. Use lean text rather than lengthy
elaborated text. 
2. Don’t split the learner’s attention. The split-attention effect occurs when learners
have to divide their attention between many sources of physically or temporally
separated information and when they have to integrate this information (Ayres &
Sweller, 2005).
3. Don’t visually present text (more than 7 words) and narrate the same text at the
same time. Narrating the same text that is visually presented is redundant
(Mayer, 2009).
 Download this document to apply more multimedia principles to your instructional
content.

Recording Your Video

Speech Dialogue (buts, ands, ums, etc)
Natural speech contains a large number of hesitations, pauses, and stutters. Editing out
these errors after the fact is time-consuming and tedious. Heavily scripted speech is
much cleaner, but unless you are an experienced actor, it can come across as cold or
stiff. Some hesitation is fine, but the best solution, whether working for a full script or
merely from an outline of your content, is to practice the material before you record. A
little extra rehearsal--even for material with which you’re already familiar--can go a long
way towards keeping your content engaging.
Personal Presentation on Camera
Recording in isolation is a very different process than teaching in the classroom. You’ll
want to speak clearly and loudly and maintain a professional appearance. One major
difference is that you won’t receive feedback from your students as you present, and
this can be difficult. Be sure to maintain your energy and enthusiasm.
Eye Contact
For all intents and purposes, the camera is your student. Speaking to a lens rather than
an actual, attentive person is a major adjustment, and though it will get better with time,
when you begin try to imagine that you are speaking to someone. It may be helpful to
bring someone to the recording session to act as an audience, but remember that
viewers are extremely sensitive to the position of your eyes, and if you are looking to
someone off-camera instead of them, they will quickly notice.
Eliminate Background Noise
Take a moment to listen to your environment. Background noise can be an annoyance
and distracter in the video. Avoid external noise such as people talking, rattling keys,
ringing cell phones, papers rattling near microphones and doors opening and closing.
Keeping Pace
Pacing for video content will also be different from your classroom experiences. Speak
naturally and conversationally but not too quickly. Remember, students need to process
your voice and on-screen visuals. There will be fewer questions, fewer digressions, and
generally more focus.  Don’t be concerned if material that has traditionally taken you a
full hour to cover in person runs much shorter in a video. It is better if the video is
shorter, more focused, and concise. However, keep in mind that the very elements
you’re missing--feedback, questions, discussion and assessment--will need to be
recreated or reimagined, either in person or with other technologies. Address common
questions students normally ask in class or common misconceptions within the script of
your video. Conversely, don’t allow the uninterrupted pace of the video content distract
you from spending the appropriate time on especially difficult concepts.
On-Camera Guidelines
 Keep it simple, less is better than more
 Use solid, earth tone colors or pastels; You can’t go wrong with a blue shirt
 A simple patterned shirt is ok if you’re also wearing a sports coat or jacket. Best
to avoid any small patterns like thin stripes, herringbone, tweed, etc.
 Shirts with collars are preferred, if you are not wearing a jacket/blazer. Avoid
turtlenecks or tight crewnecks (can be problematic for microphone placement.)
 Avoid solid red, white or black
 Avoid logos, prints and words
 For long shots, pants should match and shoes should be appropriate
 Socks should be as dark as pants
 Jewelry: Big rings, bracelets, earrings and necklaces detract from the message
(and can potentially make noise)
 Avoid ties that stand out too much
 Glasses with anti-reflective coating are recommended (otherwise you will see the
reflection of the lights)
 Always wear a little powder to reduce shine that results from oil on the skin

Lesson Plan Template for Using Video

Lesson Title:

Subject & Topic:

Level:

Prerequisite skills or knowledge:

Time Requirements for Viewing Video/s & Incentive Activity:

The success of your lesson depends on the alignment of the instructional content with
the learning objectives and outcomes.
Step 1: Define Content Scope

What is the scope of your topic? Defining scope is important in terms of providing your
students relevant and connected content that is not too granular or wide in terms of
scope, otherwise students will have difficulty building a mental model and connecting
content. Chunk and sequence the instructional material into segments that will become
short videos.

Step 2: Define Learning Objectives & Outcomes

How will students use or apply the material? Clearly write the learning objectives and
outcomes that align with the activities students will do after watching the video. It is not
enough for students to just read, listen, watch, and take notes. They need to use it to
really learn it. Creating and communicating the learning objectives will help you to align
your short video lesson and clearly define what you want your students to accomplish.
When writing the learning objective including cognitive, affective, interpersonal,
psychomotor domains. Describe what students will need to be able to know and do
using active verbs from Bloom’s revised taxonomy.

What kinds of activities will motivate and prepare students? What questions will you ask
students? What should students be able to do to prepare and practice? Review learning
objectives to align the activities or questions with them. Identify the kinds of incentives
or motivations that will engage students to really learn from the video and apply the
message to real practice. Determine how you can provide feedback to students about
what they know and do not know prior to class. NYU Classes has tools that can provide
students immediate feedback on their progress, strengths and weaknesses.

Use the chart below to fill out the goal and objectives for the video lesson.

Goal 1: State Goal

Content & Type Learning Objective Question/Task/Activity

[Fact, concept, process, 1a. Students will be able 1b.….by…. (performing a

procedure, principle, to….(apply, create, task, solving problems,
other] identify,...) working in groups to
develop a product,
answering question, or
some activity)
Step 3: Identify Instructional Strategies

Which instructional approach fits best for the main learning activity? Choose the
evidence based instructional approach will fit the main learning activity (i.e.: individual or
small group problem solving, group discussion or debate, etc...)

Step 4: Ongoing Evaluation and Assessment

How will you evaluate student’s learning and progress? Evaluation and assessment are
ongoing throughout the process. Plan how you will evaluate the effectiveness of the
video lesson and assess student understanding at all stages. Learning does not occur
by application in one instance but requires distributed opportunities over time.

Step 5: Review the Plan above to ensure Alignment. Is everything well connected?
Is the lesson coherent? Have a colleague review your plan and give feedback.

Output No. 2
https://www.techsmith.com/blog/educational-video/

https://www.techsmith.com/blog/educational-video/