Educational videos can be a great way to engage students and create a more interactive learning experience. With the right tools and a bit of creativity, anyone can create an educational video that’s both informative and engaging.
In this blog post, we’ll provide a step-by-step guide to creating educational videos to help you get the most out of your video-making efforts. From choosing the right platform to creating an engaging script, this guide will cover all the essential steps for creating educational videos to help your students learn.
What is an Educational/Teaching video?
Educational videos can range from animations and documentaries to lectures and interactive tutorials. They can be used to teach a wide variety of topics, from history to science to math and beyond. Educational videos can be used to supplement traditional classroom instruction or as stand-alone learning tools and can help students understand complex concepts and reinforce existing knowledge.
Creating an effective educational video can be a challenge, but with careful planning and consideration, it can be a great way to engage learners of all ages and help them understand complex topics. With the right tools and techniques, you can create videos that are both educational and entertaining.
Why are Educational Videos Important?
Educational videos have become increasingly popular as a way to engage and educate viewers on a variety of topics. They provide an effective way to break down complex concepts into easily digestible chunks, as well as provide visual demonstrations to better illustrate the topic.
1. Videos are engaging
Educational videos are a great way to provide dynamic, engaging learning experiences for students. With easy access to videos and the ability to watch them anywhere, anytime, students can break up long lectures and keep engaged with their learning. Videos also provide an easier way to review concepts that may have been taught in a lecture or textbook, providing visuals to help make the information easier to understand.
In addition, educational videos can be used in asynchronous learning environments, where students can watch videos at their own pace and review parts of the video as needed. This can be especially useful for students learning remotely or who may have trouble keeping up with the lecture.
It is also proven that students who watch videos are likelier to stay engaged in the material than those who read about it or listen to audio recordings. This means that videos may be useful for motivating students who respond poorly to traditional teaching methods.
2. Video is a great way to illustrate concepts visually
Videos can make the content much more memorable, as visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text. The brain loves video because it creates a narrative that engages your students and helps them learn faster.
3. Easy to share
Furthermore, educational videos can be used to explain concepts in multiple languages, making them accessible to a broader audience. They can also be easily shared online, which can be a great way to reach students worldwide. Finally, educational videos can be used to create virtual classrooms, allowing teachers to connect with students in different parts of the world.
Common Types of Educational Videos
There are a few different types of educational videos you can create, each with its own unique purpose.
1. Lecture videos
They feature a lecturer speaking on a specific topic and providing viewers with a thorough explanation and overview. Lecture videos provide in-depth information to viewers and can be used to teach concepts or present new ideas in a remote online setup.
2. Tutorial videos
Video tutorials are a great way to teach your students how to do something or perform a specific task by giving them step-by-step instructions. The best part is they work very well for all age groups. Whether you are showing how to draw or create some patterns for your preschoolers or taking your high schoolers through complex algebraic expressions, tutorial videos are a great way to do it.
3. Instructional videos
These are short videos explaining instructions for one narrow topic, often used in a classroom setting. An example of an instructional video is a safety precautions video explaining the rules to adhere to inside a chemistry lab.
4. Explainer videos
Explainer videos, as the name suggests, are videos you create to give a detailed explanation about a particular subject or a topic. They typically include visuals such as diagrams or animations to help viewers understand the concept clearly. For example, showing a video on the theory of relativity will help students better understand the concept compared to verbal explanations.
How to Make an Educational Video
The following steps will help you create educational videos that effectively communicate your message.
* Understand the goal of your video
* Gather Any Information You Need
* Write a Script
* Record and edit video
1. Understand the goal of your video
What do you want your audience to learn? This will help you create a script and visuals tailored to your purpose. Additionally, identify the target audience of your video and tailor it to their needs. This will help you ensure that your video is relevant and engaging to your viewers.
2. Gather Any Information You Need
Research your topic thoroughly before creating your video. This will help you ensure you have a solid understanding of the material so you can present it accurately and effectively. Next, identify the key points you want to make and decide how you will present them.
Think about the best way to visually represent your content, as visuals can help to make complex concepts easier to understand. This could include images, diagrams, or even animations. You can also include clips of yourself speaking or demonstrating the topic.
3. Write a Script
Break down the video into sections. This will help you keep track of the different topics you will cover. You can then use the sections to create an outline for your script. Keep the script concise and conversational.
4. Record and edit video
Depending upon the type of teaching video, you can choose the right tool to create your video using the prepared visuals and script. Finally, you can edit to add some effects and background music to make the video professional. We will discuss different tools to create teaching videos in the last section.
By following these steps, you can guarantee that you create an educational video that will engage viewers and provide valuable information.
What makes a good teaching video?
Here are some tips to consider when creating an educational video:
* Keep videos short and concise
* Add a voice over
* Include visuals
* Make sure the video is accessible
1. Keep videos short and concise
Educational videos should be as short as possible and convey the necessary information. It's a good practice to keep videos to under five minutes, if possible.
2. Add a voice-over
Studies show that when video and audio are together used to convey a message, it makes more impact and keeps the learner focused and attentive. It is also vital to ensure that the voice-over is of good quality and the speech is clear and at a steady pace to help viewers easily understand the content.
Avoid background noises or disturbances while recording the voice-over. A hassle-free alternative while achieving all these would be to use AI voice-over where you can choose the language, speaker, dialect, etc.
3. Include visuals
Visuals are critical in educational videos. Consider adding graphics, animations, or even real footage to keep viewers engaged. This will also help to break up the information and make it easier to understand.
A vital asset you can use for your videos is the stock images and videos that are available for educational purposes and are also free. For example, you can easily find images and videos on science topics (like anatomy, black holes, atomic structure, etc.).
4. Make sure the video is accessible
Ensure your video is accessible to people with disabilities. This will make it easier for everyone to access the information. Here are a few tips to make your video accessible:
* Use color-blind-friendly palettes to ensure the video is accessible to those with color blindness.
* Choose an appropriate font size when adding text as a part of the visuals.
* Adding subtitles to your video can help to make your content more accessible to those who are deaf or hard of hearing. This can also ensure that viewers who speak a different language understand your content.
* Make your videos multilingual by adding voice-overs in different languages native to your learners. This will help them quickly understand your lesson. With AI-assisted tools, you can easily convert videos from one language to many. WowTo is an online tool that lets you do this quickly and also gives a resulting video file, where the language can be chosen as per the viewer's preference, just like choosing subtitle language. This will cut down the difficulties in maintaining separate files or categories for different languages.
* Add Captions - Captions are an essential part of making educational videos accessible to viewers with hearing impairments. They can also provide additional context or clarification for viewers who may not understand the video content. Captions can be added to videos using various software programs, including Adobe Premiere Pro and YouTube.
* Make a video transcript - First, it helps people with hearing impairments access the content of the video. Additionally, transcripts can help search engines index the content of the video, making it easier to find your video through search engine results. Some popular tools that can be used are YouTube’s automatic transcription feature, Microsoft Stream, Otter, and WowTo.
* Use minimal video effects - Avoid using too snazzy animations or fancy transitions, which may easily distract the learners from the topic. Use only minimal video effects just to make your video engaging.
Tools to create educational videos
With the right tools and techniques, it's easy to create high-quality, interactive videos. Different types of videos require different creation methods.
Screencasting software can be used to record lectures, tutorials, and demonstrations. This can be a great way to convey complex concepts and ensure everyone understands the material.
Similarly, creating explainer videos or instructional videos will require many visual slides with images, text, and videos. Video editing software can be used to create such video lessons. Powerpoint presentations are the most popular medium used in classrooms for such purposes.
If you already have a slide deck created for your lesson, then consider converting the PowerPoint to video. Additionally, content management systems can be used to store and organize educational videos. This is a great way to keep track of all your materials and ensure that students can access them anytime.
Common challenges facing video creators
The most common challenges faced while creating these videos are:
1. Technical competency to use these video editing tools
Video creation and editing are separate skills in themselves and are sure to be challenging to use by instructors. Hiring someone to create the video is not only expensive, but getting it done the way you want will also be a time-consuming task. But a lot of online tools that are pretty easy to use are available that can be made use of by instructors and students without having to invest time in learning the tool.
2. Not too confident in recording voice-over
Basic teaching videos do not require special recording hardware other than a microphone, but, understandably, there is still some hesitancy around it as it requires a lot of preparation before recording, a quiet atmosphere, etc.; you can consider using an AI voice-over instead - you just need to type in the script and choose the language, dialect, and preferred speaker voice.
3. Too many edits
You may change your brief in the middle of the video creation or after creating a video based on feedback from your students. This can also be handled by using a tool that lets you change specific parts of the video and script without much effort. With WowTo, you can edit a video without needing to re-record it.
4. Cost
Video creation software and a content management platform like a video hosting service or an LMS are essentials while planning to continuously and consistently use the videos as supporting material for students. Although free tools are available for these purposes, they come with a restriction, and you may need to switch to a paid plan in the future as the number of videos increases.
So, check the pricing plans beforehand and choose a tool you can afford to use for a longer term. There are a few tools like WowTo that let you do both in the same platform - video creation and content management.
Start making your classroom sessions more lively
Reach out to your students through videos to take your teaching to the next level. There is nothing more engaging than video, and once you try it, you're likely to be hooked. After all, you're not just giving a presentation—you're inviting your students into a unique learning experience, and there is no simpler way of creating videos than using WowTo. Sign up for a free account and see it yourself.
This is a guest post by WowTo team.This post originally appeared in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning ( www.educatorstechnology.com ).
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