We encourage you to consider re-use when including details in the video (since these are harder to edit). If possible,  You do not want to have to redo all your numbering because you decide to add in one new video. Maybe you’ll use these in another course or maybe another instructor would love to use them within their courses (with permission, of course!).

Quickly review what you are going to do in this video. Are you going to review a concept? Work through a problem? Do a demonstration? Give as much insight into the content of the video as you can. You might even consider adding blocks of time to help students easily navigate the video.

What will the students be able to do by the end of this video? It’s helpful to students to set clear objectives about what this video is about. Videos are extremely dense, so if used in review, you want to ensure that students are finding the video they need when they need it. See CTSI’s guide to developing learning outcomes for more information.

Try to reduce text. Slides are typically very text heavy. Ideally, slides are visual with narration (but thinking visually is an exercise all of its own!). Trying to process graphics, narration, and on-screen text at once can be overwhelming. Reduce cognitive load by limiting on-screen text as much as possible. If you can’t express the idea through a visual, explain it with narration instead. Varying the lay out can reduce viewing fatigue and reinvigorate attention when moving from one slide to another.

Use section slides to build out your outline. Refer to your outline slide and create sections within your video. You can speak to these sections, recapping small chunks of the video and putting everyone on the same page before you start the next segment.

Include "things to do" while watching the video. After a particularly complex or important segment, you might consider asking students to “do” something – this could be a pause, submitting a quiz, taking a break, finding some equipment, or whatever else makes sense. Bear in mind that if you want to re-use this video, you do not want to be too specific in your directions. Consider the different between, "Go to the Quiz on July 17 and submit it" versus "Jot down your answer this question for future use."

At the end of each video, review the important concepts and how they map to the learning outcomes. Remind students of the important pieces and flag anything they really need to know about this video. Recaps come naturally in person when we wrap up - this is an especially important piece for online content, since you are not there in person to guide your viewers.

Call outs and icons add consistent but salient visual emphasis during your videos. They are great for flagging pieces of information, from within the whole. Pick a few that make sense Example of call outs categories you might use are: priorities (important, remember, big idea, note) or difficulty level (introductory, intermediate, advanced; this is especially useful in video because students will get a sense of how you see the concepts and will understand that advanced concepts require more grappling than beginner).

Our Video Component Template has all the elements we discussed above, ready for you to choose your own colour palette and font combination.

Below are some examples of how you can customize the Video Component template to suit your needs. The possibilities are endless!

If you need help deciding a colour scheme, font combinations and/or icons to use, reach out to us!