Tips to Record Videos for Online Courses

Tips to Record Videos for Online Courses You have decided to create an online course. If you think about it, it might seem like an easy task. You just point the camera at yourself and speak into the microphone. Right? But then, when you actually start recording videos, you might realize that there are a lot of things involved in creating an online course.

Here we will help you simplify this complex process and guide you along the way. You don’t have to be overwhelmed. All you need is to get a few things right, and you are set!

1. The Preparation Phase You will save yourself a lot of time, re-shoots, and edits if you are thorough in the preparation phase. Start with clearly demarcating the scope of your course. The topic you are teaching may include a lot of things. But it is up to you to decide what to keep and what to discard.

And now break that whole thing into lessons and small modules. Decide how many videos you are going to include in each module. The length of the videos should ideally be small.

The aim is to create small digestible pieces of content. This is where the ease and comfort of online learning really show when compared to traditional teaching. But you can also create longer videos if you think it is appropriate for your subject.

Now that you are done creating the outline of your video course, we move to the recording part.

1. The Set-up

You don’t have to have a professional studio at home to create online courses. You can set up the place where you record the videos on a budget. There are two kinds of online class videos you can create: 1. A talking head video - Here, you speak into the camera while instructing the online class. You can also use a board if you are explaining things like maths. You can do this by yourself or hire a professional to do it.

2. Voice-over a slideshow - This is a lot easier to do than the method above. All you need to do is create a slideshow and record your audio explaining these slides to your students.

So if you decide to go with the former one, make sure you tidy up the room. Take special care of the area that is visible in the frame. Adding a painting or a quote in the background might make the set-up pop! You can do this against a neatly arranged bookshelf. Or you can add a colored cloth as a background. Choose one of these colors - blue, white, black, or grey.

Make sure there is no noise audible in the space you are shooting the video. 

3) Lights

First, check the amount of natural light entering your room. If there is a good amount of natural light entering, you don’t have to add too many external lights. But in case it doesn’t, you’ll have to add more lights to shoot good-quality videos. There are three kinds of lights that people use when shooting videos: 1. Key light - This is the brightest light. It is kept pointing towards the speaker at a 45° angle.

2. Fill light - When you use the key light, you might see a shadow on one side of the face. This shadow is reduced by the fill light. This is kept on the opposite side of the key light. This is also pointed towards the speaker at a 45° angle.

3. Rim light - This one is optional. It is set up above and behind the speaker. It is used to separate the speaker from the background.

4. Camera and Microphone

You can shoot the online study courses on a good quality phone camera too. But if you are willing to invest, buy a DSLR. You can use custom settings on the camera or the automatic default settings. Just make sure you save the settings if you are going with customized settings.

People forgive the video quality. But if the audio quality is bad, it can be a nuisance trying to listen to the course. So, buy a good-quality microphone that cancels out any background noise. Clear sound quality is a must for any online course.

There is more and more interest growing in online classes. More people than ever are choosing to buy online courses over conventional methods of teaching. If you are a teacher used to the traditional way of teaching, this is a good time to move towards online teaching.

Here at Classplus, we will help you do just that. Our aim is to provide a platform for teachers where they can conduct live classes and upload pre-recorded video courses. The best part is you will have complete control over all your resources and materials since we will help you build your own app. Give Classplus a try, and we will make this transition towards online teaching as smooth as possible.

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