Imagine trying to teach a class in which some of your students are absent, some are grade levels ahead, some are grade levels behind, and some have special needs. Doesn’t it seem like that would be challenging to do effectively? 

This is where educational videos can come in handy. If teachers know how to create their own high-quality educational videos, rather than using externally created ones, they can provide direct instruction to their class while also being able to move around the room and answer questions.

Read on to learn what makes an excellent educational video. 

Chunk Instruction

Any good teacher will have plenty to say about their subject. However, when it comes to creating a video, things need to be short and concise. Research has shown that student engagement with videos starts to decrease after 6 minutes and dramatically drops after 9 minutes. 

That means that you need to chunk instruction so that each video discusses one learning task or objective and nothing more. In other words, several short videos are much better than one long video. 

In a world where attention spans are short and getting shorter, videos must be short too. Try to say everything you need to say, and give out a task within about 4 – 6 minutes to guarantee maximum student engagement. 

Creating Slides

Studies have also found that the most effective educational videos are highly focused, use as little on-screen text as possible, and highlight essential information using visual cues. The slides that you would use in a lecture probably won’t work in a video, which is why you need to create slides that are simple, clear, and visually attractive. 

Enhancing Engagement

That’s the goal here, isn’t it? Merely sitting down and watching a video can cause your learners to lose focus. The most effective educational videos keep them actively engaged for their duration. 

When students answer guided questions or take notes while watching, they can better retain material than students who are passively watching. Adding questions to your videos can improve your students’ interaction and provide you with valuable assessment data. 

Rewatchability

Your students should watch your videos several times to revisit any concepts that they might not have understood the first time around. If you are using a platform like Pedagogue, you can upload your videos to the virtual classroom so that your students can watch them again.

Pedagogue is a Social Learning Management System. It combines the traditional features of an LMS with those from social media, like chat, videos, streaming, and more, to supercharge and streamline learning. 

Concluding Thoughts

One of the most critical aspects of an excellent educational video is authenticity. The best blended learning is not pretty but personal. You should not be scared to make mistakes when creating your videos, and you should always let your personality shine through so that your learners will be able to relate to your videos.