Videos are the most consumed format of the content in today’s times. So much so that mobile data traffic per month is slated to increase to 16 exabytes from the 4.6 exabytes consumed monthly in 2018. The same holds for online courses as well. One great benefit that has come out of videos on Social Media is that people have learned to appreciate quality video production and also learned how to build good quality videos based on the budgets they have. The types of video production for online courses are purely based on the speed and quality of the video production.
Why Do Videos Work So Well For Online Courses
If a picture is worth a thousand words, say a million with a Video
That’s the power of a video. Complex ideas can be easily explained using Videos. Additionally, videos help all types of learners to learn quickly. Be it visual, auditory, or hands-on learners. You see, Videos have the highest engagement factor among all kinds of content.
Here’s an example of video content on Horizonivy.org, an ivy league admissions coaching online course being run using Knorish. So when you launch your next online course on Knorish, here are the different types of video production for online courses that one can consider:
Types of video production for online courses
1. Screen Captured/Recorded Slide Presentations
One of the fastest ways to produce videos for your online courses and events is to use screen capture/ recording tools such as Screencast-O-Matic, Free Cam 8, Camtasia, and others. Personally, in terms of the simplicity of use, Free Cam and Camtasia win, hands down. However, Free Cam, as the name suggests, is absolutely free.
As a free tool, Free Cam gives you a wide array of features that you can use to convert your PowerPoint presentations into full-blown videos, such as no watermarks, time limits, or ads, capture voice-overs and computer sounds, records professional quality HD videos; you can even save videos as WMV or upload them directly to YouTube, super easy to use and edit videos, even removes background noise and create classroom attention levels, also has a wide selection of audio effects.
So you have to turn the free cam on your laptop with the PPT in presentation mode and start talking with a headset. The Screen records everything, including your voice and background ambient music that can be playing on your laptop. You simply have to edit the parts you don’t want, and your video will be ready with the least effort.
2. Screenshare Videos
Keeping in mind the global scenarios of 2020, one can still produce great-quality videos for online courses. One quick hack would be to use Zoom’s free plan that allows you to conduct e-meetings for about 45 mins. You could do a live session with your students and Screen share the presentation. As you run the live online video training, zoom will record the Screen and the audio.
This means your entire 45 min training session gets recorded, which can then be reused as online course content. This low-budget video production method has a decent production quality output as maximum equipment is already available to you. All you need is a laptop with an HD quality screen, a steady internet connection, and a headset with a mic and decent noise cancellation feature.
Explore these 18 online marketing strategies to sell courses faster and enhance your business.
3. Interviews/ Close Up/ Demo videos
While the first two setups are extremely low cost and almost free, in case you want to have a higher engagement rate in your videos, you could also conduct interviews or close-up interviews while keeping your costs low.
One can very easily get high-quality videos produced with the existing equipment that most people already have. For such close-up interviews, one would need a cell phone tripod, a smartphone that shoots videos in full HD, and a mic extension with two inbuilt lavalier mics with active noise cancellation features. Any decent camera phone can be used for this purpose. The dual lavalier mic setup has one jack that is inserted into the smartphone audio jack. So during the interviews, the mics automatically focus on the person who is speaking.
Imp Note: One great investment for this purpose would be a Gimbal. A great tool that allows you to shoot in-motion videos with ease. A must-try for those looking for hacks on quick, high-quality video production.
To set up the recording, you can use natural lighting to your benefit and set up the phone camera accordingly. What’s great about this setup is that it is extremely low-cost and gets the job done quickly. However, you will need basic video editing software to edit the video for this purpose, and Camtasia can do that decently well.
Got videos from a workshop or an event. You can even convert that into a new online learning course for those who couldn’t attend the workshop or the event. Here’s how:
Shoot and Serve: Ways To Turn Your short Videos Into meaningfully long Online Courses
4. High-Quality Video Production
You could always look at a video production house to get high-quality videos produced. However, these generally are very expensive and time-consuming as well. This usually involves a team of videographers, content creators, scriptwriters, editors, producers, and actors. These kinds of high-quality videos are expensive to produce, but if the budget permits, it’s worth the investment. You see, you pretty much are outsourcing your video content production, and then you simply need to focus on the main aspects of your core business, i.e. selling and marketing profitable online courses.
Additional Supporting Content
Think of educational videos in your online courses as a hub and spoke. While videos are at the centre of the course, you must also add other content pieces such as PDFs, PPTs, Documents, Prezi presentations, and others to increase the quality of the learning experience for a learner.
Together all these content formats make for a winning formula for a high-quality online course. Now that you know the different types of video production for online courses, you can choose the one that best suits your purpose. So when you launch your next online course on Knorish, you can use all these types of video productions for online courses. Courses that are complete with PDFs, PPTs, and other high-value content videos in the least possible budget.
