Things to Note When Recording Online Courses

Things to Note When Recording Online Courses

1. Try to keep it under ten minutes, ideally around five minutes, and focus on one topic.
2. The more granular the video cuts, the more opportunities there will be to incorporate different exercises, providing greater flexibility for adjustments or replacements with better videos in the future.
3. Course design should progress from simple to complex, with clear explanations, allowing students to learn at their own pace based on their abilities.
4. Respect, enthusiasm, and companionship should guide your mindset during recording.
5. When teaching, think about how to spark interest in learning to enhance motivation.
6. Share your knowledge rather than adopting a 'teaching' tone. Remind students what (what) they will learn, why they need to take this lesson (why), and where it can be applied (where).
7. Start from life experiences and then introduce concepts.
8. Each definition or concept should be explained with 2-3 examples.

Five Major Findings About Online Courses

Based on a big data analysis conducted by MIT in 2014 of 100,000 students on MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), which involved viewing 6.9 million online course videos, a research report was published revealing the following five very important findings.

1. Data analysis shows that static PPT presentations are a killer of focus. More visual effects (such as an image or a video) are needed to capture and maintain student attention.
2. Proven fast-talking professors attract students more than slow-paced educators. Research shows that professors speaking at a rate of 254 words per minute achieve the highest student engagement.
3. Long online videos tend to have lower student engagement; shorter videos are more effective at maintaining attention. Students often choose to stop watching after the first 6 minutes (the golden 6 minutes).
4. When fast-talking professors are key, long pauses can actually help students better understand complex charts, which is an important finding.
5. Videos specially designed for online audiences perform much better than existing videos, as these designed videos are simply cut into segments for presentation.

Things to Note About Sound

1. Maintain enthusiasm, speak at a slightly faster pace, and keep your tone slightly higher; avoid speaking solely from the throat.
2. Reduce filler words and incorporate intonation during key points.
3. Keep smiling; changes in facial muscles will be reflected in your voice.

Things to Note About Tone

1. Avoid using terms like difficult, simple, or things that will be taught in the future. Instead, use terms like 'challenging' or 'more exciting.'
2. Find ways to attract students.