How To Choose Best Topic & Length For Videos

Educators around the world aren’t asking, ” whether they should make educational videos for students”, for them, the core issue is how to choose the best topic and length for their online learning videos. The best tool to keep students attentive these days are educational videos.

Well-crafted videos effectively communicate the audiovisual information a teacher wants to deliver. You can guarantee your student engagement with the help of these educational videos for students.

Coming to the big question, what topic should you choose to make your education videos on? And how long should it be? No worries. We are here to help you. 

No matter how useful your information is, there is no guarantee that your video will achieve its desired effect. Unless of course, you plan for it.  Engaging student videos should be visually appealing and meet your audience’s needs. Before shooting your online learning videos, you must ask yourself a few questions like

1. What is the key takeaway of your video?
2. What type of video will your students prefer?
3. Where are you going to post your videos?

You must keep in mind that MOOCs videos are different from social media videos which are different from videos for online courses. Thus, plan your videos accordingly. 

• How to choose the best topics for videos?

Brainstorming done, it’s now time to do some research. With a little effort and time, you will be able to make some awesome student engagement videos. Let’s see what are the salient points to keep in mind while choosing the best topic for your online learning videos.

• Your content should be such that it either solves your audience’s problem or answers their questions effectively. You may have a broad topic in your mind but focus on a concept that will bridge your target audience’s knowledge gaps.
• Choose a topic that sets a clear learning objective. This will help you keep track so that you don’t cross your time limit which as we will read later is equally important for student engagement and selling your online courses.
• Your video format should be in sync with your topic. Your video could be doodly, animated, instructional, or engaging – whatever format you choose, make sure that it is the best to highlight your topic.
• An engaging learning experience calls for an engaging script. Your script is the single most important factor to make your online study videos successful. Craft a compelling story around your information. Also, try not to jump from one key point to another abruptly. Keep the flow contiguous.
• Keep in mind that videos are primarily a visual medium. Therefore, think of your script in images. What would a concept look like on the screen?

Your videos for your online courses are the face of your MOOCs or your coaching institute. Therefore plan all the details with patience.

• Duration of your online learning video

Coming to the next big question – how long should your videos be? Well, for online content we can safely say that “brevity is the soul of engagement”. To make it simple, the shorter the video for your online courses, the better it is. 

The good news is you have already done the work. With your brainstorming and research done, you are more than halfway through planning your perfect engaging learning video. But, keep in mind that the attention span of the audience is less, and their patience even lesser. So, making a short video makes sense. Doesn’t it?

According to a study by none other than MIT, the optimum length of videos for online education should be about six minutes. Now you may question how to fit your content in such a short time? Well, that’s why we suggested you plan in detail. It’s a tightrope walk to keep your education videos short while meeting your learning goals at the same time. Presenting you with some tips to ensure that you meet your student engagement goals while keeping your retention rate high

• Finding the perfect run time for your video has to be done keeping in mind that marketing videos are very different from videos for online education.
• Always remember that content is the king. Although the ideal length of the video should be around six minutes, quality should never be compromised.
• If required the video can be extended to take a Q&A session.
• In another study conducted by the University of Wisconsin,  students prefer online education videos that are 15 minutes. So, if you cannot meet your learning objectives in a 6-minute video, try to make sure that you don’t extend the length beyond 15 minutes.
• The best way to do that is to edit out any unnecessary details. Keep your content to whatever is necessary.

Keep the ground rule in mind that though online study brings knowledge to your fingertips, people want quality learning. If you plan your videos keeping this in mind, you will stick to the rule of brevity. 
Not only is making good videos important, but you also need to make sure how to distribute them properly. Did you know that Classplus helps online teachers like you to smoothen out your operations like video distribution, communication, and payments through one single platform? If you still haven’t visited our website, do check it now! You will get a lot of help concerning all your online courses there.