It is easy to create interesting online courses regardless of the budget we have, although that does not mean that any type of e-learning video is worth it.
For our online courses to be successful, both commercially and pedagogically, it is important to avoid a series of mistakes.
1- Your videos are too long
People have a range of attention of about 7 minutes, and that has been shortened much more with the bombardment of information that you constantly receive on the Internet. Having videos in our 10 or 20 minute online course will cause our users to lose attention and not learn well.
In addition, people also have little time to train on a weekly basis, so it is important to fragment our content well.
Solution: Create video capsules of about 5 minutes. If one is too long, you can divide it into shorter videos. There are many free and easy-to-use editing tools. Our favorite is OpenShot, with which we have done several tutorials. We recommend that you take a look at it.
2- Not having visual support
People learn differently, some, simply listening to the teacher is enough, but others need visual support such as graphics, key points or downloadable summaries.
Adding visual support also allows to maintain the attention of the students, but we must be very clear about what we want to put. It is about finding a balance between reinforcing the training, but without distracting from what the teacher is explaining.
Solution: When creating the course, we recommend creating an outline to mark where the overprinted materials will go. You can create overprinted text or use graphics. The important thing is that you can understand the visualization at a glance, without misleading you from the teacher's main narrative.
3- Not structuring the content of your videos well
For any type of class, whether in person or online, it is important to structure the content that we will teach well, or on the contrary we will make it difficult for the students to understand.
In addition, in the case of asynchronous online videos, it is important to have a good script written and to prepare it well, to be concise with the learning.
Solution: Create a teaching guide and a speech script to read while recording. A very useful technique is to use storytelling for your videos, that is, use an introduction, development and conclusion.
- In the introduction, talk about what they are going to see in that video.
- In the content you can develop all the information.
- In the conclusion you will be able to make a brief summary of the key points that the student must learn.
4- Do not give importance to the appearance of the video
Just as we must take care of the structure of our content, we must also take into account the appearance. Wouldn't it seem strange to you that a web page had different styles, or that it was difficult to read? Well, the same thing happens with videos. Out of focus recordings, bad audio, lack of personal branding… These are examples of things to keep in mind before ending your e-learning video.
Solution: Create a style book for your online school, where you can include logos, colors, video formats, do's and don'ts as a guide to record your online courses. So, whether you are alone or a large team that develops the videos, they will always have the same look and feel of your brand.
5- Do not appeal directly to your student and motivate him
As we have already mentioned, our students have little time to dedicate to training, and taking into account that they do not have a tutor to guide them or measure their progress, it is their own will.
If the content is dense or not transparent with what it offers, it can demotivate your students.
Solution: add phrases that appeal directly to your student, as if you were talking face to face with him, advance what he will see in the next video, use real examples that he can apply in his day to day and motivate them to keep moving forward.
6- Not having a platform to upload your courses
Just as we must order the content of our videos, we must also offer the content of our courses in an orderly manner. If you offer online courses, it is essential to have your own platform where you can offer content in an orderly manner, keep track of your users' activity, manage registrations and your sales, and more.
Solution: In the market you will find various plug-ins for WordPress and LMS to create your own training platform. At Foxize Cloud we offer you 30 free days so you can assess if it fits what you are looking for, without obligation!
