Instructional Videos & Screencasts: Best Practices

• Videos should be kept short
  • (lectures 3-5 minutes, how-to videos more like 30 seconds to 2 minutes)
• Videos should have learning goals
  • Bear in mind: a short video should start the out with the most important information. Do not spend a long time telling the viewer what they are supposed to learn. Student engagement is critical.

• Strike a tonal balance
  • Make videos clean and professional, but keep them simple and straightforward rather than focusing on entertainment
  • ☆ Remember your audience ☆ don’t talk up (explain jargon), don’t talk down

• Use call-outs when possible
  • Direct the viewer’s eye creatively
  • Don't rely solely on mouse movement to direct viewer's eye

• Speak slowly and clearly
  • Edit out silences, ums, ahs, pauses if you can
  • Make sure you watch your video all the way through before posting it anywhere.
• Use call-outs when possible
  • Direct the viewer’s eye

• Videos should be captioned
• Remember to consider branding for your videos

Note: It will take some time, possibly up to several hours, for YouTube to generate captions for a video. Your best bet is to start checking after an hour.