Scripting
Title: Preproduction for Educational Videos
In this video we’re going to focus on preproduction for your course videos. What is preproduction? It’s the first stage in the video production process. Why is it important? It’s important because this is the stage you as the producer plan your video. Your planning has a direct impact on the cognitive load of your viewers, and as a result on their ability to process the information you’re trying to impart.
So let’s get started.
Video production has three phases. These phases are preproduction, production and post-production.
In preproduction, you develop a script and focus on logistics. For you, this might mean what software you’re going to use, or what equipment. Production is where you actually shoot – or record the video and post production is where you do editing, if any is necessary.
Now video producers – whether they’re in Hollywood or at an academic institution such as this one – spend a considerable amount of time in pre-production. That’s because they’re trying to think of how to make the biggest impact on their viewers. For entertainment producers, that might mean the biggest emotional bang for the buck. But here, you’re trying to deliver an intellectual bang.
So how can you do that? Well first, let’s start with the script.
You can write a script in a number of different ways. One method is the T script. In a T script you’ve got what you’re going to say on one side of the line and what your audience will see on the other.
Another method is to write a storyboard.
You can even script on the back of a receipt, or a napkin. It doesn’t matter. What really matters is that you write down what you are going to say and what you want your viewers to see at the same time you’re talking.
But why should I go through the trouble? You may be asking yourself.
Here is what a script does for you – it helps you manage the cognitive load you are asking the student’s brains to carry. Everybody has a limited capacity for information. If you deliver more information than a viewer can process, then they aren’t going to learn. So a script is a great way to manage information delivery and think about whether you are delivering too much – or too little – information before you get into the production phase.
Here are some best practices you can employ as you plan your video.
1. Chunking – Studies have shown that if you can divide your content into bite sized chunks, then students can understand it better. This is where scripting really comes in handy. Ask yourself what is the main thing that you want to communicate? Does your script do that? Is there anything you’ve included in your script that can be pulled out and maybe made into a separate video, or even discarded altogether?
Chunking your videos by concept gives the students more control over the rate of information flow and helps them understand the structure of the information. It also gives them a feeling of accomplishment when they manage to view the video all the way through.
2. Keep the language simple – just because you have a written document like a script doesn’t mean you have to have formal language. Viewers feel more comfortable with videos where the presenter is using language they can easily understand. So practice reading your script out loud. Ask yourself: is it natural? Don’t worry about reading the script verbatim – replacing words that don’t feel natural with ones that do will only make your script better.
3. Timing guidelines. In 2014, researchers at MIT looked at data from 6.9 million video watching sessions using the EdX platform. They wanted to find out if they could learn anything from this data about what makes engaging educational videos. They measured engagement by how long students watched the videos and whether they answered questions after. What they found out was that students did much better with videos of 6 minutes or less. For videos between zero and 40 minutes, median engagement time was 6 minutes. 75% of viewing sessions for videos between 0 – 3 minutes lasted over three fourths of the videos length. The highest rate of engagement was in videos that were between zero and 3 minutes.
With video playing an increasing role in the delivery of online education, there are lots of techniques that you can use to help your students understand what you are trying to communicate. Course videos are a different modality then in-class lectures, but taking a cue from cognitive load theory and incorporating best practices can help your students understand your videos better.
