How To Make Educational Videos (Beginners Guide)

video editing

Education is the most valued asset one can pass on to the community. No training is big or small, no effort is ever wasted if it is made with the best intentions.

The Internet of Things has given us many opportunities; another one of them is to learn. If you really want to make your contribution to society, if you want to reach out to people through your videos but do not know where to start.

Here is a guide that will crush all your bolder stones and take you towards your goal of successful Video Making:

Rule #1: Plan Your Content

Content is literally the King when it comes to educational videos. It is very important that the video editing covers all the elements of a good video as follows:

Cover the Entire Topic:

Choose a topic that adds value to the life of the viewers. Sometimes a simple topic explained in an innovative way gathers praise in video recording.

Use Examples:

To explain the contents of educational videos deeply, it is very essential to use real-life examples. The more the examples, the better the understanding. Also, giving practical references helps the students understand the importance of the particular subject in the real world. 

Test Your Audience:

It is advisable to test the audience of an educational video by hiding a set of answers and questioning the audience. This helps grab the attention and attentiveness of the viewer. This feature can be applied by using video editing techniques of the WeVideo software.

Make a Video Suitable for a Particular Niche:

An educational video is majorly made keeping a target audience in mind. But even the set of samples has various subsets. A video should be such that it is understandable by beginners to experts. For detailed explanations of certain topics, link videos may be created.

Rule #2:Video Recording

Things to keep in mind while video recording are:

Camera: 

The camera of your laptop or a normal webcam is good enough for a good video recording. What matters for the output is good lighting and the right sound. There are also faceless videos where only the screen and audio are used for teaching a lesson, and they work.

Lighting: 

Always have your face towards the light rather than against or behind a light while recording the educational video. Having a good amount of light on your face for video recording improves visibility and clarity. A normal focus light or ring light can also be used for this purpose.

Eye Contact: 

Having eye contact makes a big difference in online teaching. Maintain the camera’s height to maintain eye contact with the camera and, in turn, with the viewers.

Sound: 

A clear sound is necessary; the normal laptop or mobile microphone is not up to the mark to cut the background noise. It is advisable to invest in a simple stand-alone or collar mic for clear audio output. 

To record videos, it is necessary to show material through a whiteboard, or PowerPoint, write on a screen, point out on a screen, doodle, and basically some form of description. One of the prominent apps for adding descriptive features to your video is WeVideo. WeVideo provides features like screen sharing while in recording mode, changing screen background, using the Chroma mode (green screen), adding tracks or voiceover, using templates and transition effects, and adding text or images to your recording. You can record high-quality videos that are ready to be uploaded with WeVideo video recording software.

Rule #3 Video Editing

A little finesse makes all the difference. In the online market, a video is competing with millions of videos that are being uploaded daily. For educational video content to reach its right audience, it has to stand out and prove the test of time. The content matters, and the right content will follow up with the correct video editing. A video that is too long, too slow, or does not contain certain interesting elements may go down the youtube time loop even if it has informational content.

To present an educational video in a sensational way, here are a few editing tips made possible with the help of WeVideo. 

Duration:

The duration of the educational video must be around 10mins to 30mins. This is the maximum time a user spends on a topic for understanding. WeVideo video editing helps you trim the parts of the video which are unnecessary. You can easily mark and split the content to add episodes or series to recordings.

Effects:

A video editing software allows you to add animation, text, images, audio, and graphics to your video. WeVideo offers hundreds of effects, filters, backgrounds, color corrections, and tracks that can be used to enhance your educational video. If there is anything left out while recording your video, the video editing stage allows you to make all sorts of changes. Give finishing touches to videos by using the improved tools and mechanisms of video editing software. Motion graphics help to enhance user experience, and video editing software help balance the motion graphics.

Correction:

Any correction that is required after the video recording can be done in the video editing. You can re-record certain portions of the video and patch it to the portion required. The marker in the WeVideo helps you precisely mark exactly which point of the video is to be edited.

Merge:

WeVideo allows you to add different video clips to a single video smoothly. Just have to keep on adding the videos and place them on the track at the point you want to start the video from. You can even add a narration to your video or mute your original video and add a narration. It is simply easy to use and fun to experience.

An important fact about video editing is you may not be able to master it in one go, but the more you use it, the more expertise you develop.

Logo:

It is crucial to add a watermark or logo to your videos in video editing for the audience to form a recognition of your brand of educational videos. The logo may be simple or fancy and be added at a point in the video. For youtube videos, this logo can even lead to a subscription or like button. 

Rule #4 Uploading

An educational video, when ready, must be run through several checks before uploading. Ensure that the content you are posting is accurate and not misleading in any way. Cross-check if the video editing has not overlapped the video recording to confuse the viewers.

There are various media where educational videos are posted, but in this blog, we talk about YouTube. YouTube is the most preferred and widely accepted platform for showcasing videos around the World.

Here are a few things which should be kept in mind during video uploading:

Aspect Ratio:

The standard aspect ratio of any video on a computer for YouTube is 16:9, any video gets adjusted to this aspect ratio automatically on YouTube. The aspect ratio of 9:16 is for Youtube shorts. 

Quality:

Youtube accepts different resolutions from 240p to 2160p. Most standard resolutions are 1280x720p and 1920x1080p.

Title: 

For Public videos made for the general public, it is essential to give a good and precise title to the video. For videos that are part of a course plan, numbering the educational videos as per the lesson plan is a good way of maintaining sequence.

Description:

Describing a video is not compulsory but always advisable to provide details about the contents of the video. All the links, details, disclaimers, or written explanations of the video can be added to the description box to facilitate the viewer’s experience.

Audience:

Audience selection is the crux of why you are making the educational video. For teachers who are posting course videos, the audience has to be selected as ‘Unlisted.’ Then you copy the link and post it to specific students for whom the video is made. In this way, only the people with a link to the particular video can view it, and the general audience of YouTube cannot see it.

Everyone else who wants to post educational videos open for all has to select ‘Public’ as the audience. Now the video is viewed by everyone on Youtube. 

Also, Youtube asks whether the video is made for kids; the box can be checked as per the age group the video is targeted for. Age-restricted videos are not available on accounts of ages below 18 years of age.

Sub-titles:

Another noteworthy feature of YouTube is subtitles and captions. When you opt for subtitles, the software automatically generates subtitles in the selected languages of the users. It might not be 100% accurate, but adding sub-titles eliminates speech and accent barriers to the content.

Publish:

An educational video can be scheduled to be published at a particular time which is of a future time and date. It is generally observed that most people scroll through youtube in the evenings, and judging by the practices of your niche audience, a particular time to post the video may be finalized. When you hit publish, the video is released for everyone to see immediately.

Rule #5 Promotion

Making a good video is one thing, but promoting the video is equally important. For the video to grow, it should be promoted well. Promoting a video on all possible social media like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Wizz, Reddit, and many more helps the video reach a wider audience faster. The more views a video receives, the more it shall be suggested to viewers when a search input is made. Promoting the videos regularly and posting videos consistently is the key to a successful video channel. 

Also, whenever there are any changes in the content data, the video should be updated regarding the same. This helps the video stay live for a longer time.

All the above rules are basic steps that will help a creator make their first video. The video may be for social media, business, marketing, education, or hobby the steps remain the same. 

There are many video editing software available in the market; investing in the right software goes a long way in the video-making process. 

We at fairygodmother use the most efficient WeVideo software to record and edit our videos, which has been the best for us. 

To check out the WeVideo software or try it for free, please click the link below: