I’m on a mission to help people make and use video for learning purposes. To share your learning video like a professional you need these five proven steps. Professional editors plan, edit, and share. This post focuses on the 5 proven things you need to share your learning video. You should only follow these five steps after you have effectively planned and edited the learning video. In other words, this post assumes you have conducted a needs analysis, spent time scriptwriting, completed video pre-production, and recorded footage like a professional. It also assumes you have planned your edit and followed my 10 Steps You Need To Edit Learning Video. Turn back now, if you haven’t – or else! (Or else… nothing really – just some fake drama for motivational purposes).
Sharing your video like a pro is about function. Preparing your video to go into an authoring tool or live in a CMS is not about art or even messaging. Sharing is about properly executing the task! You can do it! Learn the process. Be the solution!
~ Chris Karel
So let’s get to it!
Use 5 Proven Things to Share your Learning Video
Congratulations! You did it! You edited the world’s best learning video. Okay! Maybe you don’t like the author of this blog post acting like Buddy, but my point is you have done the hard work already. Making a video that is ready to share takes a lot of patience and skill. Sharing a video is a step by step process that you need to internalize. These five things will cement your KSB promise. You will help your learners improve their knowledge, skills, and behaviors.
Obtain sign-off
The review cycle is essential in all learning projects. If you or your project manager has kept reviews to two consolidated sessions, then you won’t need this final review step. However, I suggest that you obtain final sign-off from all leaders on the project. You want a final round of feedback to guarantee that the video is great before step 2. If you are DIY-ing it, make sure you’re getting a second set of eyes and/or taking a good, long look at your video to ensure that it fits your content and quality standards.
Create subtitles
This needs to be done for every learning video you make. I think it is just as important as good audio. “Really?” you may exclaim. “Yes!” I say! Outside of the learning video world, most people watch videos without sound. If you can believe it, over 80% of people on social media watch video without sound. In the learning video world, we need to account for that viewing behavior.
FYI: Subtitles are a translated version of a video’s transcription, meant to give the viewer a real-time experience of what is happening on screen (Science of Subtitles).
Dann Albright further supports my assertion in his 7 Reasons Your Videos Need Subtitles infographic. Basically, he states that placing subtitles on your learning video increases engagement by 25% while also leading to better comprehension.
Read more about why subtitles are so important in the helpful links at the bottom of this post.
Verify the format
If terms like codec, compression, h.264, and bit rate make you want to scream before you start Googling, please take a breath. Your final delivery method is going to dictate these details. Chances are, your authoring tool has a preferred format for videos, so you should use that.. I’ll make it simple. For example, Articulate Rise “recommend(s) using high-quality videos with a 16:9 aspect ratio for the best results in your published courses. Rise 360 compresses videos so they have smaller file sizes while maintaining quality, converting videos to H.264 video and AAC audio in MP4 containers.” My personal experience suggests that if you provide Rise with an h.264 AAC video the compression will not degrade the video quality.
Save and export your video at the highest quality available to you.
If you are like me and crave the details, here is a list of export format parameters that pros use.
Format: h.264
Preset: If you have this option choose Vimeo or YouTube.
Size: 1920×1080 – unless your source video is smaller. Never enlarge your video from its original size.
Frame rate: The higher the frame rate the smoother the image will be. But, like the size, you cannot enlarge the frame rate without degrading the quality.
Audio: 320 Kbps is ideal, with a 48kHz sample rate. If you have to step down, please listen to it to make sure the audio loss is marginal.
Export for the deliverable
If your learning video is going to be imported into an authoring tool like Storyline or Rise, then a high-quality MP4 will be ideal. If you are going to place it directly into your LMS, then please do a Google search with these keywords: “name of LMS” + video formats. Most will take an MP4.
If your deliverables will live on social media, please refer to the guidelines below:
YouTube Upload Encoding Settings
Everything You Need to Know About LinkedIn Video
Start the Update Clock
Once you publish a learning video you are on the clock. Even if you tried to plan and produce evergreen content, eventually you will need to update the video. If you or your management team has planned appropriately, it will be time to start the measurement and maintenance phase of the learning plan. In other words, deploying your video for learning is not the end of the instructional design process. You need to have reminders built into a calendar to check-in on your video’s success. Typically, this is built into the overall training strategy. However, it is critical that you plan for the eventual update by cleaning up your folders and archiving any old drafts. And make sure everything is triple backed-up!
Helpful Links
Video Editing Workflow: How to Do it Properly
The Ultimate Checklist for Video Editing Basics
4 Tips to Improve Your Video Editing Workflow
Subtitle Support
Lights, camera, caption! Why subtitles are no longer just for the hard of hearing
The Science of Subtitles: How Subtitles Actually Work
7 Reasons Your Videos Need Subtitles [Infographic]
Subtitles are more important than you think
Summary
Okay, let’s do a recap! Before you share your learning video, you should have planned and edited it. When it is time to share your video, the five-step process begins with obtaining sign-off from the decision-makers. Add subtitles to improve engagement and comprehension. Verify the format and export the file so that it aligns with where you plan to post the video. Finally, plan for the future by starting the update clock. Clean up your project folders, back up all your materials, and be ready for changes. They will come eventually!
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