Lights, Camera, Learning: 5 Keys to Better eLearning Videos

Here at Clarity, my role as content creator involves designing eLearning videos and courses for our clients. These range from interactive demos of educational software products to introductory courses aimed at training viewers on specific technologies. Through working on these projects, I have come to find that there are certain key elements in creating engaging and effective eLearning videos.

1. Be Mindful of Your Video Length

When it comes to eLearning videos, keep it short and sweet. At Clarity, we try to keep our video trainings between 8-12 minutes long so we don’t lose our viewers’ attention.

2. Offer Interactivity

Another key to engaging viewers is to create interactivity within your eLearning video. This can be as simple as pausing betweens sections of content using Continue buttons and including interactive navigation so that viewers can jump between sections, to something more sophisticated as peppering your video with quizzes throughout as checks for understanding. This allows the user to have an active rather than passive role in their viewing experience.

3. Ensure High Quality Audio

Avoid unnecessarily distracting your listeners by ensuring that your audio recording is clear and professional. In our work at Clarity, we use professional voice talent to record our scripts. If you record your own audio, pick a space that is private with no background noise and use high-quality recording equipment.

4. Support Narration with Text, Images and Animations

Text is important in your eLearning video, but it should not be a word-for-word dictation of the voice over. Text should appear on screen to support the most important parts of the content.

Images should be used to support the narration. While viewers will be more captivated by the images, these images should relate to the content to avoid confusion. Images can range from high-resolution, relevant photography to clean, informational icons.

Animations can add interest to your eLearning video, but similarly to images, they must support the narration. For example, include an animated pie chart or bar graph when discussing data points. This adds interest, yet also relates directly to the content without being distracting.

5. Establish and Maintain Consistency

It is important to establish consistency within your video as well as among similar eLearning courses. At Clarity, we create a style guide for our videos and courses to ensure a similar focus and appearance. Some examples of consistency for your eLearning videos include:

• Choosing the similar transitions for on-screen elements such as “Fade In” and “Slide In”
• Consistent placement of navigations, headers, logos, buttons
• Templating outlines that can overlay any slide to verify placement of text and imagery
• Applying the same treatment for images within the course (ex. borders, size, filter)
• Establishing the same background for all videos to create continuity throughout

Need advice on your eLearning materials, or want to add to our list of best practices? Let us know at blog@clarity-innovations.com.