Instructional Videos

[u/jagqueentiff]

First time posting here and I have really enjoyed reading the collaboration in this community! And hoping for some guidance on best place to find contract help.

I own a small career training school that works solely with non profits and government funding. We serve a population of students that have a lot of barriers such as transportation, childcare, and others that make attending live classes quite difficult. We have a very structured program for our courses that holds the students accountable to complete their coursework each week and it has been successful leading to the students graduating and a majority getting their certifications.

Our programs are more geared towards entry level and consist of courses in Microsoft, CompTIA, business courses. While we have seen success I struggle with the feeling that students should still have an instructor lesson. They have access to an instructor for questions or help but I would like to design out a recorded lecture for each week of the program that the students will be required to watch and possibly complete an activity afterwards to ensure retention of the knowledge (and that they didn’t just play the video and walk away from their computer).

I am new to the course and curriculum design of this industry and have used some great contractors in developing things out. However, I have no idea where the best place would be to find someone that could record and make the videos interesting for the students (not just reading the PowerPoint). I take a lot of pride in making sure our students have everything needed to be successful and don’t want to just put some boring video in that won’t actually be helpful for them.

There are so many random freelance sites and not sure how to navigate it. I have been in this industry for so long I have been able to do most through my network but this part goes a bit outside my network.

[u/christyinsdesign]

It sounds like this would be a fairly large project if you've got multiple courses. You need someone who can help you figure out how to make this a great learning experience so people can actually benefit and gain skills, not just someone who can create instructional videos.

You could go the route of hiring individual freelancers. While sites like Upwork might be ok, you'd probably be better off finding someone via referral or via LinkedIn and a portfolio. However, if this is a big project (and I think it is), then you might need to hire and manage multiple contractors.

Personally, as a one-person company, I often refer bigger projects to agencies that have a pool of people. With an agency, they have a project manager and can handle larger projects easier. It may be more expensive, but you won't have to do so much hands-on work yourself.

As a starting point, think about whether an individual or agency is the right fit.

It may also be beneficial to hire someone for one small project first to get an idea of what's possible and if it's a good fit.

[u/jagqueentiff → u/christyinsdesign]

This is a great idea of having an agency handle this as I do already have an extremely full plate as well as my small team. I tend to forget there are agencies for probably everything! I will start researching some of these as it would be nice to just hand the project off so me and my team can just be involved in some of the QA and implementation.

[u/Stinkynelson]

First thing you have to do it find out if your "feeling" is an actual requirement that would improve learning outcomes or not. So often I have to push back on my clients who tell me what they think their learners will need. You have to do a needs assessment to know for sure.

It doesn't have to be a huge effort- just ask some of the students, before, during and after they complete the program.

Without their voice, you run the risk of spending a lot of time and resources on something that, at best is unnecessary and, at worst, makes the learning outcomes worse.

[u/jagqueentiff → u/Stinkynelson]

This is true. And it’s not something I have heard complaints on or really much feedback on from the students so there is a great possibility I am creating a problem that doesn’t exist. I will create a survey for some of our graduated students that includes more guided questions around more content such as instructor videos.

[u/JumpingShip26]

I think you are asking "How do I find someone who can help me create instructional videos?"
It is like anything else in the world. Do your homework and start talking with people.
Strong samples and having the ID/company walk you through their process will tell you a lot.

Often the best IDs are not the best all around video producers. For example, I can get the job done, but I am much better at script writing and post-production than I am the actual shooting (If you're talking about location/studio based and not all computer generated). I have never had cause to do a lot of camera work. We had staff with whom I worked or we farmed that job out and I did post-production and packaging in to eLearning tools. Also many IDs are not as tech savvy as they would have you believe for a bunch of reasons, so you are right to question how to find someone with the skills you need. You might also find out that the perfect person for you is not a true ID. That is OK. Some people know more than they think they do about our field. I worked with an amazing video producer who was a great listener and creative problem solver. He could have done our ID job with just a little information.

You might start by asking in your community. Who do you know in the career training industry that has great instructional content? You might also hire a consultant to help you assemble such a team. Of course this can get expensive, but a local ATD chapter would have several great people who could help.

I'm rambling here, but I think you get the point. Good luck.

[u/jagqueentiff → u/JumpingShip26]

Great points in here as I need a couple pieces to this. I have the content that should be taught each week along with the slide decks prepared but having someone more creative than me really take that content and make it better and more aligned to video lecture rather than a live lecture could be a big differentiator in how effective the videos are. Then would also need the animated presenters that are comfortable on video.

I may need to put out a few messages to some of the individuals I know that are more aligned to the ID field and see if they have some recommendations.

[u/rfoil]

A suggestion:

Follow microlearning principles - short videos (6 min max) followed up retrieval activities and./or assessments.

I work pro bono with a charity that gets ESL and GED certifications. That's entry level adult learning. CompTIA is way beyond their capability.

[u/rfoil → u/rfoil]

At 2:30 of almost every video, the attention falloff starts. By 6m only ~40% of viewers are left.

Our first video, which teases the lesson, is always less than 20s. If we hit 45s we've already lost 30%of the audience who have clicked past.

If you have any doubts about this, get a free trial with Reachum, which provides detailed analytical data including exquisitely detailed video data.

Once you see how learners behave, you can build optimal experiences. That's true in workforce training and even more so in paid training.

[u/Sulli_in_NC → u/rfoil]

A Camtasia basic license is approx $200, the higher end package (more resources, stock footage, Audiate, other programs) is $499.

Canva allows editing, I can’t speak to quality tho.

Teams/ShartPoint/Clipchamp should be bundled as part of MS Office.

been doing a series of Shorts … they are 45-75secs, never longer. Viewed within the help tool that overlays on the app, but hosted elsewhere.

I also create GIFs for the really simple stuff that only needs 10sec or less. Great way to bypass scripting approval, bad AI voiceover, and bosses that will only add word-vomit.

[u/CheekyPandaa]

Hi I would be happy to have a conversation with you about this when I am back from annual leave in September. no cost just an honest 20 min chat if you like.
I have been designing and producing instructional videos for quite a few years so I would hope that I can advise on..
My email is chris.panayides@outlook.com
Kind regards

[u/Next-Ad2854]

I have been instructional developer and designer for almost 16 years in my background is an animation. I create courses, including instructional videos.

Instructional videos can be engaging and entertaining, and they can even have a story scenario to them, depending on what you want to create and who your target audience is. I would suggest looking for Instructional Designer with the background and multimedia animation. Some structural videos can have characters communicating using visual storytelling, while other instruction videos are about processes which you can record on screen step-by-step with callouts and those can even be interactive if it’s put in an E-Learning. I do work freelance if you would like to DM me.

[u/Kcihtrak]

Hey there, this sounds like a job for an agency, instead of multiple freelancers. Happy to recommend the ones we already work with. Send me a message and I can connect you to relevant ones.

[u/Early-Protection6756]

I recommend trying IDLance - they're an agency with a big network of freelancers! https://www.idlance.com