A production pro’s playbook for designing and recording an instructional course

There’s no denying it: creating online courses takes a ton of work — often becoming a frustratingly long process, especially as you record a lot of instructional videos. 

One thing that can help you simplify course design and production? Storytelling ✨ 

Elise London, Vimeo’s resident video expert who films all our in-house and marketing courses, shares that the key to creating engaging virtual courses is using stories to plan and deliver information.  

Identifying the story in the problem your course solves and structuring content using the hero’s journey storytelling technique are game-changers. Here’s everything you need to do to efficiently plan, structure, and film an engaging online video course, including the tools you’ll need. 

Finding the ideal topic for your online course

You don’t need a new, out-of-the-box idea for your virtual course. 

Instead, identify a topic that’s already in high demand. An in-depth understanding of your business objectives and target audience will help. Here’s how: 

Identify what’s already resonating

Use data measurement tools like Google Analytics to find high-performing published pieces. Spot an ebook on a specific topic that did particularly well? Consider expanding it into a detailed video course. 

You can also survey your email list to unearth topics your audience wants a virtual course on. Send the same survey out on social media (if you have an engaged audience there) and to communities you’re a part of. 

Remember: the goal is to find a course topic that your audience has an appetite for. 

Go deep, not wide

As you shortlist in-demand topics for your educational video course, ask yourself if they’re too broad. All-encompassing topics are hard for learners to master, which dilutes their interest in your course. A broad topic means your course isn’t solving a specific problem your target students have. 

“If you look at the questions learners have around your topic, the feelings they feel as they tackle your target concept, you can position your video course as the solution to it.

For example, the concept of ‘live streaming’ is broad but overwhelming for learners to wrap their heads around.” 

Elise London, Senior content production manager

The solution? Review the emotional struggles your audience faces when tackling a topic. 

Ask yourself: 

• What confusion is our audience encountering as they solve the target problem?
• What feelings are overwhelming that we can help them overcome?

In the case of live streaming, for example, the answers could be feelings of anxiety as folks set up their first live stream. A course on this topic would then be “How to easily set up a live stream so you aren’t overwhelmed.” 

Planning and structuring your online course

Elise recommends using the hero’s journey to lay out your online course. It involves: 

• Covering the challenges target students have. Find these by understanding questions folks have about your course’s topic.
• Guiding them through overcoming challenges and discovering solutions. This is where you break the topic into modules and video lessons — each answering a question.
• Leaving them with the promised transformation. Provide more resources like checklists and templates to help students apply what they learn.

Here’s how to dig out audience questions and desired outcomes to plan and structure your course:

Research questions your audience has

Instead of assuming, follow these steps: 

• Browse Reddit and Quora to compile a list of commonly asked questions.
• Survey and hold one-on-one calls with learners to ask questions directly.
• Listen to customer calls with sales and support teams to uncover common questions.
• Check bestseller books’ index pages on Amazon for insights into the questions they address on the course topic.

If you’ve been hosting webinars on the course topic, you can also review questions attendees ask to inform your research. 

Break the course topic into buckets

Next, reference your audience’s challenges and questions to break your topic into narrative modules that build on each other as the next logical step in the learner’s journey. 

“Instead of saying, ‘We’re going to teach you to use the interactive studio’ (which is a broad, hard-to-wrap-my mind-around thing), say, ‘We’re going to teach you beginner, intermediate, and advanced features.’ This way, the topics [for your virtual course] fit into one of those three buckets.” 

Elise London, Senior content production manager

Put simply, break “disparate ideas and put them into buckets so that when you’re looking at the course from afar, it all seems more doable.” 

Plan video lessons

Each video lesson should arrange information to encourage maximum learning. 

“Even if the information is complicated, if you can organize it in a way that it looks simple, it just increases the likelihood of people watching it and understanding the information,” notes Elise. 

Again, the hero’s journey storytelling technique can help with this. Follow these three steps to structure your training videos: 

1. Touch on your student’s challenges related to the question a video lesson will solve.
2. Answer the questions by giving solutions to the problem they’re facing.
3. Summarize the video or offer supplementary resources to help them transform.

Script on-demand video lessons

You can use either a bulleted outline for a video script or a fleshed-out transcript.

“Depending on the subject matter, sometimes you have to also keep in mind the nature of the content you’re trying to deliver,” Elise advises.

An outline is simple to create and lets you make stream-of-consciousness style videos — keeping things conversational. A script, however, reduces work on the editing backend since the recording is far better planned out. The best choice will vary according to how technical your course topic is. 

Shooting your course video content

Video production quality ranks closely behind perceived learning, delivery style, and video length among reasons why people like educational videos. Of course, there’s a lot that goes into nailing video quality.

Tools you’ll need

For a decent production tool kit and setup, you’ll need: 

• Microphone, cameras (two minimum), and a 3 or 4-point lighting kit
• Learning Management System (LMS). This software will house your video course, making it accessible for students. Examples: Teachable, Podia, and Kajabi.
• Vimeo. An ad-free video platform to host, record, edit, and add elements of interactivity to educational videos that you can then upload to your LMS.
• Teleprompter. A display device that shows rolling text on the screen to make it easy for on-screen folks to record video.
• Music pedal. A foot-operated, budget-friendly keyboard that lets you change course slides on the screen.

Planning to create screen-recorded tutorial videos (say for your employee training course)? Vimeo’s free screen recorder can help 🎉 

Building an ideal video production set

Elise recommends you: 

1. Never use overhead fluorescent lights

These can cast harsh shadows on your face. Fluorescent lights also flicker sometimes, bringing about a greenish hue and impacting your video quality’s consistency.

2. Record without natural light

Natural light changes throughout the day and if you happen to be filming for several hours in a row, the light quality in your video won’t look consistent, Elise warns. This is also a problem if you decide to move sections from one video to a different one. 

3. Set your cameras at different angles

The second camera doesn’t “just spice up the editing (which is helpful even if you’re using a script, and even if you do get it all right in one take) but also to prevent monotony for viewers looking at the instructor’s face.” 

“More importantly, a second camera is used to cover cuts,” Elise adds. “So if whatever you’re delivering is not going to come out in one take, then the way you hide that edit is either using B-roll or you simply cut to another camera.” 

4. Create a clean, clutter-free background 

Avoid bright colors like orange, magenta, and yellow since these can cause color reflections and be distracting for viewers. Go for neutral background tones like grey, dark blue, and soft white instead. These look great on camera and are also comfortable on the eyes. 

Recording your online video course

Naturally, recording can feel a little nerve-racking. If you dedicate enough time to planning and scripting your course, filming shouldn’t be hard.  

5. Always use a teleprompter

A teleprompter saves you from freezing up on screen as you try to remember what the next point is. 

This makes recording easy and reduces edits, but “it also helps you maintain eye contact with the camera as you look into the teleprompter screen,” notes Elise. 

6. Use a music pedal to switch between slides

“Instead of a keyboard or clicker that’s visible in your hand, use a music pedal to [change your slides]. It’s basically just a USB Bluetooth keyboard with a left and a right. Using it means the person presenting doesn’t have to reach for the keyboard or the mouse to advance it.” 

Editing your on-demand videos

Aim to edit for brevity and provide an engaging viewing experience using these professional tips: 

7. Edit ruthlessly

Even though online learning is in high demand, you still need to be respectful of your viewers’ time. The same holds for internal learning and development (L&D) courses for employee training. 

As a rule, edit out anything that doesn’t add to the overall message or overcomplicates things. 

8. Add B-roll content for maximum engagement

One way to break the monotony of a talking-head video is to switch between cameras at a regular pace. 

You can also add animations, graphics, slides, stock footage, or custom recordings for an immersive learning experience. 

9. Layer in interactivity

Traditional videos are linear in progress with their limited start, stop, and pause options. Interactive videos, however, let viewers interact with the video. This lets students: 

• Enjoy a build-your-own-learning path 
• Click on video hotspots to dig into more learning resources
• Jump between sections most relevant to them (useful for in-house onboarding videos)

In turn, interactive videos increase viewer engagement, improving retention. You can also test your students’ knowledge by making video quizzes using Vimeo Interactive.

Ready to design your online course?

Designing a video course your audience loves boils down to: 

• Being specific about the problem you want to solve
• Building the information into a cohesive story
• Organizing the content so it’s easy to follow and digest

And don’t forget, the right tools can take the stress out of filming high-quality courses, guaranteeing an immersive learning experience. 

Take Vimeo for a free spin to record and host videos for your educational courses →