Planning

• If you intend to make a long video, such as an hour-long lecture, we strongly recommend instead chunking your content into topics and creating several shorter videos.
  
  Research shows shorter, focused videos allow students to more effectively manage their cognitive load, and later review the content for study purposes. Thus, chunk content to logical breaks.
• Aim for about 6-9 minutes for each recording. Plan for revision questions at the end of each chunk to allow students to engage with the material.  Create an outline that details what content you want to cover in each video. This can help keep you on track without having to write a full script.
• Keep a list of links used, slides and other documents referred to in your video, this can be useful additional material for students.
• Plan for sustainability. Avoid mentioning dates or specific assessments that will limit the use of the video in the future. You can always create a separate video for the assessment tasks. 

Content

• Explain how this topic connects to the learning outcomes and how it will benefit the student.
• Use the PowerPoint template specifically designed for learning and teaching.
• Apply multimedia design principles wherever possible, including reducing the amount of text on your slides.
• Remove dates and semester specific references from your slides wherever possible.
• Students may be watching your video on a mobile device. Keep text to a minimum, use points and expand on those when presenting. Keep your slides clear, and use relevant imagery where possible.
• Avoid reading the slides verbatim. This causes additional cognitive load for students who are watching and listening to the same text.
• If you make a mistake, pause, then start the sentence again. You can edit the video later in Echo360.
• Be engaging, relaxed and show enthusiasm. Teacher enthusiasm is one of the keys to student perceptions of good teaching and has been shown to increase engagement. 

Your working environment

• Minimise background noise. Do a test to ensure you can’t hear any street noise or fridges. Close doors and windows.
• Clean up the desktop on your computer. Have the required windows open and practice navigating around the screen first.
• Exit all other applications. Turn off notifications. Switch your phone off. You want to avoid distractions.
• Make sure the application, window or browser you are recording is switched to full screen. You want to capture everything at the best possible size for clarity. 

Technology

• Minimise background noise. Do a test to ensure you can’t hear any street noise or fridges. Close doors and windows.
• Clean up the desktop on your computer. Have the required windows open and practice navigating around the screen first.
• Exit all other applications. Turn off notifications. Switch your phone off. You want to avoid distractions.
• Make sure the application, window or browser you are recording is switched to full screen. You want to capture everything at the best possible size for clarity.