Create videos for reuse

Consider whether you want a video to be reusable before you start creating it. This will determine how much information you want to include and what kinds of consent you need from any participants.

Core learning concepts

Is the video documenting a core learning concept or a more informal drop-in event? Core concepts can be good candidates for reuse, while informal drop-ins or group discussion may be more complicated to reuse.

It sounds obvious but generally videos dealing with core learning concepts are easier to reuse than complete zoom recordings of lectures.

Your complete lecture recordings may often contain highly contextual detail. There may be 10-20 mins at either end of the lecture dedicated to logistics of assessment, answering specific questions or just setting up the activities for that particular session. If you’d like to be able to reuse this video in future sessions or make it available for others to reuse, consider clipping out those sections that are very specific to the context of a particular session.

Dates

Consider whether you can avoid phrasing dates or times that would date the video and make it irrelevant for the next session or whoever might want to use the video for other contexts. For example, saying “last year…” or giving outdated advice about pandemic restrictions would put an expiry date on the video for next year and the years after that. Mentioning due dates for assessments would also date the video and make it applicable for that one session only.

If it’s important to the context of the video, saying e.g. “in 2020…” would be a good alternative. These dates could also be mentioned in text outside the video to make it relevant for that particular session and class. Text is readily changeable compared to video.

Segmenting videos

Consider breaking your 60-120 minute lecture recordings videos into smaller segments on a key point. The length of the video is not as important as the topic structure and concept. Let the video length fit the topic structure and concept. This allows for the inclusion of interactive elements and opportunities for discussion and reflection in between videos.

Chunking your videos to several short standalone segments will make it easier to replace sections that aren’t relevant anymore and conveniently reuse it for future sessions. It will also be quicker to share shorter videos with colleagues, so they can pick and choose which segments to use for their own subject. Bonus – shorter videos are faster to record the first time and re-record if needed.

Once chunked, it can be packaged with content outside the video such as text or a H5P activity to structure and enhance the learning experience.

Quality

High picture quality, clear audio, and cohesive editing increase a video’s longevity. Investing in good visuals such as clean and polished slides, consistent font sizes and colours, and high quality images adds a professional touch. Consider using UTS PowerPoint templates to enhance your presentation slides. You can download UTS templates from Staff Connect. When you or your colleagues need to reuse the video for other purposes, you’ll have the best material to work with.

The LX.lab Media Spaces provide professional equipment and the space to record and edit your videos. Alternatively, some ideas to refine your home video production include: improving lighting, using better webcams and microphones, and editing your videos like a pro.

Naming

Readiness to share also means giving your videos a meaningful title. So while ‘UTS Accounting Weekly Show S02 E09’ is a great title that accurately describes what the video is about, ‘GMT20211012-223347_12345-Lecture_12_1280x720’ isn’t so useful even though that’s what you might get when you download a Zoom recording. We recommend you give your videos meaningful titles so that they can be found easily. But for the sake of reuse, any slides you use, may need to avoid having specific dates included as well.

If a video is part of a series for a subject, start with the Subject number_Subject name. Then perhaps identify the topic to which the video relates. If there are multiple parts to the topic use the same naming convention for each video.

Accessibility

Try to ensure your videos meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards. Consider appropriate colour usage and text size, avoid rapidly flashing content, and describe any important visuals for individuals with vision impairments.

If you respond to questions in the chat during your video, make sure you read out the question for those viewing the recording. As a minimum, including captions and a transcript for the video helps those who need a text version of the content, such as ESL students or those with cognitive impairments. By uploading your videos to Kaltura you will automatically have captions and a transcript that are already around 96% accurate. You can then go in and edit them further where required. You might also want to avoid ‘seductive details‘ that might cause extraneous cognitive processing.

Copyright

If the video does use any copyright material (images, short clips of other videos, quotations, background music) these should be appropriately credited within the video. This would apply whether or not permission had been obtained to use the material (which normally would not be necessary). Individual copyright images can be copied and added to a video for illustrative purposes without needing specific permission; and copyright music can be used as background similarly. These materials would need to be credited in the video.