Introduction
Ever recorded a captivating course video, one you know is awesome and full of information, but you can tell by the email questions you are getting that they glazed over when they listened to the video?
You’re not alone!
Keeping students engaged in online learning can be a real challenge, especially when our students are listening to the lessons and modules while folding the laundry, sitting in car line, or sitting on the sidelines of a soccer practice.
We can either throw in the towel and accept that you’ll be answering the basic questions forever and referring students right back to the exact minute where you covered their question OR we can implement 3 essential strategies for creating truly captivating course videos that grab their attention, deliver content in a concise way, and create an experience that has them glued to the video.
What do you say? Answer the never-ending questions via email or course group OR boost your course videos so that the questions never even get asked because they are answered and heard from the get go?
If you are ready to go, we can jump right into the 3 strategies and be sure to stick around to the end because I’m covering the truth behind short videos.
Why Engagement Matters
I think we can all agree that today’s world is fast-paced and jam-packed, which makes trying to capture and maintain our digital course students’ attention hard! There are a million and one things on any given person’s to-do list each day and the course videos we so lovingly and painstakingly create takes up just one slot on that list.
That is so humbling, isn’t it? What is HUGE to us, is just one tiny piece of someone’s life.
This means that we have to carefully create our course content, especially our videos to garner a spot of importance on that list.
Without engaging course videos, our students are less likely to complete our course because they lose interest, they are less likely to actively engage with the information and so they don’t remember or implement what we are teaching them, and unengaging videos can even lead to negative reviews that lower our future course sales.
Three Strategies for Engaging Students in Video Lessons
Strategy 1: Hook Them From the Start with Relatable Stories
One key strategy to creating engaging course videos that will hook your students is to hook them with a relatable story at the very beginning. Start each video with a compelling story or anecdote that immediately grabs your students’ attention.
One of my favorite things to do at the beginning of a course or the beginning of a module video is to share my experience with the content and when I was in their position. For example, you know that I help digital course creators actually create their courses. So I’ll often share that when I first started teaching and creating courses I was lost. There was the span of a week where I literally sat on the floor in a colleagues office looking through all of their resources, trying to make decisions, figure out what materials to include, and how to set up my course so that students would actually get something out of it. And I asked a ton of questions so that I could do the best job I was capable of as a new course creator. Many of my clients relate to that feeling of being lost, needing some help, and feeling overwhelmed with all of the decisions that have to be made. They are hooked because I share a real life example that they can relate to.
By sharing that I needed a mentor, they are feeling more comfortable with needing my help to figure out this digital course thing. We have faced a common challenge and they can see the future where they have a completed course ready to sell.
By opening with the story you are also dropping them right into the “mix” of things instead of giving them time to get distracted physically or mentally. We don’t need lengthy introductions, what we need is to immerse our students in the situation that we are going to help them with. Think back to how I opened this podcast episode. I said something like, “Ever recorded a captivating course video, one you know is awesome and full of information, but you can tell by the email questions you are getting that they glazed over when they listened to the video?” This was designed to get you interested, which hopefully you are since you are listening right now, and help you see the importance of the topic.
The more we can use stories in our course modules and lessons the better we will be able to capture and maintain our students’ attention.
This kind of storytelling also works really well in sales videos on your sales page and when you present to groups. Instead of walking out on stage and introducing yourself by saying, Hi! I’m Dr. Moira and for the past 15 years I’ve been creating and implementing digital courses. I’m here today to help you do the same.”, which admittedly is kind of boring, what would happen if I walked out on stage and shared the following,
“I was scrolling through the Facebook group for the hundredth time that week and all I could see were posts about how someone was stuck, how frustrated they were with their progress on their course, and questions about whether they should give up because it had been months and they still had no visible progress on getting a course ready to launch. I knew this feeling, I knew this aloneness and fear that the stars would never align in getting everything done in a cohesive, meaningful way. But I also knew that when I was in that same spot, a mentor helped me to stay focused on the right actions, answered my endless questions, and within a few weeks I had a course planned, created, and ready to go. And that is the key, I didn’t do it alone. I had personalized help and didn’t just rely on the power of a massive Facebook group to figure everything out. This is why I’m so passionate about helping other course creators go from sticky notes to a course worth celebrating. And that is why I am here today. We are going to talk about the next 3 steps that you can take to make progress on your course. Things that you might not realize are the keys to getting your course finished and ready to launch. Are you ready?”
Now in that story that I dropped you into, I didn’t tell you about my years of experience. Instead I let you sink into things that you might have posted in the last week. I invited you into my frustration when I was creating a course, and I told you how I found a solution. Then I invited you to take steps today based on what I’m going to share. Instead of putting myself on a pedestal, which is not my jam, I shared that I’ve been in your shoes and I have some answers that might really help you right now.
It is relatable and can hook your course students into your lesson.
Strategy 2: Prioritize Relatable Examples and Active Learning Connection
It isn’t enough to just have some relatable examples and stories in our videos, though. I wish it were that easy! The second strategy that we need to implement inside our course videos is to connect our relatable examples to active learning opportunities.
You have heard me talk about active learning before, most recently in episodes 225 and 227. Today I want to tie in the concept of active learning to the strategy of including relatable examples and stories.
As we plan out modules and lessons it can be really important not just to create a story arc that is energizing and attention grabbing. The story needs to lead to something that allows for action. We want to make sure that we are creating a spider web of knowledge. The stories need to help our students make connections between what we are teaching in the video and what they already know.
Once they have that spider web of connections, then it is easier to see how they can take action. We can share with them ways to reflect on the content, which actually makes that spiderweb even stronger, we can have them answer a question, and brainstorm an idea or next step.
So tell the stories, use the analogies, share the case studies, but make sure that you ask them to pause the video and take action along the way. Listening without action is just a passive, non-needle moving activity. We want the needle-moving activities and so do our students!
Strategy 3: Keep it Concise and Actionable
Finally, stories can easily go deep and into the nitty gritty details of a concept, however, we have to keep our lessons short. We need to be concise and clear in each course video lesson that we provide.
Why?
Because our course students have a million other things on their to-do list aside from watching and listening to us talk!
This is where having a detailed outline to talk from or even a fully written script can be helpful. This is especially true if you know that you are someone who likes to take the rambling path through the forest during a story.
The key here is to have a plan. Open the lesson with a clear objective, share 3-5 ideas about the objective, and then wrap up. As my advisor always said, make it as long as it needs to be to be effective and not a word longer.
This is even true when you are creating written lessons. I have a mini course on accessibility that is a starter kit for online entrepreneurs who value making sure their materials are accessible to their potential clients and clients. This is a largely written course that pulls in outside references and is very specific or to the point. There isn’t any fluff. Even though it has more written content than video content, I still break up each lesson on a separate page. For example, I provide 3 steps to creating accessible auditory content. Each of those steps is on it’s own page inside my course platform. This allows students to stay focused AND to make fast progress through the course. No long scrolling and in the case of a video lesson…no zoning out.
With shorter video or written lessons, focus on delivering the key information just in smaller chunks. Limit the off-topic or bunny trail stories that don’t enhance the understanding and spider-webbing of information. And, end each video with a clear call to action.
Now I know that you might be worried about what your students will think when they encounter short lessons. Will they feel like they are getting their money’s worth? Is there enough depth to the lessons? I’m going to share more about that in just a moment in our Sixty-Second Solution, but before we get there, it is time to take action.
Action Item
This week, choose one of your existing course videos and analyze it from an engagement perspective.
- Does it start with a compelling hook?
- Are the examples relatable and easy to understand?
- Is the video concise and to the point?
- Identify areas for improvement and make a plan to revise your video accordingly.
If that feels too big, choose one video lesson and one concept. Does Module 3, Lesson 4 have a compelling hook? If yes, great examine another lesson for a compelling hook. If it doesn’t, add some written language into the lesson until you are ready to re-record the video lesson. This will serve as your hook for the time being.
And if you are having trouble or feeling stuck, reach out. We all need a mentor, we all have questions sometimes that need to be answered by someone other than ourselves! This is exactly why professors have office hours for students. They know that sometimes there are questions that need outside input and ideas. This is precisely why I have office hours for course creators. When we have someone that we can ask questions of, we take action faster and easier. So send me a DM on Facebook or Instagram at DigitalCourseCreatorGuide.
Sixty-Second Solution
Now, I promised that I would come back to the doubts that can creep in when we create shorter lessons that w are used to. We can start to worry that our students might feel like they aren’t getting their money’s worth. We can start to worry that there isn’t enough detail.
These worry spots can lead to rambling lessons that get longer and longer in an effort to make sure that we are providing “enough” value.
I’ll be honest with you. If you are worrying about these things, I am 99.9% sure that you are providing enough content, enough value, and enough detail.
If you find that you are constantly trying to add “one more thing” ask yourself if it is truly necessary. What will it add to the student’s course experience?
And finally, remember that we can do everything possible to create a stellar course experience with the right mix of short videos, compelling hooks, meaningful objectives and action items and there will be someone who is cranky about what we’ve created.
Our job is to put our best effort into your work and get it out into the world to do some good. We want to prioritize quality over quantity.
Where to Go Next?
By focusing on creating engaging and impactful video lessons, we can significantly improve the learning experience for your students and increase course completion rates. Remember to prioritize human connection, keep the content concise and actionable, and always strive to create a valuable and enjoyable learning experience.
Since this episode is all about student engagement and I mentioned two episodes earlier that you can check out, let me go ahead and share them one more time. You can check out Episode 225: The Power of Live Q&A Sessions: Connecting with Your Students in Real-Time and Episode 227: The Psychology of Learning that AI Misses: Creating a Digital Course that Works.
As always, thank you so much for listening in. If you found this episode helpful, please share with your entrepreneur friends and colleagues who are building a digital course in their business and be sure to subscribe to the Digital Course Creator Podcast.
Until next time, happy creating!
