The Instructional Design Center (IDC) houses a full-service video production studio. Products include lecture videos, instructor course introductions, interviews, role-playing and scenario-based videos, overhead camera demonstrations, and more. View examples of our work below.

Lightboard Lecture Video

Overhead Camera Demonstration Video

Lecture Video

Planning a Studio Project

Are you planning a studio project? Before scheduling a recording session or setting foot in front of a camera, prepare for your media project by doing the following:

Determine Goals and Needs

Determine the goals of your project. What are the outcomes?

• Are you informing?
• Are you explaining?
• Are you trying to motivate students?
• Are you demonstrating a technique that students will replicate?

Is video necessary, or could a different approach be more effective? Ensure that your outcomes work well with the video delivery mode.

Discuss the Project with Experts

Once you have determined your project goals and feel that video is a good medium to reach them, meet with your instructional designer or the media producer. He/she will listen to your goals, present potential barriers and possibilities, and answer questions you have about the project. In some instances, he/she can also expedite creation of project materials.

Write the Script

Draft a script for your video project, using the following tips:

• Say what is needed in a concise, targeted way.
• Speak to the audience at an appropriate level—not so elementary that the content sounds childish and not so advanced that no one will understand you.
• To maintain interest, limit your video to no more than 7 minutes. How can you determine video length from words in a script? The average speech rate for presentations is 100 to 150 words per minute, so a 5-minute lecture is usually about 500 to 625 words in length. If your final script is more than 1000 words, you likely have editing to do!
• References to dates and times, textbook editions, page numbers, and specific assignments can dramatically limit a video’s shelf life. Steer clear of these details so that you may use your video over several terms rather than just one.
• Ask your instructional designer or media producer to review your script draft. He/she often has editing experience that will help locate areas of text that are unnecessarily complicated or not well organized.
• Read your final script aloud several times to look for terms or words you might trip over. If you find such words or phrases, look for other ways to state the same idea more smoothly.

Determine and Locate Supporting Materials

Work with your instructional designer or media producer to develop supporting materials for the video. As with the initial planning, consider the goals of the project to determine what really benefits students’ learning and what might be eye candy or overkill. Supporting materials might include PowerPoint slides, video clips, or images. These materials must be of sufficient quality to incorporate into high-definition video; your instructional designer or media producer can help you determine requirements in this area. Keep in mind that although fair use and the TEACH Act offer significant liberty in third-party material usage, restrictions exist. You may use

• Graphics owned by you personally (e.g., personal photographs or drawings)
• Graphics, videos, or audio you have properly licensed from a stock library (e.g., an image for which you have purchased a license from Shutterstock)
• Graphics, videos, or audio you have received written permission from the copyright holder to use (e.g., a lecture that a colleague has recorded at a conference and provided documentation that you may use)
• Graphics, videos, or audio that are in accordance with fair use or the TEACH Act

Schedule Your Recording

Schedule a studio recording date and time through your instructional designer. The recording studio is typically available within 2 weeks of request, but post-production (editing and finessing the raw footage into the final video) often takes a tremendous amount of time, particularly if supporting materials are to be used. Thus, we recommend scheduling your recording sooner rather than later.

You will read the script from a teleprompter during recording, so send your instructional designer or media producer the final draft of your script at least 48 hours before the scheduled shoot. The script must be in either .doc, .docx, .rtf, or .txt file format. Avoid bullet points, columns, tables, and images in your submitted script. The teleprompter cannot display these accurately.

Location/Parking

You will find EKU Online’s Instructional Design Center in Commonwealth Hall, 4374 Kit Carson Drive, Richmond, Kentucky, on EKU’s main campus. The video studio is on the 19th floor, Room 1901, on the south side of the building. EKU’s parking office is conveniently located on Commonwealth’s second floor and can provide a temporary parking pass to the upper Employee Lot during the spring or fall semester or the resident/commuter lots surrounding Commonwealth during the summer.

Wardrobe

Solid colors are always best for video recording. Avoid tight patterns like pinstripes, plaids, and tweeds as well as metallic or shiny fabrics. If your recording includes green screen, do not wear any type of green clothing; otherwise, you will blend into the background. Your instructional designer or media producer can provide more advice, if needed.

Water

Vocal work takes a toll, even if you are speaking for just a few minutes. Bring a bottle of room-temperature water to keep the vocal cords working well.