Video has become a popular format for delivering course content, especially via the web. This page provides information about the pros and cons of using video, about video production, and about the process of digitizing and delivering video over the web. 

Before You Begin a Video Project

1. Is video necessary to meet your instructional goals? 
Creating and preparing video can be an expensive and time-consuming endeavor. There are only a few instances in which video is the best or the only option you have for effectively illustrating your course content or for getting students engaged in course materials.

Instructional Needs Met by Video reproduce and/or model "authentic" experience, including verbal and nonverbal communication allow students to "travel" to inaccessible places illustrate dynamic processes and compress or expand time

A "virtual" patient can explain his condition, giving future doctors a more authentic clinical experience.

2. What methods/materials might be more effective at illustrating your course content?
In some cases, video may contain too much or irrelevant information. A series of still drawings or animations may better clarify or simplify procedures and processes. Audio combined with a series of still images (a "slide show") can be just as effective for creating a mood or making a particular point.
 

Non-video Alternatives still images audio only still images with text or audio tracks animations or animated GIFs

Drawings or animations reduce visual clutter and focus students' attention.

3. What existing videos or products contain the materials you need?
There may be commercially produced videos and/or materials that you can adopt or adapt for your course use. News programs, documentaries, and teaching compilations of video segments on particular topics are available for purchase or may be distributed with textbooks. Entertainment videos can be shown to stimulate class discussions or as cultural works. 

4. How are you going to present the materials in class and [how] are your students going to access them outside of class?
Will you always have access to a VCR, DVD player, and/or computer with the necessary hardware and software, audio, and video projection? If you plan to put the video on the web, will you and your students have the necessary hardware and software to deliver and play it back? How long are you and your students willing to wait for a video to load and play from the web? Will students be able to see and/or hear necessary details on web video? 

5. How quickly will your materials become outdated?
Will you be able to use your materials for many years or will they need to be updated or changed regularly? How will you make these update and changes? Will  changes in hairstyles, clothing, and environments affect the long term usefulness of your video?

Preparing Good Video

Streaming Basics: Editing Video for Streaming
This article gives several tips for preparing video for web delivery. Capture your source material at the highest quality video and audio settings you can afford. Crop the video. Deinterlace and inverse telecine. Avoid bad effects. Use good effects. Use large titles. Listen carefully to the audio mix. Understand the difference between transfer and delivery codecs. 

This image shows the results of different compression settings;
the image was taken from an article about the Sorenson video codec.

Other Issues

Streaming vs. Downloading Video: Understanding the Differences
An article that covers the basic types of web video delivery and the pros and cons of each.