Best Practices for Recording
Lectures for Online Courses
Recorded lectures, including videos and narrated PowerPoints, can be an eective way to present
online course content. They provide a means for you to explain key ideas and concepts as well as
elaborate on assigned readings. The following guidelines may help you prepare and develop recorded
lectures for your online course:
Prepare your Script and Materials. Before you begin, write a script to help you organize and edit your
thoughts before you begin recording. Outline clear objectives for your lecture—both what students
should know aer the lecture and why it is important and use this outline to write your script. Aer you
have written your script, consider any extra materials you may want to use in your video such as props,
pictures, charts, and graphs, or even supplementary notes as these are all things that can add extra appeal
to your video. Once the recording has been produced, the script can be used as a transcript for students.
Begin with Accessibility in Mind. Learn to recognize issues that limit usability for diverse learners. For
example, jumpy transitions and low contrast text and background colors may create viewing diculties
for learners with visual problems. Certain colors may be unperceivable by individuals who are color-blind.
Choose the Appropriate Setting. UofSC has several options on campus for recording online course
content. However, if you choose to record at home or in your oce, choose a quiet area with the door
closed and that is well lit. Do not sit directly in front of a window or other powerful light source as the
camera will have diculty capturing the scene, resulting in a video that is too bright or too dark. Avoid
any location with a lot of distractions, such as bright colors and patterns or moving objects. You may also
want to turn your phone o and log out of your email to prevent notication beeps from interfering with
your recording. Using a headset with a microphone produces the clearest audio.
Test Equipment, Sound and Lighting. Assess quality with a short test recording. Record the rst few
slides as a quick test before you record an entire lecture to determine if the audio is clear and loud enough
and if there is sucient lighting.
Keep it Short. Divide content into manageable chunks. Human attention span is not optimal for long
presentations and students tend to quit listening and become easily distracted with long videos so keep
narrated lectures short, about 10 minutes maximum. If your material requires a longer presentation, break
it up into chunks by specic and narrow topics to allow learners to engage with small pieces of new
information. Instead of creating one 30-minute lecture, consider two or three separate presentations.
Connect with Your Audience. Lectures should be professional, but still relatable and personable. Use a
conversational style and include real-life examples to incorporate elements of your personality into your
lecture and stay energetic. If you are recording a video lecture of yourself, sit up straight or stand because
good posture and mannerisms come across in video and help engage your students’ attention. You can
also engage the audience with integrated visuals, multimedia, hyperlinks to additional information,
interactive features, or other active learning strategies.