5 Video Templates to Help Build Your Online Course

As you are quickly working to shift your courses online, you face numerous challenges. Engaging students can be difficult in remote settings, and you might not be experienced in online teaching.

So, what are your options as an educator when moving courses online? To engage students, it’s imperative that you go beyond basic discussion boards and bring additional tools to your remote classroom.

Video is a key tool in remote learning.

But there’s a problem.

Video can be intimidating. Especially if you’ve never made one before.

Luckily, there’s a way you can create consistent videos for your online courses without being a video pro: video templates.

Templates are easy to edit and can be customized for each new lesson, unit, or project. Best of all, you don’t have to start from scratch. Simply download or create the template, add in your content, and publish to your course.

We put together a list of five video templates that can help engage students in your online course material.

Make your own educational video (Free template)

Ready to get started? Download Camtasia and start creating your own templates today!

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What is a video template?

Video templates are pre-built video projects that allow you to quickly edit individual pieces rather than start from scratch. You can pre-make them for later dates when you need to quickly and easily pop in your information with a consistent look and feel. 

Here is how to use video templates in Camtasia

The five video templates you can download for your online course

1. Intro/outro

Using an intro/outro template is especially helpful if you juggle multiple courses at once. That way, you can easily edit your intro/outro slides to fit the course you’re creating content for. Simply pop in the course title and any additional information you’d like to include.

You can also include some information about yourself, such as professional background or hobbies, and a photo of yourself. 

This will help students see you as more personable and will humanize their online learning experience.

See this template in action

Download the template (free)

Note: Templates require Camtasia 2020 or later

2. New topic/unit slide

This type of video is a perfect way to signal to your students that it’s time to switch gears and begin a new topic or unit. By using a template for these videos, your students will associate this content with a shift towards new material and prepare themselves for the next step in your course structure.

This is also a great placeholder for a quick webcam video. 

A new topic/unit video is a great time for instructors to share enthusiasm about the upcoming section of the course. It’s also an opportunity for you to go over what’s going to be expected or learned in the new unit.

Regardless of the specific structure you use, it’s important to remember that this is a great time to connect with students, which is incredibly important when teaching a remote course.

See this template in action

Download the template (free)

Note: Templates require Camtasia 2020 or later

3. Core video lessons

Use this template as a go-to for any video lesson slide. 

Here, you can easily pop in any text, images, or links of your choice and not waste time creating new structure and backgrounds for each individual slide. Plus, you can add fun transitions or elements to keep your students engaged.

Remember to avoid hour-long lectures. 

Try to shorten your videos and make them interactive.  It can be hard to keep students engaged, and shorter clips are easier to focus on (and faster for you to produce and caption).

Make sure you also include a placeholder for your webcam. This will help students see your facial expressions while you talk through the material, which can help improve their understanding.

See this template in action

Download the template (free)

Note: Templates require Camtasia 2020 or later

4. How-to/demonstration slide

This template is great for when you need to demonstrate to students how to use a tool or piece of software. Ideally, your how-to template will have smooth transitions that make it easy for students to follow the directions that you’re giving.

This template can also be used for course navigation videos, where you show students where to locate important information on your course page, such as the syllabus, assignments, etc. Again, make sure your webcam is visible so students can understand you more easily.

See this template in action

Download the template (free)

Note: Templates require Camtasia 2020 or later

5. Educational Quiz

One of the best ways to engage students during your online lectures is by inserting quizzes. Having a quiz template ready to go makes it much easier for you to frequently use this method as a way of engaging students and keeping their attention during presentations.

Make sure that your template includes an intro slide to let students know that it’s time for an assessment, slides for the quiz questions, and places to fill in the answer options.

Looking to quiz students directly within a video without creating a new template? TechSmith Knowmia and Camtasia feature the ability to create quizzes as pop-ups within videos for fast and easy quiz creation.

See this template in action

Download the template (paid subscription required)

Note: Templates require Camtasia 2020 or later

What’s next?

The shift to online learning is a challenge, but that doesn’t mean that your courses have to be less engaging. 

With video templates, you’ll be able to consistently create content that will keep your students’ love for learning strong, no matter where they are. 

The world may be changing, but the need for engaging, interactive education isn’t slowing down. 

With quality course content, you’ll break free from the boring, repetitive nature of plain lecture slides and videos and play an important role to help your students progress as they transition to online learning.

For engaging video templates that will help you create your own online course templates, check out the TechSmith Camtasia asset library.

Make your own educational video (Free template)

Ready to get started? Download Camtasia and start creating your own templates today!

Download

Kara Swanson

Marketing Content Specialist at TechSmith. I know way more about tea than any human being ever should.

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