Introduction

Recap the last lesson and the project they are working on. We’re making instructional videos, what features would you expect to see in an instructional video?  What did you include in your plan? 

 

Did it include the following?: 

• What the concept is
• Key vocabulary
• How best to explain it in small steps
• What visuals we’re going to show on screen as we explain it
• Common mistakes (if applicable) 
• Some practise questions we can include (with answers)

 

Writing the script

Once their storyboard plan is complete, ask them to create a detailed script of what they will want to say for each section. This can be done on paper, or on an iPad with an app like Notes or Pages. You can use this option if you have enough for 2 iPads per pair (remember they won't be able to read their script from the same iPad they’re using for their video!)

In Pages, start a new blank project and type in the script in sections. Separate each section to match the storyboard sections on your planning sheet. 

 

 

Remind the students to make use of the key vocabulary that they listed on their planning sheet.

When complete tap the circle with three dots in the top right corner of the screen for options. 

 

 

 

From here you can choose Presenter Mode. This turns your iPad into a handy teleprompter tool. The ‘Aa’ button in the top corner gives you options to change the size of the text, the background colour, whether the text auto scrolls (and the speed it scrolls at - keep it slow!). Then just tap anywhere on the screen to start and stop the scrolling when it's time to record the script.  

 

 

 

Next it's time to start thinking about visuals they want to use. They may not need any images, but if they do they should make a list of things they’d like to include. 

What should we consider when saving images from the web?  

Every image on the web is owned by someone. Sometimes people give permission for others to use their images, sometimes they don’t (out of choice or ignorance). Creative Commons (CC) is a licence that anyone can apply to their work (including images) that tells others it’s okay for them to use it, and it’s important that we respect other people’s things and don’t just take without permission.

You can do a Creative Commons search here. Pexels and Unsplash are other good sources of CC images. 

In Google Images you can find images that have been labelled for reuse by searching for an image, then clicking on Tools > Usage rights > Labelled for reuse. Bear in mind though that even some of these images may not technically be free from copyright as someone could have taken a copyrighted image and then reproduced it and labelled it as ‘reusable’. 

 

 

Remind them that when saving the image, never save the first thumbnail of the image that appears in the search results (unless you want a very small version of it!) 

A thumbnail is a much smaller and lower resolution of the image - so it loads quickly in the search results. If they save it and enlarge it in a piece of work you will often see the image blur or pixelate, which looks pretty awful. Instead, tap on the thumbnail to open it, then save the larger version that opens by holding a steady finger on the image and selecting ‘Add to photos’ or ‘Save image’ (depending on your iOS version and browser). 

 

Introducing your presentation software

At this point take some time to introduce the presentation software you’ve chosen to use. Go through its main functions and give the students time to experiment and get comfortable with it. 

Our lessons will focus on Apple’s Keynote app. You can find Apple’s full user guide to Keynote here. 

 

 

There are also lots of tutorial videos on Youtube. This ten minute video is a good example. (note - some details in the video are slightly different from the latest iOS 13 version of keynote, but they are minor differences and easy to figure out).

Take the students through some of the key features that they are likely to need to use when creating their tutorial videos. Let’s take a quick look at each one of these in turn.

 

Starting a new project

As you open the app, tap the + sign in the top corner to start a new presentation.

 

 

Choose a theme from the selection available. For the purposes of these instructional videos we’d suggest a plain option, we’ve gone for the simple white option. This can be changed later to any colour, gradient or texture that’s available in Keynote.

 

 

Adding text, objects and images

Tap the + button at the top of the screen to add anything to the page. There is a large selection of choices but here are the main four categories to choose from: charts, graphs, shapes and images (and other media). 

 

 

Formatting text, objects and images

To format anything on your page tap  it once and then tap the paintbrush button at the top of the screen. There are three main categories for formatting: Style, Text and Arrange.

Style lets you change the colour of the text box or shape, as well as adding (and formatting) a border, shadow, reflection and the opacity of the object should you wish to. 

 

 

As the name suggests, Text gives you all the options you’ll want to format the style,  font, size colour etc of the text on your screen.

 

 

Arrange is Keynote's method of using layers or bringing objects forwards or backwards so you can place things on top or behind another object.  It also allows you to flip an object horizontally or vertically should you wish to change the way something faces, and also lock its position on the screen so you don’t accidentally move it. 

 

 

If you haven’t selected any object or text when you tap the format button you will get options to format the background. These include being able to change the slide template and background colour.

 

 

Inserting drawings

As mentioned above you can add hand drawn notes or annotations to the screen (which may be useful for this project) from the add image menu.

 

 

You then get drawing tools appear at the bottom of the screen very similar to those that you find in the Notes app.  There is a pen, pencil and crayon, each with options for thickness and opacity if you tap them. This means the pen can be used as a highlighter if you reduce the opacity. Colours of anything can be selected from the circle on the right of the tools.

 

 

The tube of paint lets you create filled, hand drawn shapes. Move your finger around the screen to create a closed shape, release and it will be filled with the current colour you’ve selected.

 

 

The lasso tool lets you select an object you’ve drawn on the page by drawing a ring around it. From there you get editing options on the toolbar that appears, plus the ability to change its colour and move it forwards or backwards on the screen (buttons at the bottom of the screen).

 

 

Adding slides

To add a new slide just tap the + button in the bottom left of the screen and then choose a slide layout.

 

 

You can also copy and paste a slide you’ve already used. This can be useful if you want to keep the style and layout of a slide but just make a few changes on the next slide. Just long tap the slide thumbnail at the left of the screen and select copy. Then tap below it on the next slide and choose paste from the menu. All elements (text, images etc) in Keynote can be copied and pasted in the same way

 

 

Going into presentation mode

To go full screen so you can present your tutorial, just tap the ‘play’ button at the top of the screen.

 

 

Annotating in presentation mode

Once in presentation mode you can still annotate your slides by tapping and holding your finger on the screen.  This reveals the ‘laser pointer’ and colour options for annotations, as well as an undo button to remove things if wanted once a point has been made. 

 

 

Don’t forget there is a full Keynote user guide available here. 

Give the students time to experiment with all these features. Ask them to work their way through the list of tasks below to get used to the features that are available. They should not worry at this point about creating the slides for their video. 

• Start a new presentation
• Add some text to the page
• Format the text
  • Change the size
  • Change the font
  • Change the colour
  • Add a shadow
  • Move its position on the page
  • Change the size of the text box
• Add an object
  • Change its size
  • Change its colour
  • Add a border to it, change the border thickness and colour
• Add an image from your photo library
  • Change its size
  • Rotate it (hold two fingers)
  • Give it a shadow
• Add a new slide
  • Choose a template 
  • Change the background colour
• Go into presentation mode
• Annotate the slides while in presentation mode.

 

Plenary

Ask each pair to swap their script with another team in the class. Ask them to check;

• Does it make sense?
• Is it factually accurate?
• Is it appropriate for the audience?
• Have they included the key vocabulary?
• Are there any other errors or ways they can improve it?  

They should not make any changes but, if they used Pages, they can tap to highlight a word or sentence and then choose Comment from the options bar that appears. Note that sometimes (when the highlighted section is towards the right of the page) you need to tap the  ➤ button to see the Comment option.

 

 

 

They can then leave a short note to highlight the error or make a suggestion to improve it. 

 

 

Each note then appears as a yellow highlight. 

If they have worked on paper they could make light notes at the side or underline errors with a coloured pencil. 

When the teams swap back their scripts they can read the feedback and make any changes necessary. 

Finally, review the Keynote job list and who has tried them. Did you find anything else we haven’t discussed so far? Was there anything you had problems with?