The Sustainable Video Strategy: 5 Simple Steps for Faculty
Video can be a powerful teaching tool. It gives faculty opportunities to explain complex ideas, demonstrate processes, model their thinking, establish instructor presence, and connect with students in ways that text alone cannot.
But creating effective instructional video takes time. Recording is only the beginning. Faculty may also need to edit, caption, upload, organize, and eventually update those videos. What starts as an effort to enhance the learning experience can quickly become another time-consuming task, especially when the same videos need to be revisited semester after semester.
The answer isn’t to eliminate video or create less engaging learning experiences. Instead, it’s to be more intentional about when and how video is used.
A sustainable video strategy starts with a simple shift in thinking: Don’t create video just because you can. Create it because it serves a purpose.
These five strategies can help you use video in ways that support student learning while keeping the workload manageable for you.
1. Start With the Purpose
Before opening your camera or recording software, start with a simple question:
What will students gain from seeing or hearing this rather than reading it?
Not every piece of course content needs to be a video. Video is most valuable when it adds something to the learning experience.
Consider using video when you want to:
- Demonstrate a process or procedure
- Model how an expert approaches a problem
- Explain a complex or difficult concept
- Walk students through an example
- Provide feedback or encouragement
- Help students understand how to approach an assignment
- Build instructor presence and connection
For example, instead of creating a 20-minute video explaining an assignment word-for-word, consider creating a shorter 3-5min video that highlights the most important decisions students need to make, common mistakes, and what successful work looks like.
The goal is not to ask, “Where can I add video?” Instead, ask: “Where can video improve the learning experience?”
Starting with purpose prevents you from spending time creating videos that don’t actually add instructional value. When every video has a specific job, it becomes easier to determine what should and shouldn’t be recorded.
2. Make It Bite-Sized
Long lectures can be difficult for both faculty and students. Instead of recording one long lecture, consider breaking the content into shorter videos, with each video focused on one specific idea, question, or task.
For example: Instead of: Week 3 Research Methods Lecture, 35 minutes
Try:
- What Makes a Source Credible? — 5 minutes
- How to Evaluate Evidence — 6 minutes
- Common Research Mistakes — 4 minutes
- Applying Evidence to Your Argument — 7 minutes
Shorter videos make it easier for students to find the information they need and return to specific concepts when they need a refresher. They also make updating the content easier for you.
If a 35-minute lecture contains information that needs to be updated, the entire recording may need to be reviewed or replaced. With shorter videos, you may only need to update one five-minute segment. Think “one concept, one video” rather than “one long lecture, one long recording.”
Shorter videos are easier to record, easier to update, easier for students to navigate, and easier to reuse.
3. Design for Reuse
One of the easiest ways to make video more sustainable is to think beyond the current semester. Before recording, consider whether the content will still be accurate and useful next semester, or even in another course. Try to keep videos focused on concepts, processes, examples, and strategies that are likely to remain relevant.
For example, instead of saying in the video: “Your assignment is due September 18.”
Say: “Check your course schedule for the assignment deadline.”
The second version is more likely to remain useful from one semester to the next. You can also create a library of short, reusable videos. A five-minute video explaining how to evaluate a scholarly source could potentially be used in multiple courses or modules.
Think of your videos as instructional assets, not one-time assignments.
Ask yourself:
- Could I use this video again?
- Could I use it in another course?
- Is there information in this video that will quickly become outdated?
- Can I separate permanent concepts from semester-specific information?
The more reusable your video is, the greater the return on the time you invest in creating it.
4. Let the Video Do the Teaching – Not Everything
A common misconception is that if students watch a video, they have learned the material. Watching is only one part of the learning experience. Instead of asking students simply to watch, give the video a purpose within an activity.
A simple structure is:
Watch: Students watch a short video demonstrating a concept or process.
Notice: Students identify something specific from the video. What did the instructor do? What evidence did they use? What strategy was demonstrated?
Apply: Students use what they observed to complete a task or solve a problem.
For example, an instructor might create a five-minute video demonstrating how to evaluate two sources.
Students could then:
- Watch the demonstration.
- Identify the criteria the instructor used.
- Evaluate two new sources using those criteria.
Now the video isn’t simply content students consume. It becomes part of the learning process.
You don’t need to create longer videos to create greater learning. A five-minute video paired with a meaningful activity can often create a stronger learning experience than a 30-minute lecture that students simply watch from beginning to end.
5. Create a Repeatable Production Process
High-quality instructional video doesn’t have to mean starting from scratch every time you record. The key to sustainability is developing a repeatable production process that allows you to consistently create polished, engaging videos without reinventing your workflow each semester.
Start by establishing a few standards for your videos:
- Use consistent lighting, audio, and framing.
- Create a simple visual style or template.
- Use a consistent opening and closing.
- Prepare a brief outline or script before recording.
- Build accessibility into the process with captions and transcripts.
- Use the same recording and editing workflow whenever possible.
You can also create templates for recurring elements such as title slides, introductions, transitions, and closing screens. This gives your videos a professional and cohesive feel while reducing the amount of time spent on production.
Most importantly, quality and sustainability don’t have to compete with each other. A well-designed production process allows you to maintain a high standard without making every video a completely new production. Think of video production as a system rather than a series of individual projects.
When your equipment, templates, visual style, recording process, and accessibility practices are consistent, creating the next video becomes easier-and the quality remains consistent across your course. The goal isn’t to lower the quality bar. It’s to create a process that makes high-quality video repeatable.
Conclusion
Instructional video can be one of the most effective ways to bring teaching to life. It can help faculty explain challenging concepts, model expert thinking, demonstrate processes, and create a stronger sense of instructor presence. But effective video doesn’t have to mean creating more and more content.
A sustainable approach starts with being intentional. Choose video when it adds value. Keep each video focused. Design content that can be reused. Connect video to meaningful learning activities. And develop a consistent production process that allows you to maintain high quality without starting from scratch every time. The goal isn’t simply to create great videos. It’s to create great videos that continue to work for you and your students over time. Before you press record, ask yourself one final question: “How can I create this video so that it continues to provide value long after I finish recording?” That question can turn video from a time-consuming task into a lasting instructional resource.
Categories engagement, multimedia, tech tools, video