Below are some suggestions/tips for recording the video tutorials. Note that these are just suggestions, if you prefer something different that is fine too!

General

  • It doesn’t have to be perfect!!
  • Don’t worry if things go wrong in Galaxy or you misspeak etc, this would happen during a live workshop too and is totally ok!

Technical

  1. Start a Zoom call with yourself, record that.
    • For Mac users, QuickTime Player is also a nice option.
    • Have another preference? Totally ok too!
  2. Do a short test recording first
    • Is the audio quality good enough?
      • Wearing a headset often improves the audio quality.
    • Screen sharing: is your screen readable?
      • Make sure you zoom in enough for it to be clearly visible what you are doing in Galaxy
      • Imagine this is being viewed in a non-maximised YouTube window. Would it be legible?
      • If the participant is using 50% of their screen for the video, 50% for Galaxy, will it be legible?
  3. Record in smaller segments if possible
    • E.g per section of the tutorial
    • Easier to update the training later
    • Can merge segments using software like KDEnlive
      • We can also do this for you if needed

Content

  1. Start of video
    • Introduce yourself
    • Give some background about the topic, many participants will be novices

  2. The style of teaching is up to you, but guiding participants through each step of the tutorial is often well-received. Explain where you are clicking, what parameters and outputs mean, etc

  3. Speak slowly and clearly
    • Take your time, we are not in a hurry, it’s often a lot of new information for participants, give them a chance to process all of it are doing it.
  4. If things go wrong that is ok!
    • It’s educational and makes participants feel less bad if things go wrong for them
    • Just explain the steps you perform to figure out what went wrong

  5. If your tutorial is long, indicate good places for people to take a break (e.g. when a tool takes a while to run)

  6. End of video
    • Remind viewers about the feedback form embedded at end of the tutorial
    • If you have any tips for where to learn more about the topic, or how to connect with the community please share them at the end.
  7. If you are doing both a lecture and a hands-on training, please created 2 separate videos (unless you prefer to jump back and forth between the two during your session)

Note: We will likely run this type of training on a regular basis, so keep this in mind when you are recording, the less you reference this specific event, the easier it is to reuse for other events.

Video Editing

We can recommend using KDEnlive for this (e.g. for trimming parts of the video, merging segement together).