Class Act: Is DIY the Way to Go for Educational Institutions?

Motivated staffers and teachers can learn to shoot decent video while doing it, but if their first shoot is an important guest lecture, you don’t want them leaving the autofocus off. You also don’t want them forgetting to label the tape, causing them to accidentally record over it. They need plenty of advance time to get comfortable with the camera, record practice lectures, and establish a routine to prepare for a shoot (and label their tapes).

The DIY approach to production can be a great solution when budgets are too tight to hire professional producers. However, there’s no real savings if the video quality is poor and the staff is stressed out from trying to learn editing while performing all their normal duties.

With DIY, you’re substituting one resource for another—time for money. It’s not a bad equation, particularly if your institution is just testing the waters, but it is wise to recognize that trade-off at the start and budget learning time as an investment in your school’s online success. Do it right, and you just might end up with the experienced media producers you didn’t think you could afford.