Last week’s blog post discussed why it’s important for learning professionals to develop media competencies as part of their professional toolkit. Our profession is transitioning to a point where it’s no longer good enough just to be able to make media; it’s becoming essential to have the skills to make good media. This is why media skills are an important set of competencies talent professionals will find they need in the coming years.

Here’s a list of some core media competencies I think we need to create great content. This is not an exhaustive list, but simply a place to start thinking so you can be mindful about developing your skills. I’ve divided the competencies into three areas:

1. edu-torial decision making

2. editorial decision making

3. production.

You’ll notice that the first two areas have nothing to do with picking up a camera or holding a digital audio recorder. Ever since I taught my first broadcast class back in 1987, I have seen a lot of media novices focus all their energies only on production skills, such as how to use a video camera.

The most important part of the production process is not the button pressing, but planning and conceptualizing your content to ensure it is quick and easy for your audience to understand your learning objective. Your planning and conceptualization are also the most difficult (albeit rewarding) parts of the process.

At first, the production piece can seem the toughest. How do you choose the right microphone for an interview? Did you remember to do the white balance? What’s depth of field? These production skills are the things you learn, and then they become automatic with good practice. It’s like driving a stick shift. Yes, you consciously think about when to engage and disengage the clutch when you first start out, but soon it happens automatically and your mind is more concerned about how to avoid traffic jams and the best way to get from point A to point B.

The first two areas of skills require a higher degree of critical analysis, creativity, and synthesis. That’s why I list them first.

1.       Edu-torial decision making

The skills of edu-torial decision making are where learning and media converge. These are the analytical skills that enable you to identify and analyze the learning needs of your client or organization. Edu-torial skills also include budgeting and balancing the resources you have to deliver the best possible solution.

If you want to develop edu-torial decision-making competencies, here are some key skills you might want to start developing. You’ll recognize some of these as basic ISD skills:

• Analyze learning and business needs, such as job and task analysis.

• Identify links between curriculum and business needs (information mapping).

• Identify the most effective place to publish media—for example embedded in e-learning, published on a video-sharing site, or played by a facilitator in a classroom.

• Explain how the brain processes information, drawing on the cognitive neurosciences.

• Identify what increases and decreases cognitive load in media content.

• Identify the best method to facilitate a particular learning objective.

• Identify the best platform to deliver a learning objective.

• Identify available resources and determine the best option within budget.

2.       Editorial decision making

Editorial decision-making skills are the traditional skills of conceptualizing media content so it is quick and easy to understand. It includes making decisions about which methods and platforms to use, and requires an understanding of each method and platform as well as how to structure content to reduce cognitive load. It starts with understanding narrative and the structure of learning. It involves measuring elements of your content against your learning objective, and looking for ways to make it more engaging.

So what sorts of skills do you need for editorial decision-making competencies? Here are a few skills worth developing:

• Storytelling skills are needed to critically unpack content into chunks of information, and rearrange them into a narrative or informational structure.

• Analyze content to ensure it achieves its edu-torial purpose.

• For video, balance the various message layers—such as pictures, music, or spoken word—to create a focused message that’s quick and easy to understand visually.

• For audio, integrate music, sound effects, and spoken word content to effectively convey a message that’s quick and easy to understand aurally.

• For screen text, create a structure for the content that is quick and easy to understand following the emerging web writing conventions.

3.       Production

I said earlier that in many ways production is the least important skill. It’s not how you use a word processor that allows you to write a great novel. You can be a phenomenal typist, but have no chance of writing an interesting novel.

The same principle applies to production. It’s pointless focusing on production until you have a good story or concept to work with. However, just because production is last on my list does not mean it’s not important. It’s critical to have good production technique otherwise your ideas will not realize their potential.

Good production skills are about you being in control. They involve using all the manual functions on your equipment, following good housekeeping practices, and aiming for professional standards. Generally speaking, production has three stages: planning, creating, and editing.

Here are some general competencies to consider. 

Planning your content involves:

• video – storyboarding, script writing, creating a shot plan, scouting the filming location for visuals and safety, getting permits, and making sure everyone knows their role

• audio – planning a structure around the learning objective, booking interviewees, writing scripts, choosing music, and getting permissions from copyright holders

• screen text – research, planning structure, and commissioning graphics or other interactive elements. 

Creating your content involves:

• video – shooting your footage, classic skills of framing shots, setting the shot up using white balance, exposure, focus, and audio

• audio – conducting interviews, recording monologues, and collecting sound elements such as atmosphere or sound effects

• screen text – writing and positioning graphics or interactive elements.

Editing your content involves:

• video – assembling media assets on the timeline in your editing software; cutting each shot to run smoothly from one to another; adding elements such as graphics, b-roll, music, and sound effects; and rendering the final file

• audio – importing audio tracks into your editing software, making corrections such as EQ or compressor, editing spoken content word, and multitracking

• screen text – doing a substantive edit to ensure content is correct and the structure works, then copyediting to check grammar and spelling.

Developing media skills

Whether it be audio, video, or screen text, it’s no longer good enough to just be able to make media content. Learning professionals in the future will be required to make engaging content that looks professional.

Now is a great time to get ahead of the curve and develop your skills. The key is to learn the skills from experienced media professionals who have not only been seasoned by experience but also have learned what is considered best practice in the media industry and learning profession. Join me for an upcoming Media for Learning Certificate, available both online and face-to-face. Begin creating quality audio, video, and written multimedia to begin aiding your organization's learning today.