April Feedback Post: Get and give feedback on your course here!

[JocelynH]

Whether this is your first or fifth course, it’s always helpful to hear from other instructors on how you can improve your course content to be even better. Each month we like to provide a space for you to share your course content for feedback from the community.

Before you share your course content for feedback, check out our self-promotion policy and read these quick guidelines:

1. Be specific. Share what you’re looking to improve or things you’re concerned about so your fellow instructors can provide targeted feedback.
2. Upload content directly. Whenever you can, directly upload a video or course outline to our platform so it’s easier for other instructors to check it out.
3. Don’t share course links or instructor coupons. This is a space to share and receive feedback, not sell to other instructors. If you want to reference a course, share the full name of your course without linking it. Instructors can find the course by clicking on your community profile and going to your instructor account on Udemy.
4. Pay it forward. If you’re asking for feedback, look over someone else’s course and give them some feedback too! Always try to give more than you ask for.

We hope this feedback thread can help you create even better courses!


Comments have been turned off for this thread. Please ask for feedback in our May Feedback Thread!

[csking1981]

Hi;

Thanks for you post.

[SaritaWariyer25]

Very useful thanks

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure how this thread works, but I'd certainly like to receive feedback on my first green screen, virtual studio course introduction:

P.S. I know I've got to work on the green outline (using Camtasia 2018).

Thanks ahead of time for your consideration,

---Brian

[JocelynH]

Meta-note that you're doing it right

Tagging in @GregReverdiau because he's done some cool green screen work! @MarkLassoff too.

[MarkLassoff]

Hi Brian:

Good first attempt.  Here's what I'd look at:

1) The color balance is off.  Your (meaning you-- the human) color is very flat and dull.  Not enough depth to the dark parts, so it looks very washed out to me.  The dullness of your color is augmented by the use of primary colors in your background.  You look very washed out and the colors in the background move to the foreground which is not what you want.

2) The proportions are off.  You have to position yourself so it looks like you are part of the scene.  The TV screen would have to be on a 5-foot tall stand and the ceiling would have to be about 18 feet for this.  Cutting yourself off at the chest means the whole thing looks "off" to the viewer.  Think about how tall things are and put yourself into the scene proportionally.   The proportion problem is augmented by the first problem I mentioned.  You, in the foreground, appear in a lighter register (kind of like how mountains far away appear lighter).  One would expect the foreground to be more pronounced and the background to appear lighter.

Trick:  Take a screenshot of a real newscast or weathercast from Youtube and use that to judge the proportions against the background.

There are some other issues I noticed, but, I think if you correct the two above you'll be making huge strides.

Good luck,

Mark

[Anonymous]

@MarkLassoff

Thanks, this is great advice.

---Brian

[GregReverdiau]

I second what Mark said. I think that maybe there is some of your green screen reflecting in your hair which makes your hair a little green. The washout part could be corrected with some added contrast I think. 

Also I think maybe you are recording yourself in front of a pretty small green screen which means that when you move your hand around 0:58, it is cutout. You should try to move further from the lens if you can and get more of your body, this will also help with the proportion thing that Mark mentioned. 

Last thing, not necessarily green screen-specific but your lighting is pretty harsh and create shadows on your face that are unappealing. Try to diffuse your light a little bit or add more lights closer to the front of your face. 

Best of luck! 

[Anonymous]

@GregReverdiau

More great advice.  Thank you.

---Brian

[SaritaWariyer25]

Great advice, thanks

[luisrobertop87]

Looks good for me, just a minor observation: Your eyes are always pointing to left instead to see the camera.

[Anonymous]

@luisrobertop87

You're absolutely right.  That's where my script was being held by my wife ;-).

I've since switched to using my Surface Pro 3 as both a telepompter and video camera.  We'll see if this fixes the problem.

So far I've gotten:

1) Move the camera back.

2) Look into the camera.

3) Better lighting.

4) Remove green screen haze.

Hopefully I'll have them all licked for tomorrow's recording.

Thanks for answering,

---Brian

[LawrenceMMiller]

Brian, 

I don't know whether anyone else said this, but I would definitely kill the music. It is very distracting. I think music in the first five to ten seconds and then fading out is good. But, to continue it all the way through is annoying. 

I think Mark mentioned the color balance issue, and it is also the uneven lighting that leaves heavy shadows on your face. I suggest you just do a lot of experimenting to see what works best. I take my camera off auto white balance and set the K scale to 3300 and then adjust my bi-color lights accordingly. It took a lot of experimenting to get it right. 

Also, I find the motion video behind you to be distracting. I would pick a more neutral background photograph that doesn't compete with you and your message. 

I think we all struggled with these lighting and camera issues when we started using a green screen. But, if you take the time to do a lot of experiments you can get it right than just leave the setting alone!

[SuppamitrPr78]

Good day ladies & gentlemen

Could you please suggest me to improve my first online course.

Here is my first course online on Udemy.

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AjZR4F3111y8h85SURWk0wA7eNUSbw

[csking1981]

Hi SuppamitrPr78;

I did it so consider these:

1- Your sound quality is good but use Audacity free software to remove statics from your sound.

2- You screen capturing quality is good.

3- Add some sort of smile on your face at the beginning so it's better!

4- Increase your camera distance when filming your face  up to your chest.

5- You can send your test video to Udemy agents for more checking  from instructors dashboard.

[SaritaWariyer25]

Nice short lesson tips in video course making. Thanks

[csking1981]

I hope the best for you.

Regards;

[luisrobertop87]

Hi Everyone in the community,

I want to ask for a feedback, I've planned to make my first course and I would like to know a expert opinion (the udemy teachers) about my video, the video language is Spanish.

My Video: https://youtu.be/wJFGGlSmS00

Thanks in advance.

Update: I removed the original video and I shared the same video, this time via Youtube

[csking1981]

Hi luisrobertop87;

Welcome to our community!

Your video is processing...

So waiting to finish...

In addition you can send your test video to Udemy review team from: 

Instructor dashboard -> Tools -> Test video

Regards;

[csking1981]

Something is wrong in your video.

I got this error: Unable to play video. Please try again later.

Please upload it again.

Regards;

[luisrobertop87]

Thanks, I updated my entry adding a youtube url with the video.

Thanks for your time.

[csking1981]

Hi luisrobertop;

Welcome to our community.

I wish the best courses for you.

I checked you video:

1- Your sound quality is good.

2- Your video qulity is good and must be >=720

3-Your delivery is good and also your good talking speed.

In addition you can send the test video to Udemy Great review team to check your video freely.

I tried it the Udemy review staff are really great !

Regards;

[AliciaPaz]

Let me start with English is my primary language so I will focus on the video beyond the words you are saying (Sorry hopefully someone else chimes in who if more fluent in Spanish.) 

-Your audio is fantastic, very clear, well paced and even I understood your words!

-The visual is a nice mix of visual and well done

-I always enjoy seeing instructors face at the beginning of their intro as well.

-Apologies again about the language piece but if this is an intro it's a bit long although that's a preference more than anything.  I prefer those to be 2-2.5 minutes max.

Overall especially for the 1st time this was great! 

[istuff360]

Hi,

Dear: Experts

I am creating my first course to publish on udemy and have done a Test Video which I've also sent to udemy team to get feedback on overall quality and would also appreciate if you could please give me your honest feedback on Video, Audio and Presentation quality and also help me improve it by providing your expert guide which I would highly appreciate. I'm building my course using following things:

OS: Windows 10

MIC: Blue Snowball + (Pop-Filter & Boom Arm)

Screen Recording & Video Editing: Camtasia Studio 9

Audio Recording & Editing: Audacity

Can't wait to see your great feedback, thanks in advance!

[csking1981]

Hi istuff360 ;

Welcome to our community.

I wish the best courses for you.

I checked you video:

1- Your sound quality is good.

2- Your video qulity is good and must be >=720

3-Your delivery is good and also your good talking speed.

In addition you can send the test video to Udemy Great review team to check your video freely.

I tried it the Udemy review staff are really great !

Regards;

[istuff360]

Hi,

@csking1981 

Thank you so very much for your kind response and appreciation!

My Video is really in HD quality but don't know why it did not appear on udemy's provided Video Player in HD as on my side it seemed like a little low quality but i exported it from Camtasia in 1080P (1920x1080).

Anyways, really encouraging response which I highly appreciate and hope you also get much more success on udemy, thanks once again! :-)

Note: I also have submitted to udemy's expert team to review as i did before which was passed and they only guided me to fix the audio which was a little muffled and they also provided me needed help to do it which I have improved a lot than better as much as I think now just waiting for their great response :-P

[csking1981]

Hi;

Thanks for your inerest.

If your video quality in your hard drive is great so  you have no problem and the loaw quality is because of your connection speed.

If your vido quality in your hard drive is low so you must check your exporting settings.

Regards;

[AliciaPaz]

Hey,

Sounds great.  The overall presentation is great, my only criticisms are that there isn't much visual until 16 seconds in and if this was an intro I might become bored looking at the screen or if I was hearing the audio I might think it froze.  As a whole, it is well done and I use almost the same setup! 

Good Luck,

Alicia 

[istuff360]

Hi,

Thank you so much for your kind feedback.

This was just a test video but I am definitely going to put a nice intro on startup for the rest of the whole course, thanks once again!

[luisrobertop87]

Here you are my first video, feel free to fire any observation.

Thanks in advance.

[mmumshad]

Hello All, this is for my new course. I'd like feedback on the video overall. Specifically about the things that I say in the intro, my language, any sentences that I can improve, audio quality etc. 

[luisrobertop87]

Really good for me, congratz

[AliciaPaz]

Really great work, it sounds good although there are moments it seems to get "deep" I wonder if maybe when you move your sweater hides the mic.  Visuals and use of green screen are perfect.  Your course seems to be robust.  What you will learn, who you are, etc are very clear.  

My only criticism which is very minor and maybe personal preference is it's very long, almost 10 minutes.  If I am browsing potential courses ideally 2- 2.5 minutes I may view before I add to cart, move to another course or dig deeper.  

Great work, you create high-quality courses, that is very clear!

[mmumshad]

Thank you Alicia! Appreciate your feedback!

[Bandalbhi]

HI guys,

I need your feedback on this video. 

the software I used: vediopad 

[AliciaPaz]

Hi,

Let me first start by saying I don't speak Arabic, so I hope someone else chimes in.  That being said I was able to understand what your course was about in some detail and what I would learn if I signed up about seizures.  The lighting is spot on, as is the framing and audio is sharp with no background, humming or other small noises in the background. 

Also, I saw your post last week on re-shooting because you are a perfectionist.  I do the same, I re-shoot almost every video 4-5xs and spend a ton of time on re-doing work.  Let me first start by telling you the students like high-quality courses but at a certain point, I have come to realize that I am driving myself nuts in my own mind and with my own expectations and by now I could probably have 4-5xs more (quality) courses doing well then the 2 I have now I continue to re-shoot ad nauseam.  This sounds great and looks great! Make the course, keep up the work, do some awesome marketing early and hit publish! Then repeat!

I will try to tag some Arabic speaking instructors I know, hope others can do the same to help gain more feedback. 

Keep up the good work,

Alicia 

[AliciaPaz]

@YasserHassan90 any additional feedback?

[Bandalbhi]

thank you Alicia for your feedback.

you said ''audio is sharp with no background'' how can I solve this?  is it by adding some background music or manage my microphone distant ?

[AliciaPaz]

Don't fix it, it's perfect.  I mean your audio is sharp w/ no background noise which is not only ideal but why I am working this moment at building a studio in my home.

[sbhatla]

Hi everyone, I'd love to hear what you think. 

I had to combine a number of skills in producing this - a real learning experience for me. I'm happy to answer any questions you have.

[Anonymous]

@sbhatla

Production values here were high.  Overall, I found your presentation a little flat.  I'm a Udemy instructor (the target student) and I'm on the borderline as to whether I'd buy your course.

Hope this helps, and best of luck with the course,

---Brian

[sbhatla]

Thanks, Brian, for the feedback! It's helpful. 

[csking1981]

Hi;

I love it.It's intresting.

I think a softer backgroung music mabe be better.

Regards;

[sbhatla]

Thank you, Musavi!

[AliciaPaz]

The floating words and people are very distracting and does not look professional or polished.  I too am your target audience and at this point wouldn't sign up. 

-Remove the floating opaque people,

-Remove the floating testimonials at the beginning

-Remove the click/typing noise. 

I wonder if the start intro part should be moved back and it should start with what the course is and maybe very brief bio, "Hi I'm Susan Smith, a communication expert" before moving further in. Also, I would like to know about what qualifies you to teach this, drop some credentials like a mini bio.

The good: You have a great speaking voice, it's difficult to tell but the audio seems crisp beyond the clicking noise, I like the idea of more than one presenter (I presume those people are not just actors if they are removing them from the intro)

It has too much going on visually to focus on the content.  Clean it up, keep it simple and good luck!

[sbhatla]

Alicia, thank you so much for your detailed feedback. Somehow, I missed seeing your feedback until now, so I'm sorry for not replying sooner.

I agree with all your suggestions, and luckily, I made most of the changes you suggest.

Best, Sunil.

[MarkLassoff]

Way too much going on here.  The video lacks a clear focal point at any given time and all of the background elements, between the words and disembodied heads, are massively distracting.

Not to mention:  This is a course on body language and you have everyone framed so no body language is visible!  

[sbhatla]

Great observations, Mark! Thank you for your feedback!

[ActuaryOnFIRE]

Hi - this is the video on my landing page. It's a trailer for the whole course: "Create a kickass financial independence spreadsheet".

I wanted a high impact first video and would appreciate any advice on how to improve it and make it higher impact!

Thanks AoF

[LawrenceMMiller · Accepted solution]

OK, a couple comments. 

First, I generally think it is very good. I like the intro music and then fading it out.

Second, You have a very good speaking voice. You are very clear and enthusiastic and the audio recording quality is very good. 

Third, I think the graphics are very good. 

Fourth... this is my only suggestion for improvement... I think you should show yourself... get on camera so we can see who is talking. Some level of intimacy with the instructor I believe is important, rather than just a voice of slides. And, did you tell us what your background and credentials are? Maybe I missed it.

Overall, good job!