_{*I am currently working my way through my fifth and final semester of the Information and Learning Technologies master’s program at University of Colorado, Denver.  This post is a rewrite of an assignment for INTE: 5680 Producing Media for Learning.}

_{“Go to YouTube and view several instructional / How to videos. Choose two videos that you feel are an effective instruction and explain what you like and don’t like about each one, as well as which was better.”}

Instructable #1

Name:  How to Plant Tomatoes for Success: Crucial Steps You Can Take

URL:  https://youtu.be/fq_mog6WIMU 

Description:  Steve, from the Home and Garden for Mere Mortals channel, explains some crucial steps for how to successfully plant tomatoes.

Elements I Liked:

1. I really liked that I could actually see the host of the video and he didn’t just narrate from behind the camera.  He was very animated and engaging, showing genuine interest for what he was talking about.
2. I liked that the video was relatively short (five minutes) and covered one main topic.

Elements I Disliked:

1. At times I felt like the video was “chopped” and edited together without proper transitions.
2. It felt like Steve was rushing to get out what he wanted to say and I was a little tense watching a video about an activity that usually calms me.  He spoke so quickly that at one point, I had to pause and go back 15 seconds to catch what he’d said.

Instructable #2

Name:  How To Get Started With Lightroom: 5 – 10 Things Beginners Want To Know How To Do

URL:  https://youtu.be/nF2RMd3L83w

Description:  In this episode of Adobe Creative Cloud TV, Terry White shows how to get started with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and explains how to do the ten most common things that beginners want to learn.

Elements I Liked:

1. I really liked the paced of the video and the order in which Terry presented each thing he taught.
2. I liked how thorough Terry was and how well he explained everything.  His use of screencasting was extremely beneficial for someone like me who was brand new to the software.  I was able to have Lightroom open on one screen and follow along with what Terry did on my second screen.

Elements I Disliked:

1. I dislike that the video doesn’t have sections or titles for when Terry is going to cover something new.  When I was first learning Lightroom, it was frustrating to go back to this video and try to find where he covered something specific.
2. I dislike the length of the video and wish it had been broken up into smaller tutorials.

More Successful Video and Why:

This was a tough decision because both videos are so different and have different purposes and audiences, but I personally feel that “How to Get Started with Lightroom” was more successful.  It shows you how to do everything in a step-by-step format and the presenter explains the “why” behind a lot of what he teaches you.  He also discusses best practices and how they benefit your work long-term.