What I Learned Getting Feedback on My Educational Videos for Kids
The crumbs from Jax’s sour cream and onion chips were already sticking to the corduroy couch cushion when I pulled up my folder of multiplication practice videos. I’d spent three nights after grading papers making these, cutting out my stumbles over vocabulary, adding little pop-up definitions for terms like “partial products,” even throwing in a silly meme of a cat holding a calculator at the end to keep things light. Jax is my 10-year-old nephew, a 4th grader who’d been stuck on multi-digit multiplication for two months, and I’d bragged to my sister that my videos worked for all my struggling students back at my school. I hit play.
Thirty-two seconds in, Jax jabbed the trackpad with his crumb-strewn finger and paused the video. I leaned forward, ready to hear what part confused him. “Auntie, you talk way too slow here,” he said. “I already know what a factor is. I just don’t get why you add the extra zero when you move to the tens place.”
I’ll admit I was a little stung. I’d designed that opening review for kids who’d missed the previous lesson, after all. But I asked anyway: “What else bugging you?”
He pointed to the edge of my homemade whiteboard, where I kept my note cards off-camera. “You keep glancing down there. It makes me want to look where you’re looking instead of paying attention to the problem. Also, why do you spend a whole minute writing the problem out? I’m just sitting here staring. Couldn’t you write it before you hit record?”
My sister poked her head in from the kitchen, wiping flour off her hands, and started to say he was being rude, but I waved her off. I’d been making these educational videos for my class for three years, ever since remote learning, and I’d gotten all kinds of feedback: admins said they were well-aligned to state standards, other teachers said they loved the colorful graphics, parents said they were a lifesaver for homework help. But I’d never actually sat down with a kid who needed extra help and asked what they really thought of the videos I was making.
We ended up camped on that couch for 45 minutes, clicking through half a dozen of my videos, with Jax pointing out small, specific things I’d never noticed. My sister added what she’d observed watching Jax work through other online educational videos for homework: half the time he gives up halfway through because the video spends too much time on stuff he already gets, and by the time it gets to the part he needs, he’s already scrolling on his phone. Jax also pointed out that my closing line—“Write down any questions you have and bring them to class next time”—was useless to him. “If I’m watching this at 8 p.m. on a Sunday because I still don’t get it for my homework that’s due tomorrow, I’m not writing anything down,” he said. “I just want to see one more example done slow, that’s it.”
That conversation flipped what I thought I knew about making good educational content, whether you’re a teacher making videos for a whole class or a parent making a quick video to remind your kid how to tackle long division for homework. I’d always prioritized checking all the boxes, covering all the prerequisite steps, making sure everything looked polished. But none of that matters if the kid watching is checked out before they get to the part they need.
I went home that week and made three small, specific changes to all my new videos, based on that feedback. First, I added a 10-second clear blurb at the very start that tells viewers exactly what the video covers, links straight to the review they need if they want it, and tells them what timestamp to skip to if they just need the new step. For example, the opening of my new multiplication video says: “Today we’re covering how to add the extra zero when multiplying two-digit numbers. If you need a refresh on partial products, click the link in the description. If you just need the example, skip ahead to 0:45.” Second, I cut all the dead time: I write every problem on the whiteboard before I hit record, so I don’t waste 30 to 60 seconds writing on camera while kids wait. If a kid wants to write the problem along with me, they can hit pause. Third, I swapped the “bring your questions to class” closing for one extra full example at the end, worked through step by step with no new information, just for kids who need to see the process one more time before they try it themselves.
These are small changes, easy to do in 10 extra minutes of editing, and they work for parents too—if you’re recording a quick 2-minute video to help your kid remember their spelling rules or how to do their new math method, you can add that opening blurb just as easily as a teacher can. I also started asking for feedback directly from my own class, with sticky notes at the end of every flipped lesson: I just ask two questions, “What one thing could I change to make this video more helpful?” and “What’s one thing that worked well for you?” No long forms, just a quick note.
I won’t say this solved every problem. Some of my fellow teachers still say cutting the opening review disadvantages kids who need that repetition, and I get that—that’s why I leave the review linked, it’s still there for anyone who wants it. I still make mistakes: last week I posted a fractions video and forgot I’d used a light blue marker that doesn’t show up on camera, and three kids left notes telling me they couldn’t read the numerator. I still have a folder full of old videos I haven’t gotten around to updating.
But last Tuesday Jax texted me a screenshot of his multiplication quiz: 8 out of 10, a big smiley face drawn next to the grade. “Thx the new video was good” was all it said. That’s enough for me. Good educational content isn’t about how perfect your graphics are or how well you check all the standard boxes. It’s about listening to the person who’s actually sitting in front of the screen, confused and tired after a long day, and asking them what they need. I’m still learning, still adjusting, and I think that’s the point.
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