Thinking of making some engineering fundamentals videos

[TheUnnamedNewbie]

Don't know if this is the right place to start this topic, if not, please move it to where it should be.

I was toying around with the idea of starting some engineering fundamentals videos on my channel, trying to explain basic concepts in a way someone without a STEM background can understand. My first video would probably be about the concept of charge and perhaps electrons, what the terms voltage, current and power mean (and give the analogies to more every day concepts like pressure, hight, rate of flow through a tube,...). Perhaps also look at conductors and nonconductors (mention the concept of a cloud of electrons in a metal?).

My question to you guys is, given the topic and I'm aiming to get about 15 to 20 minute long videos, what shouldn't I forget to mention?

[jeroen79]

Ohm's law?
And you could discuss various basic components.

How much  videos do you intend to produce?
Are you going for a structured course or just a set of loosely related topics?

[TheUnnamedNewbie]

I was thinking of covering the conponents in a separate video. Topics will be loosly related, but I want it to build up. I got started thibking about it whne trying to explain what it is to discretisize a signal, but thought I should explain what a signal is and what they are built up of, which in turn requirs what voltages are, and so on.
Ohms law might be interesting, but I think I need to cover resistance first? Perhaps just mention the concept in the first video and linking the concept to the component later.?

[EEVblog]

My advice is don't ask what people want, you'll get a thousand different answers. Just do what you want to do.

[Radio Tech]

My advice is don't ask what people want, you'll get a thousand different answers. Just do what you want to do.

Sound advice 

As I found, you cannot satisfy everyone. The more you do the more you will find what your audience likes.

[3roomlab]

electroboom 2 !

[Radio Tech]

electroboom 2 !

 

I still not sure if that guy is a nut or a genius 
He is fun to watch.

[TheUnnamedNewbie]

My advice is don't ask what people want, you'll get a thousand different answers. Just do what you want to do.

I think you are right. I was more interested in not forgetting anything important but I guess I'll see how it goes...

[jeroen79]

electroboom 2 !

 

I still not sure if that guy is a nut or a genius 
He is fun to watch.

Nuttiness and genius are not mutually exclusive IMO.

[lapm]

My advice is don't ask what people want, you'll get a thousand different answers. Just do what you want to do.

I think you are right. I was more interested in not forgetting anything important but I guess I'll see how it goes...

My advice is dont worry about being right on everything.. Look mjlorton, He makes mistakes, he makes videos where he explains mistakes he did and why he did them, etc...

If you try be perfect from start, you will newer get video out. And remember... You can newer please everyone...

[6581]

Just start making them. :-) With your own style. Best results come from being enthusiastic about your subject. Enjoy what you do and the rest will follow.

[TheComet]

I feel like you're starting way too deep. Someone who's interested in EE and just starting out isn't going to care about what electrons are and how they can be used to define charge. That's more physics related (branch electromagnetism).

I'd recommend starting with Ohm's law and talking about resistors. Move on to simple resistor networks (e.g. voltage divider) and also give practical background: Why do we need resistors? What are resistor dividers used for? Stuff like that.

You can go into details much later on for those who are interested in how resistors actually work.

[EEVblog]

I think you are right. I was more interested in not forgetting anything important but I guess I'll see how it goes...

Don't be too concerned about that, you can always do another video.
Also, don't try to do too much in one video.
See my recent Kichhoff's video. Was supposed to be one video, but I split it into two and it worked better I think.

[coppice]

You videos will suck. Everyone's early videos suck. Don't worry too much about the topics. Worry more about actually making videos, getting some solid practice in, and developing a style and some polish. When your videos stop sucking you can be more selective about the topics, and by then you will probably be getting a feel for what to include and omit to suit the type of audience you are developing.... Then you can try to remove all trace of the early videos that sucked. 

[TheUnnamedNewbie]

You videos will suck. Everyone's early videos suck. Don't worry too much about the topics. Worry more about actually making videos, getting some solid practice in, and developing a style and some polish. When your videos stop sucking you can be more selective about the topics, and by then you will probably be getting a feel for what to include and omit to suit the type of audience you are developing.... Then you can try to remove all trace of the early videos that sucked. 

I like your no-sugarcoating attitude. And I agree, I don't expect to become the new Dave or Shahriar (SignalPathBlog) or whatnet from the getgo - if ever. Although I'm gonna try to keep my worst online for ever, because I get tired of the perfect picture students always get to see, and for me, that was one of the most important moments: Realizing even the best out there will hand have fucked up (pardon my words).

Thanks for the advice (or lack thereof ) guys, I'm gonna try and start this week... Still needa figure how I'm going to approach it, see what works best (screencap or talking head at a glassboard).

[fivefish]

Take a look at w2aew's videos and skullcom's videos for other great examples too.

No 30-second video intro crap, gets to the meat of the matter. No 30-second intro talk of what you're going to talk about... just go start talking about it!

Good lighting. (Important)

Good closeups. (not of your face, but of the work, the breadboard, the scope screen, etc).

Tripod mounted video! (can't stand shaky hand-held or moving head/gopro style videos)

No need to see your head talking all the time, once in a while will be fine. Just to give a sense of who you are.

Screen capture looking at a mouse pointer circling around, while I try to guess/follow where it went .... is a big, big yawn in my book. I lose interest quickly.

w2aew's (Alan's) videos are note worthy. He explains complex topics in such a simple, clear manner that you can't help but recreate his breadboard demos to see for yourself.  He uses topics that you may have read of (and understood in a bookish way), but Alan demonstrates it on a breadboard using simple circuitry, in a practical way, using equipment you may already have... an old analog scope, or DSO, a breadboard and some power supply.

Watching someone fix a $7K test gear that you know you'll never own/use/have access too, and using an even more expensive tool to diagnose/calibrate/fix it... is a big useless video. I classify this as electronics porn, useful once in a while if you want to measurebate.

Watching someone unscrew nuts and bolts of what used to be a $20K server is a big bore too. "Tear down" videos is the fancy name. Like watching a scrap metal dealer tear down a car... "this is the car hood, this is the bumper, this is the engine, this is the transmission.... we unscrew these bolts and take them apart"... yawn!

Keep it short and simple. Spending an hour+ talking about all the details and minutae of some finished project you did for your company's client is a big bore. This video is only useful/interesting to a job recruiter. Big bore..... instead pick a small topic, say "output impedance". then say "this is how you can measure __blank__ using gear you already have in your lab." --- not "this is how you measure ___blank____ using a $30K test equipment."

And if you want to electrocute/shock yourself to be "funny" in your videos, please do it for fucking real and do it right the 1st time.

Good luck!

[Radio Tech]

Take a look at w2aew's videos and skullcom's videos for other great examples too.

No 30-second video intro crap, gets to the meat of the matter. No 30-second intro talk of what you're going to talk about... just go start talking about it!

Good lighting. (Important)

Good closeups. (not of your face, but of the work, the breadboard, the scope screen, etc).

Tripod mounted video! (can't stand shaky hand-held or moving head/gopro style videos)

No need to see your head talking all the time, once in a while will be fine. Just to give a sense of who you are.

Screen capture looking at a mouse pointer circling around, while I try to guess/follow where it went .... is a big, big yawn in my book. I lose interest quickly.

w2aew's (Alan's) videos are note worthy. He explains complex topics in such a simple, clear manner that you can't help but recreate his breadboard demos to see for yourself.  He uses topics that you may have read of (and understood in a bookish way), but Alan demonstrates it on a breadboard using simple circuitry, in a practical way, using equipment you may already have... an old analog scope, or DSO, a breadboard and some power supply.

Watching someone fix a $7K test gear that you know you'll never own/use/have access too, and using an even more expensive tool to diagnose/calibrate/fix it... is a big useless video. I classify this as electronics porn, useful once in a while if you want to measurebate.

Watching someone unscrew nuts and bolts of what used to be a $20K server is a big bore too. "Tear down" videos is the fancy name. Like watching a scrap metal dealer tear down a car... "this is the car hood, this is the bumper, this is the engine, this is the transmission.... we unscrew these bolts and take them apart"... yawn!

Keep it short and simple. Spending an hour+ talking about all the details and minutae of some finished project you did for your company's client is a big bore. This video is only useful/interesting to a job recruiter. Big bore..... instead pick a small topic, say "output impedance". then say "this is how you can measure __blank__ using gear you already have in your lab." --- not "this is how you measure ___blank____ using a $30K test equipment."

And if you want to electrocute/shock yourself to be "funny" in your videos, please do it for fucking real and do it right the 1st time.

Good luck!

I agree. Alan’s videos are about as good as you could want.
His videos are fun to watch, to the point, helps you understand without going over your head. His videos are not about him, but about the content he is showing you.  I wish my videos could be more successful like his…but we are not here to talk about my crappy videos..

[LaserSteve]

If it were me,

I'd mention that the Electron's  "field"   moves from negitive to positive outside the battery,  and dive right into Ohm's law for a first video...

It took me a while to unlearn my mentor's line about electrons actually moving, but that is the common line  you hear in high school, early college and on the web.. An  Electron's actual drift rate is very slow, except inbetween plates in vacuum tubes. 

Steve

[Dielectric]

I particularly enjoy AvE's style, although it's more often mechanical engineering.  My favorite parts are when he does a really quick calculation on clamping load or something to figure out if there's any margin in some crappy geartrain.  The humor is his own, don't try to ape something you're not.  He's like a crazy Canadian version of W2AEW.

[ez24]

Make videos over 20 minutes.  YT has two time filters  <4min  and >20min

This helps a little to filter out the crap

[TheUnnamedNewbie]

I've tried a few times to record what I wanted now, but I've never been satisfied with the result really. Feel like either it's too fast, or two slow, or I'm not realising I'm skipping over some principles. I thought having experience teaching in real life would have made this easier but I was mistaken :p

[coppice]

I've tried a few times to record what I wanted now, but I've never been satisfied with the result really. Feel like either it's too fast, or two slow, or I'm not realising I'm skipping over some principles. I thought having experience teaching in real life would have made this easier but I was mistaken :p

Real life lecturing does make it easier, but it only gets you part of the way. Something about the permanence of recording makes most of us self concious, and messes things up. Kind of odd, when recordings are trivial to erase. We also desperately, er, want, um, to avoid any stalling in a recording, while its normal when lecturing. It all gets better with practice.

[ez24]

I thought having experience teaching in real life would have made this easier but I was mistaken :p

It is very difficult to make good videos, that is why there are so many bad ones.  From my point of view there are a lot of good ones on the basics but not on microcontrollers (excluding Arduino).  My theory is by the time someone understands MCUs they are too busy using them to make videos.

[TimNJ]

From my experience making engineering videos, only teach topics you really know well (or are willing to learn very well). While preparing videos, you wouldn't believe the amount of times I've went "Hmmph, i don't really know why that works". Also, there's no room for mistakes/misinformation so you have to triple check your work before you publish it. Best of luck.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fivefish]

I've tried a few times to record what I wanted now, but I've never been satisfied with the result really. Feel like either it's too fast, or two slow, or I'm not realising I'm skipping over some principles. I thought having experience teaching in real life would have made this easier but I was mistaken :p

Why not make it a typical "blog" article first... then you have all the time to fact check, double-check, really think about it and organized to present well. Create additional graphics, diagrams, schematics, etc. Get feedback from readers, answer common questions, etc.

Then, make the video blog version using same materials and feedback from the blog article.