Universities & Higher Education
Animated explainer videos for universities and higher education
AutoScribble lets lecturers, learning designers, research teams and student services turn existing text — lecture notes, abstracts, orientation guidance — into narrated whiteboard animations of 30 seconds to 4 minutes. You review and edit the script before anything is drawn, then download the video to upload to your virtual learning environment or share by link.
Who it's for: Lecturers and teaching fellows, learning technologists and instructional designers, research impact and communications teams, and student services such as admissions, wellbeing and careers.
The communication problems we hear most
Flipped learning needs short pre-watch material
Recording a full lecture takes hours, and students rarely finish 50-minute captures. A focused five-minute concept primer is far more likely to be watched before the seminar.
Research impact must reach non-specialists
Funders and REF impact case studies expect research to be communicated beyond the discipline, but most researchers have no animation budget.
Student services repeat the same answers
Extenuating circumstances, reassessment rules and how to book support are explained again and again at every intake.
Accessibility and consistency across modules
Content made by different staff varies wildly. A consistent, narrated format with editable scripts is easier to caption and quality-check.
What you can make
Threshold concept primers
One troublesome idea per video — opportunity cost, entropy, statistical significance — watched before class.
Research explainers
A two-minute summary of a published paper for funders, the public or a department homepage.
Assessment briefings
How a coursework brief is structured and what the marking criteria reward, without adding to the brief itself.
Orientation and welcome
What happens in welcome week, how timetables work, where to get help.
Study skills
Referencing, avoiding plagiarism and planning a dissertation, explained visually.
Recruitment content
What a course covers and how teaching works, for open days and course pages.
From source material to finished video
- 1
Choose one learning outcome
Pick a single outcome from the module specification. A video that tries to cover a whole week is hard to follow.
- 2
Paste your notes
Paste lecture notes, an abstract or a guidance page. AutoScribble drafts narration and scenes from what you give it.
- 3
Edit for your students
Adjust terminology and examples to your cohort. Keep discipline-specific terms and define them on first use.
- 4
Export to your platform
Download the MP4 and upload it to Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard or your media service yourself. There is no native VLE or SCORM integration.
Worked example
Illustrative example. Source: lecture notes on opportunity cost for a first-year economics module. Audience: students before a seminar. Length: 2 minutes, landscape.
Sample narration
“Every choice has a cost you can't see on a receipt. If you spend Saturday working a shift, you earn sixty pounds — but you give up the revision you could have done. Economists call that lost alternative the opportunity cost. It's not everything you gave up; it's the single best option you didn't take.”
Storyboard (illustrative, not a rendered video)
- Scene 1
A student at a fork in the road, one sign reading 'Shift', the other 'Revision'.
Every choice has a cost you can't see on a receipt.
- Scene 2
A wage slip for £60 drawn beside a closed textbook fading out.
You earn sixty pounds — but you give up the revision…
- Scene 3
The term 'Opportunity cost' written and underlined.
Economists call that lost alternative the opportunity cost.
- Scene 4
Three crossed-out options with only the best one circled.
It's the single best option you didn't take.
Prompts you can use today
Copy a prompt, or open it straight in the create box. Replace anything in square brackets.
Lecture notes to primer
Turn the lecture notes below into a 3-minute landscape whiteboard video for first-year undergraduates to watch before a seminar. Cover one learning outcome only: [outcome]. Define each technical term the first time it appears, use one everyday example, and end with two questions students should be ready to discuss. [Paste notes here]
Research explainer
Create a 2-minute landscape whiteboard explainer of the research summarised below for a non-specialist audience. Explain the problem, what the team did, what they found and why it matters, in that order. Do not overstate the findings; keep any limitations mentioned in the abstract. [Paste abstract or plain-language summary here]
Student services explainer
Make a 90-second portrait whiteboard video explaining how students apply for extenuating circumstances, using only the steps in the guidance below. Use a friendly, reassuring tone, draw each step as a numbered card, and finish by saying where to get help. [Paste guidance here]
What AutoScribble does
- Start from a typed idea, a pasted script, a website address, or an uploaded plain-text, Markdown or RTF document
- Edit the draft title, script and scene plan freely before anything is made
- Videos from 30 seconds to 4 minutes, in landscape (16:9) or portrait (9:16)
- Narration in 15 languages with a choice of voices
- Your logo and brand colours drawn into the sketch
- Download as MP4, share a private link, or embed on your website
- 100 credits make one minute of video; new accounts get 100 free credits
- Android app on Google Play; on iPhone, use the website in Safari
There is no LMS, SCORM or record-system integration: you download the video and upload it where you need it. Read how it works in how AutoScribble works or get the Android app.
When sketch animation fits
- Abstract concepts that benefit from step-by-step drawing
- Short pre-class material for flipped or blended teaching
- Public-facing research summaries
- Process explanations for student services
When another format is better
- Software walkthroughs — record the screen instead
- Laboratory technique — film the real equipment
- Long-form lectures — lecture capture is more appropriate for full sessions
Questions from universities & higher education teams
How can I turn lecture notes into an animated video?
Pick one learning outcome, paste the matching section of your notes into AutoScribble, and ask for a short whiteboard video for your year group. Edit the draft script until it says exactly what you would say in class, then generate and download it for your VLE.
Does AutoScribble integrate with Moodle, Canvas or Blackboard?
No. You download the MP4 and upload it to your VLE or media platform, or share a link. There is no SCORM export or LMS integration.
Can research teams use it for impact communication?
Yes — it suits two-minute summaries of published work. Keep claims within what the paper supports and have a named author approve the script.
How long should a lecture primer be?
Three to five minutes for one concept. AutoScribble's maximum length is four minutes per video, so longer topics become a short series.
Can I edit the script before the video is made?
Yes. The draft script and scene plan are fully editable, and editing is free. You only spend credits when you generate the video.
Is it suitable for international students?
Narration is available in 15 languages, and you can keep on-screen wording short and clear. Check translated scripts with a fluent colleague.
Sources and further reading
Step-by-step guides
How to turn lecture notes into short animated explainer videos
Select the part of your notes that covers one learning outcome, paste it into AutoScribble, and ask for a three- to four-minute landscape whiteboard video for your year group. Edit the draft until it sounds like you, define terms on first use, then download the MP4 and upload it to your VLE as pre-watch material with two discussion questions.
Read the guideHow to create a research explainer video for a non-specialist audience
Start from your plain-language summary or abstract and structure the video as problem, method, finding and why it matters. Ask AutoScribble for a two-minute landscape whiteboard video for non-specialists, keep every claim within what the paper supports, include a limitation, and have the lead author approve the script.
Read the guidePlanning animated student orientation and onboarding videos
List the questions new students ask most in their first fortnight, group them into six to ten short topics, and make one 60- to 90-second portrait video for each from your existing guidance pages. Send them before arrival and pin them in your student app or VLE so students can rewatch when the question actually arises.
Read the guideRelated sectors
- Healthcare & Medical Training — Medical and nursing education uses the same primer format.
- Schools & Tutoring — Transition content for sixth-formers and foundation years.
- Training & Workplace Learning — Instructional design principles carry over directly.
- All sectors · What you can make · Pricing