To turn a textbook chapter into a video, do not paste the whole chapter. Take the headings, the first paragraph under each heading, every definition box, and the chapter summary, which together are usually 1,200 to 2,000 words, and paste those into a document-first tool like openCanviz. It drafts a narrated video of eight to fourteen minutes with one short chapter per section and a drawing that builds as each idea is introduced. Watch it before you read the chapter, not instead of reading it. Used that way it gives you the map of the chapter first, so the reading has something to attach to.

What this is for, and what it is not for

There are two different jobs here, and people mix them up.

Learning a chapter for the first time. You have been assigned chapter 7 and you do not know the material yet. A short video of the chapter's structure, watched first, makes the reading faster and easier to follow, because you already know where it is going. This is what this guide is about.

Revising a chapter you have already studied. For that, your own notes make a better source than the textbook, because they are already filtered to what your course emphasised. That is covered in how to turn class notes into a revision video.

A video of a textbook chapter is a preview, not a replacement. It will leave out the worked examples, the edge cases and the evidence, and those are often what the exam tests.

The arithmetic

A typical undergraduate textbook chapter runs 8,000 to 15,000 words. Narration runs at about 150 words a minute. Pasting the whole chapter and asking for a ten-minute video asks the tool to throw away six words in every seven, and it will not always throw away the right ones.

The middle row is the one to aim for. You are doing the selection yourself, which takes fifteen minutes and means the video contains what you decided mattered.

What to keep from the chapter

Every heading and subheading. They are the author's own outline, and they become the chapter titles of your video.

The first paragraph under each heading. Textbook authors almost always state the section's main idea up front. The rest of the section elaborates it.

Every definition, key term and boxed concept. These are the load-bearing words. A video that states them clearly, with a drawing, is the thing you will remember.

Every diagram caption. A caption describes a process or a relationship in a sentence, which is exactly what a drawn scene can show.

The chapter summary and the learning objectives. The objectives tell you what the chapter thinks you should be able to do. Put them at the top so the draft is framed around them.

Skip the historical sidebars, the "in the news" boxes, the end-of-chapter questions and anything you were told is not on the syllabus.

Getting the text out of the book

Most e-textbook platforms let you copy text, but many limit how much you can copy at once or per book. Copying headings, openers and definitions usually fits comfortably inside those limits, which is another reason to select rather than paste everything.

For a printed book, most phones can copy text straight out of a photo of the page. Photograph the pages you need, copy the text, and check any numbers, symbols and formulas by eye, because those are what photo text recognition gets wrong.

Make it

1. 1

   Put the learning objectives first

   Paste the chapter's objectives at the top of your document. They tell the draft what the chapter is trying to achieve.

2. 2

   Build the skeleton

   Headings in order, and under each one, its first paragraph, its definitions and the captions of any figures in it.

3. 3

   Add the summary at the end

   The author's own summary usually makes a good final chapter.

4. 4

   Paste it in and set the length

   Aim for roughly one minute per major section. Twelve sections, twelve minutes.

5. 5

   Check the definitions

   Compare every definition in the draft with the book, word for word where it matters. A slightly-off definition, learned early, is surprisingly hard to unlearn.

6. 6

   Watch it, then read

   Watch the whole video once, then read the chapter. Stop the reading at each heading and say out loud what the video told you that section was about, before you read it.

Subjects where this works best

It works best where a chapter is built from processes, causes and relationships: biology, economics, psychology, history, geography, earth science and most of the social sciences. A drawing that builds as the narration explains a feedback loop or a sequence is a genuinely good way to meet those for the first time.

It works least well for chapters that are mostly worked problems, like much of mathematics, physics and accounting. The video can explain what a technique is for and when to use it, but the learning happens when you do the problems, and no video does them for you.

Is this allowed?

Making a video from your textbook for your own study is personal use, the same as writing notes from it. Publishing it is not. The text belongs to the publisher, so keep the video private.

What it costs

New accounts start with one hundred credits, roughly ten minutes of finished video, which covers a chapter preview without paying. Free videos carry a watermark, which is irrelevant for a video only you will watch.

Common questions

Can I just paste the whole chapter? You can, and the draft will still come out, but you give up control of what gets cut. Fifteen minutes spent building the skeleton gives you a better video and is itself a useful first pass over the chapter.

Is watching the video instead of reading the chapter good enough? No, and it is worth being honest about why. The video carries the structure and the key terms. The chapter carries the evidence, the examples and the exceptions, and exam questions are mostly built from those. Use the video to make the reading easier, not to skip it. There is more on this in how to study from video instead of rereading your notes.

What about a textbook in another language? The video is narrated in the language of the text you paste. If your course is taught in one language and the textbook is in another, translate the skeleton first and keep each technical term in both languages the first time it appears, because a term translated literally is sometimes not the one your course uses.

One video per chapter or one per section? Per chapter for the preview. If one section is the part you are stuck on, make a separate three-minute video of just that section, from the full text of the section rather than the skeleton.