Camtasia
Working in an increasing web-based world has birthed new
software such as Camtasia. It facilitates online training by providing
top of the line video screen capture. In
its first iterations it was just a simple screen recorder. Recent versions now have a design studio that
incorporates the traditional layered tracks method of production for layering
audio and video files. You can record
audio files while capturing screen recording or audio can be added later if
needed. For instructional design and
presentation narration in web-based platforms and learning management systems,
Camtasia or similar software is essential to create valuable and engaging
content that helps to create a social presence in a virtual interaction.
In my position, I have created several documents with screen
shots to assist certain processes that teachers can access electronically
rather than have to email me for in person support. It would be much more beneficial to have
little video tutorials; the live content
and the ability to play and replay portions of the process will hopefully
assist staff members without me having to be physically present. It would also be valuable as a way to archive
professional development for staff members that cannot be in attendance at the
specific time it was delivered or to access again later if they had questions
or needed a review of information.
Camtasia has a high
price point for PC
platform; it retails for $299 or $249 for government and $179 for educators
and students. However, the Mac
platform is only $99 or $89 (government) and $75 (education) with the
education discount. It has a very robust
tutorial element that has sample projects for you to practice skills as the
training. If you are uncertain how to
use a certain piece of the recording or editing software, right clicking in the
area brings up access to the related tutorial in addition to the master tutorial
menu under the help menu. I found the
timeline working board very easy to work with and make adjustments as necessary
to clip length of audio or video recordings when sounds or mistakes need to be
edited out.
I practiced creating a narrated PowerPoint that I had used
to facilitate a review of our MTSS intervention decision-making earlier in the
year. I felt it was much more user
friendly than trying to add narration directly into a slide show and then time
and animate it to work well, not to mention that you could access other content
outside the slide show and it is still included in the recording. Once you are satisfied with the video you can
easily post it directly to web-based platforms from the software or save it as
a video file to be saved or shared through your network. Personally, I always prefer to have it posted
to YouTube as it makes it easy to access from various locations and staff can
access it easily form home if they need to.
I searched Camtasia on YouTube just to see
what outside sources had provided tutorials and found that they ranged from
very helpful to silly, and the providers of the screencasts were a variety of
ages, including one who was around twelve.
Which speaks to the relative ease of use of the software, but the amount
of tutorials to choose from is reminiscent of the changing nature of
information access and information overload referenced in Too
Big To Know. Granted, the
software only exists in a technology rich world as it is about screencasting,
but in the past, seeking training was a much bigger ordeal than searching
YouTube, where an overwhelming number of hits (1,700,000)
that relate to different aspects of Camtasia are at your fingertips any time of
the day or night. YouTube’s information
overload can be a rabbit hole for many people who can spend large amounts of
time sifting through the available information looking for quality
information. Even in this technology
rich environment, techsperts (technical experts) have developed a following,
which is tracked through number of views and comments, but this ranking systems
is subjective as it is ranking by the masses.
As a thinking person, any content you seek out must be viewed
analytically to evaluate its appropriateness for your uses.
I have been very interested in Camtasia as a training and presentation tool after seeing recent demos from this software and also from Adobe Captivate. Do you have any experience with Captivate? I am trying to determine the best option for my team going forward. I believe Camtasia offers a better and easier video editing component as you can add content on multiple tracks and made quick changes to video order. This tool would be so beneficial for new deployments as one employee's time in creating the content can be leveraged by anyone at any time, even for minor deployments or application updates. Even a quick 30 second demo of a particular functionality would help remove so much frustration from my user base.
ReplyDeleteHave you had any experience creating interactive content with Camtasia? I know this is possible on Captivate but I am not certain of how well this can be accomplished in Camtasia. I have found there is much greater engagement on these types of videos if there is an interactive component. We used these types of demos when we first rolled out Microsoft Exchange at a previous organization and the feedback was incredible. The videos were narrated and actually walked a user through each individual step in the process and required them to click a specific screen element to advance to the next screen so users were forced to pay attention. Thanks for the post!
Matt Bonilla
Matt, I have used both, and I think the learning curve on Captivate is steeper than Camtasia. I like the ease of use of Camtasia...and it is what I used to create my videos in our course.
DeleteIf you are looking to create quick demos, you might also look at SnagIt - built by the same company as Camtasia. It allows you to quickly grab screen images or record short videos of screen content, but editing features are limited. If I remember, it runs about $50. I should get frequent flyer miles, as I have both SnagIt and Camtasia on my home PC and my MacPro laptop...and frequently use them.
Matt,
DeleteI haven't ever used Captivate, but the user friendliness of Camtasia and my experience with the steep learning curve of other Adobe products that I frequently work with leads me to believe that Camtasia is worth a try, especially with Captivate's $1099 price tag. Even the student and teacher edition is $349.
For teachers that have a Mac getting the $75 price tag is a good incentive to stick with Camtasia.
Nora
Nice post, NoraJean. Good coverage of the tool...and nice integration with Weinberger's book. Developing skill at filtering the glut of information is becoming a necessary leadership trait.
ReplyDeleteNoraJean,
ReplyDeleteCamtasia is a great tech solution. Although I have not personally tried Camtasia to create a demo, I have been on the user end and found it to be very helpful. Years ago, we used to type out step-by-step instructions for explaining tasks like how to register for classes or how faculty can use an admissions software. Now we use screenshots. But a voice over of a person actually doing the tasks would be even better. When I was with a previous employer, the technology staff which provided training for our student records system (PeopleSoft) used Camtasia to show staff how to use any new updated features that had been developed - this allowed them to send the training out to staff without needing to hold a dozen trainings whenever a change had been made.
I also appreciate your point about the difficulty in evaluating sources. As Kraft and Furlong explained, the lack of a gatekeeper (I.e. a media publisher) makes it quite challenging to sift through the large amount of information available on the web to find reliable sources.
Will
Nora,
ReplyDeleteCamtasia seems like very useful solution for viewers who need an in-depth view into learning how to fix issues in different aspects of their lives. This program, in my opinion, does not get enough credit because of the many instructional videos that exist on sites such as YouTube. Members of my department often use these types of videos in order to complete "How To" tasks in our office. The problem is no one knows how to create a video that will allow our customers to complete housing items such as filling out an application. In 2013, the university purchased a software that was geared to complete housing duties. Once the system went to production, there was nothing to help introduce students to the new process. Many families called our offices with questions and concerns about the new application and the troubleshooting issues they encountered. Having a program like Camtasia would have been a great tool to have to show students the step-by-step process on completing their housing reservation. Great information about this tool.
Jimmy
Hi Nora,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the introduction to Camtasia. I have used Adobe Presenter and Adobe Captivate which if I understand your description are similar tools. These types of presentations can be useful for consistency in training whereas live presentations can vary by presenter or even by presentation. In addition these trainings or presentations can be sent to several individuals who can complete them asynchronously which can assist with efficiency and ensure that an organization doesn’t have to shut down the production of a department in order to conduct a training. Geography and time are not an issue when using Camtasia. There are of course other uses such as marketing or sales presentations and other types of communications that this software can be useful for.
Have you had the chance to use Camtasia yet? If so for what purpose? If not do you foresee ways in which this can assist you professionally or otherwise?
Nice work!