E-learning with Camtasia Studio

First, let's think a bit about the medium we are using. Video is a powerful way to teach. It enables all sorts of new ways to show exactly what you want your students to learn.

Years ago, it was adequate to simply videotape the teacher's lecture and give students access to the video and other resources such as a textbook or reference material. In business, videos were produced by the media department for the same purpose, educating personnel. Just by consuming the media, the students would theoretically learn the material and your teaching goals would be reached. While this approach was effective in some circumstances, especially in the "soft business skills" and academic categories, it does not do so well when teaching tasks or processes.

Also, those early attempts lacked interactive elements such as asking questions, presenting different scenarios, giving instructions, and even demonstrating an understanding of the material through knowledge assessments.

Today, video occupies a proven spot in the hierarchy of learning modalities when encompassed in a well-planned and executed e-learning program. This exemplifies the power of teaching complex subjects by showing you how to perform a task and then allowing the learner to demonstrate mastery. For example, you can point out the exact location of a switch on an appliance and describe how to use it very effectively with moving pictures and words. A video show-and-tell is perfect for describing how to use a computer program. Even classroom whiteboard teaching can benefit from the special effects available in today's e-learning environment.

The challenge is to think about how to best use these inherent advantages when planning your project. Begin by asking yourself the following questions:

Whether in the business or academic worlds, perhaps you have taught students how to do things. This may have happened in a traditional classroom or informal face-to-face sessions. Or perhaps, you have written procedures for others in your organization to follow. Maybe you have some e-learning background already and just want to brush up on what you need to know before getting started. Whatever the situation, you know from experience that setting goals before starting will help your project stay on target.

The topic of goal-setting is discussed thoroughly in Chapter 2, Planning the Project. You will learn the specific components of a good plan, which includes everything up until you start recording. We will cover setting specific goals based on learner analysis, the components of a good plan, and creating an outline. You will understand how the outline is used throughout the project, how it is modified if necessary, and the use of some tips and shortcuts. Finally, the sample outline will be introduced and how to use it will be described.

Let's assume you have decided to deliver your learning package using video. That's a good start, but you have some more thinking to do and decisions to make.

There are some options regarding delivery technique, which include the following:

In all cases, a vital learning aid is an audio recording with commentary about what is being shown on screen. While it is possible to have a mute video, or one with only music, as a standalone method, this will not be as effective instructionally.

All the delivery methods mentioned in the preceding list can be very effective. The important point is to make a decision about what methods you are going to use and think about how doing it this way will help reach your learning goals.

We will delve into the topic of delivery methods in various places in this book, including a wrap-up in Chapter 8, Deploying Your E-learning Video to the Web or LMS.

At some early point in your project, the following questions will be on your mind:

In the case of an instructional video, the outline is the same as a learning plan or a classroom course outline. The purpose is to plan the topics to be covered in the proper sequence. As in any creative process, outlining your project before starting is an important step. It helps you organize your thoughts, always with the needs of the learner in mind. If something is important for the learner to know, it should be included in the proper sequence to avoid confusion or mistakes. If it is determined as not important, it should be left out or covered in another project.

For this section, we will consider the details of the outlining process in Chapter 2, Planning the Project, and the sample outline included in Appendix. A sample project is also included with this book. The subject of our sample project is Using CuePrompter.

Now, let's consider some parts of the planning and recording process that are most often neglected. I believe they are vital to the success of your project. A storyboard allows you to draw up the audio, or vocal, content and visual parts of your "story". A good storyboard includes the script of the vocal recording, as well as a description or "stage directions" for the visual part of the recording.

A storyboard gives you a blueprint for your video and keeps you solidly on track with your outline and plan, hopefully focusing on learner needs. In its simplest form for a short project, a storyboard can be a drawing with lines and sticks on a notepad with the words to be spoken in a separate script. For a more comprehensive project, you will need to create a storyboard before you start recording and production. Used properly, a storyboard ensures that your project will be more focused and cohesive. Your learners will gain more understanding of the subject and will appreciate the logical organizational structure of your video.

A storyboard also affords you the opportunity to have your vision reviewed by others before you begin recording and production. If you have clients, other teachers, SMEs, or project team members who can act as reviewers, a storyboard gives them an opportunity to provide you with valuable feedback when changes can be made more easily than later in the project cycle.

In Chapter 3, Creating the Script, and Chapter 4, Creating the Storyboard, scripts and storyboards are explained in detail. You will also see references to the sample documents in Appendix.

The optional shot list helps you plan the video recording session. It is a terse, step-by-step guide that you can print or have on screen while you are recording. Your first impulse when clicking on that big red Record button may be to freeze. This is normal and can be easily overcome. Having a written list to remind you where to start and where to go next is a big help. In a few words, a shot list reminds you of the sequence of events you are going to record. This illustration shows a shot list for a video that describes logging on to a system and setting profile preferences:

A shot list is especially important for video recordings. Whenever the video camera or screen recording software is turned on, you are going to want to know what comes up next. The shot list will put your mind at ease about this. It gives you the proper sequence to execute the list of tasks you are going to record.

This technique works well for a sequence of events that you need to keep in mind while recording. For other projects where the sequence of events is already defined or well understood, you might not need a shot list at all. For example, if your project is based on a deck of presentation slides, the sequence of events is already defined by the position of the individual slides. A shot list in this case would be redundant. The shot list is described in Chapter 4, Creating the Storyboard and a sample is included in Appendix.

This book includes a sample project that you can use to follow along and see these principles in action. You will gain a better understanding of how the information in this book relates to a "real-world" e-learning project created using Camtasia Studio. Let's take a moment to consider this sample project, which you can examine more deeply at the appropriate times when referenced in this book.

The subject of the sample project is one that will be useful for your own consumption: Using CuePrompter. CuePrompter is a web-based teleprompter which I find useful in my own general courses for Camtasia Studio users. The following are the elements included in the sample project and associated material in Appendix:

The Camtasia Studio templates and samples included with this book are a valuable resource for you to use in your own projects. I recommend you download them now so you will have them available for the exercises in later chapters. The sample project was created with Camtasia Studio. The sample project documents and templates are available both in the Microsoft Word format as well as on Google Docs.

For those readers who have Microsoft Word, the sample documents and templates can be downloaded from the Packt Publishing website, as follows:

For those readers without Microsoft Word, the documents and templates are available in Google Docs format. Both types of documents can be opened and edited in Open Office applications. For instructions on using the Google Docs versions, refer to Appendix.

In this chapter, you got the opportunity to explore the answers to the questions that you must have had about using Camtasia Studio to produce e-learning videos. The scene is now set to learn about the planning, resources, techniques, and solutions you will be using in your journey. From here on, the book steps you through these topics and coaches you through the whole process of developing and delivering an e-learning video.

Camtasia Studio is a very robust and powerful tool to be used in creating e-learning videos. But just owning and using Camtasia Studio does not mean your e-learning videos will reflect the quality levels you hope to achieve. There is no guarantee inherent in the software that ensures that your learning objectives will be met. This chapter presented some of the other items to be considered such as posing questions you might have asked yourself and providing links to the resources in this book that will help you answer those questions. Going through the chapters that follow, you will learn the importance of sound planning and execution. You will have access to some well-crafted samples to guide you on your way.

The next chapters are about project planning, scripting, and storyboarding. After that, you will learn the basics of creating Camtasia recordings, editing the footage, adding quizzes and interactions, and finally, deploying your finished e-learning video to Web or learning management system. You will get ample opportunities to try out the techniques I describe using the samples provided with this book or your own projects.

Engage your imagination and enjoy the trip!