Camtasia Overview

Process

1. Create "film clips" in which Camtasia captures what's happening on-screen plus your voice
   • By giving an on-screen power point lecture into a microphone while sitting at your pc
   • By talking into your microphone while demonstrating how to build a spreadsheet, etc.
   • Can also skip this step and go directly to story board.  For example, load images to story board and then narrate over them.
2. The film clips go to a "clip bin."  From here you piece them together on a "story board" to make a "movie"
   • Option to add call outs, add highlights, smooth out volume levels, add "bookmarks," zoom in on part of the screen, etc.
3. Convert "movie" to a  flash file or other type of file that can be posted to the web, DVD, etc. by hitting a button

Cons

1. Seems to create some conflicts (e.g. with Picassa, with Dragonsoft Naturally Speaking)
2. Getting your mic to work can be a pain
3. When using the "film clip approach," you cannot separate the audio and video tracks.  Makes fixing voice mistakes difficult.  No voiceover.
4. Micro editing (e.g. changing a few words/sentences) is very difficult.

Pros

1. Fairly easy to use
2. Free 30 day trial (TechSmith.com)

Based on my experience

• When teaching on line, don't create narrated presentations for all of the material you would lecture about in a 3 hr per week face-to-face course
• Perfection is a temptress
• Woe to anyone expecting presentations with professional look and feel
• Different media are not perfect substitutes for one another  -- for the messenger not just the receiver!