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Screencasting - Camtasia

What is it?

Many people would be familiar with the concept of taking a ‘screenshot’ of their computer which is a still image of your computer screen at a given time.  People often take screenshots when they need to capture something displayed on their screen such as an error message and share it with a support technician. 

Screencasting is the next natural step where instead of taking a still image of your computer screen, you record activity on your computer screen over a period of time stored as a movie or video.  Screencasts can optionally (and usually) be accompanied by an audio narration recorded with a microphone or headset concurrently with the computer screen recording.  Furthermore, sound output from software running on the computer at the time of the recording can also be included in the final video output.

CQUniversity has adopted Camtasia as its preferred screencasting product.  Versions of Camtasia are available for Windows computers and Macintoshes.  Camtasia allows for post-recording editing of the resulting videos and narration, and can be easily shared online via youtube and other online social media.

Why would I use it?

Screencasting is typically used for demonstrating how to use software on a computer, but can be applied to anything that can be illustrated on a computer screen.  Therefore it is an effective tool for creating digital artefacts (content) that can be shared with students and used as a basis for discussion or assessment. 

How can I use it with my learning and teaching?

Example uses for screencasting include:

Narrated recordings of powerpoint presentations
Do your lecture presentation change infrequently?  Why not record your lecture slides presentations into topic-based 10min screencast videos, and re-use these each term.  They can be accessible to both on-campus and distance students.

A student engagement tool for communicating with your students each week (2min video)
Use screencasting to record a simple and brief 2min talking head of yourself providing advice to your students about to expect in the coming week.  Offer anecdotes or points relevant to their course of study playing out in the media.  It is an opportunity to provide a human face to your distance students and guidance throughout their course of study.

Assessment Instructions or Feedback
Use screencasts to give clear instructions with examples on how to complete an assessment.  Or after marking an assessment, provide a video recording summarising yourl feedback to your class.

Using tablet PCs and recording handwritten diagrams and notes
It is difficult to teach and assist distance students in discipline areas such as mathematics and the sciences using symbolic notations that are not easily accessible on a computer.  As any mathematician about their frustrations with technologies such as LateX and MathType.  Traditionally it was never a problem in the day of pen and paper, but with distance students, pen and paper are not always available.  By using a tablet PC, as a teacher you can make hand-written notes with narration directly onto the Tablet PC screen, record it and share with your distance students. 

Where can I get more information?