Learning
y Services
LearningTechnolog
Technology
Services
A Unit of Learning Information and Technology
7 Things You Need to Know about Recorded Camtasia Lectures
from Learning Technology Services at UW-Stout
Possibilities & Applications
• Provide lecture materials for student
viewing outside class and then use
class time to explore concepts in more
depth.
• Post recorded lectures for completely
online students who would not
otherwise receive lectures.
• Enable engagement and discussion
in the classroom by giving students
required prior knowledge for activities
and discussions.
• Encourage student accountability for
class preparation.
• Caption recorded lectures to increase
accessibility for deaf, hard of hearing,
and non-native English speakers.
• Captioned lectures have been shown to
be helpful to students for note-taking
and learning the spelling of new terms.
• Create class prep or supplemental
materials for hybrid or flipped courses.
• Provide students with additional
problem solving exercises.
• Create screen recording tutorials that
guide students through the process of
operating a software application.
• Bring history to life through the
inclusion of historic audio, video, or
photos in recorded lectures.
Who to Contact:
Learning Technology Services
Rich Berg
bergr@uwstout.edu
715-232-1223
What instructors are saying:
“Yes, the lectures improve student
learning. I see it in the breadth and depth
of their discussion board posts and their
ability to apply the material in other
written assignments.”
- Dr. Ann Brand
What students are saying:
“I really liked the lectures that he posted
online! They were informative and would
help clarify parts of the chapter I had
already read. Keep it up..... I thought it
was very helpful.”
- Chemistry Student
University of Wisconsin-Stout
Wisconsin-Stout
1. What Are They?
Camtasia is a multimedia recording and authoring program used to record screen
actions and narrate PowerPoint slides. Video clips, images, and audio can be added.
Instructors use Camtasia to make videos of screen actions or their PowerPoint slides
with voice narration. Videos can be produced in multiple formats and posted to a
video repository, YouTube, or within a course in a learning management system.
Learning Technology Services (LTS) has a “quiet room” in their work area. This
room includes a computer equipped with Camtasia Studio and a studio-quality
microphone. Instructors can use this room for free by simply signing up on a calendar.
Training and assistance in the quiet room are available from LTS staff.
2. Who Is Doing It?
Ann Brand (Education) uses Camtasia to create mini lectures explaining the
concepts that she would normally discuss in a face-to-face (F2F) class. She provides
links to the videos for her online students.
John Kirk (Chemistry) uses Camtasia to create short videos covering content
traditionally covered in class. He uses quizzes through D2L to gauge understanding
and encourage watching videos and reading the textbook outside of class. Class
time is devoted to focusing on just those concepts that students find difficult or
interesting and on more interactive projects.
Todd Zimmerman (Physics) uses Camtasia to record short lectures for students to
view before coming to class. By moving first exposure of material out of the classroom
he can spend class time working on problems or discussing difficult concepts. He
also records short videos for students to watch before reading the text, pointing out
important details to focus on and questions they should be able to answer after they
have completed the reading.
Jennifer Grant (Biology) Jen Grant uses Camtasia to instruct students in an online
course on biotechnology. Dr. Grant is particularly interested in how strategic design
of course content can be used to bridge the interpersonal gap between online
students and their professors.
3. How Do They Work? What Can You Do?
Some strategies for recorded Camtasia lectures include:
• Chunking classroom lectures into smaller pieces. Shorter recordings are easier for
instructors to record and easier for busy students to watch. Many adult learners
do not have time to watch a full-length recorded lecture from start to finish.
However, if that lecture is chunked, they may find times throughout their day to
watch the lecture modules.
• The screen recording feature in Camtasia can be used to make a video demo of
a software application or website for students. Students can watch the video
multiple times to understand the application or website navigation.
• Videos made in Camtasia can be captioned. Captioned videos are more accessible
to students who are deaf, hard of hearing, or non-native English speakers.
4. Why Is It Significant?
More courses at UW-Stout are being taught completely online and many F2F courses
include larger online components. Recorded lectures enable instructors to address
the differing student learning styles. Some students may prefer to read from a book.
Others may prefer to view a narrated slide show. When instructors post captioned
lecture recordings, students may read the captions or use them to take notes.
1
©©2015
2013The
TheBoard
Boardof
ofRegents,
Regents, University
University of Wisconsin
Learning
y Services
LearningTechnolog
Technology
Services
A Unit of Learning Information and Technology
Results: Student survey responses from
a formal study of instructors who used
recorded lectures in their courses.
The recorded lectures added instructional value to the
course.
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
45%
0%
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Student responses to recorded lectures have been mostly positive. Students like the
ability to replay lectures, and rewind certain parts of lectures for clarity, something
that is not always possible in a F2F lecture.
47%
5%
4%
Agree
Strongly Agree NA / Did not
use the
recorded
lectures
92% of students thought the recorded lectures
added instructional value to the course.
Watching the recorded lectures reinforced my understanding
of the course content.
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
44%
1%
Strongly
Disagree
47%
5%
4%
Disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree NA / Did not
use the
recorded
lectures
91% thought the recorded lectures reinforced their
understanding of the course content.
The content in the recorded lectures was a good supplement
to the other course materials.
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
46%
2%
2%
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
45%
5%
Agree
Strongly Agree NA / Did not
use the
recorded
lectures
91% thought the content in the recorded lectures
was a good supplement to other course materials.
Watching the recorded lectures helped me to feel confident
that I understood the course materials well.
60%
49%
50%
36%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
8%
7%
0%
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree NA / Did not
use the
recorded
lectures
85% thought the recorded lectures helped them to
feel confident that they understood the course
materials well.
Watching the recorded lectures help me to master the
course content.
60%
49%
50%
40%
32%
30%
20%
10%
0%
11%
7%
1%
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Agree
In completely online courses, narrated lectures help to establish a sense of instructor
presence with the students. Narrated lectures help to make the instructor seem more
approachable in the eyes of the student.
Strongly Agree NA / Did not
use the
recorded
lectures
5. What Are the Implications for Teaching and Learning?
When recorded lectures are placed online for students, F2F class time can be used to
engage students with the course content in greater depth because the initial content
has already been covered in the recorded lectures.
For completely online students, recorded lectures give the students a chance to gain
the same kind of information and understanding they would get from the instructor in
a traditional lecture. Online lectures also help keep the online experience from being
a completely text-based form of delivery.
6. What Are Important Things to Consider?
Preparation is key for instructors when deciding to record lectures for students.
Instructors may want to consider preparing recorded lectures the semester before
deploying them for student consumption. If using PowerPoint lectures, instructors
need to have PowerPoint slides up-to-date and chunked into logical sections.
Recording and editing time is another issue. Instructors may want to do some editing
of recordings they have made, add title slides, and add a UW-Stout wordmark. In
addition to the time it actually takes to make the recordings, these edits, depending
on how many, may add some time to the process.
Captioning will add to the initial production time of recorded lectures, but this
additional time will pay off in increased accessibility. It also eliminates the need to
caption videos in a rushed fashion if it is determined that captions are necessary
to make a reasonable accommodation for a deaf or hard-of-hearing student. If an
instructor has created a script in electronic format, they can easily import that script
into Camtasia to create captions. The script can also be posted in the instructor’s D2L
course site for students to read, or to print out for note-taking purposes. Our evidence
shows that other students also benefit from captions on videos.
There may be some initial resistance to the use of recorded lectures, when they
must viewed outside of class time in a F2F course. Students may not understand that
covering the lecture material outside of class enables them to have a richer learning
experience when attending class. To help students adjust to this approach, instructors
should strive to make in-class experiences meaningful and enriching.
Posting the videos online makes the videos available to students at any time and
anyplace they have an Internet connection.
7. Where Is It Going at UW-Stout?
Interest in Camtasia is growing, with some departments buying licences for their
instructors. In other cases, instructors come to LTS for training and do some initial
recordings and then purchase their own licenses, which enables them to record
anywhere at any time.
Student responses to surveys administered by faculty who use recorded Camtasia
lectures and have been mostly positive. Students have also given feedback on how
the recordings could be improved in the future.
81% thought watching the recorded lectures helped
them to master the course content.
University of Wisconsin-Stout
Wisconsin-Stout
2
©©2015
2013The
TheBoard
Boardof
ofRegents,
Regents, University
University of Wisconsin