Effective Screencasts for Maximum Learning at a Distance

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Effective Screencasts for Maximum Learning at a
Distance

• Kenneth Luterbach, Ph.D.
• Abbie Brown, Ph.D.
• William Sugar, Ph.D.
• East Carolina University

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Contents

• Screecasting in Context
• A Fundamental Claim about Screencasting
• Developing Screencasts
• Pre-production
• Production
• Post-production
• Comparing Screencasting Software
• Best Practices in Screencasting

East Carolina University
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Screencasting in Context

• Informally, screencasting may be defined as
  capturing and presenting computer desktop
  activity along with audio commentary.
• Given our work as instructional designers and
  educators, we are interested in instructional
  applications of screencasts.
• Motivation for our work When students do not
  meet face-to-face, presenting instruction on how
  to complete tasks is challenging.

East Carolina University
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A Fundamental Claim about Screencasting

• Screencasting is an effective method of providing
  procedural instruction.
• Support for that claim is currently based on our
  personal experience using screencasts with
  graduate students in our Instructional Technology
  program.
• Students have used our screencasts in order to
  learn how to
• Modify image sizes using Microsoft Paint
• Use various features in Photoshop
• FTP files to a web server
• Prepare manuscripts using APA style

East Carolina University
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Developing Screencasts

• Three stages
• Pre-production
• Production
• Post-production
• Even though the three stages suggest a linear
  transition from stage to stage, we advocate an
  iterative development process, which permits
  developers to refine screencasts by revisiting
  prior stages.

East Carolina University
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Pre-production

• Plan the screencast
• We recommend creating a storyboard and a script
  in order to determine precisely what screen
  activity and voice narration to record

East Carolina University
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Production

• This may be the easiest step --- work your plan
• In the case of Camtasia Studio 6, press the F9
  key (or click the red record button) to begin
• Camtasia provides a 3-second count down prior to
  commencing recording
• Perform the actions you planned and (optionally)
  record your voice
• Press the F10 key to stop recording

East Carolina University
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Post-Production

• Some screencasting software (typically the ones
  free of cost) do not support this step.
• Camtasia Studio 6 provides editing features
  similar to ones available in Movie editing
  programs such as Windows Movie Maker and Apples
  iMovie.
• In Camtasia, users may edit the screencast from
  either a timeline or storyboard

East Carolina University
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Post-Production Features in Camtasia

• Hundreds of editing features are available and
  context sensitive help is just one click away.
• Content deletion or insertion
• At any point in the screencast, users can delete
  video and audio content. On the other hand,
  users can insert new video, graphics, or audio
  clips at any point in the screencast.
• Regarding audio editing, users can even out
  volume levels and remove noise.

East Carolina University
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Post-Production Features in Camtasia

• Users can add a quiz with multiple-choice items
  fill-in-the-blank items and short answer items.
• Camtasia will grade the multiple choice and
  fill-in-the-blank items.

East Carolina University
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Post-Production Features in Camtasia

• Developers may publish a screencast in any
  combination of these formats
• Web blog (MP4)
• Flash (SWF)
• iPod/iPhone/iTunes (M4V)
• CD/DVD/lossless export (AVI)
• Silverlight-compatible (WMV)
• QuickTime (MOV)
• RealMedia (RM)
• Animated GIF
• or Audio only (MP3)

East Carolina University
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Comparing Screencasting Software
East Carolina University
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Best Practices

• Begin with a plan --- during pre-production,
  create a storyboard and a script
• This will ensure that you remain focused on the
  instructional objectives, which will reduce the
  length of your screencast.
• Engage in iterative design --- throughout the
  design and development process, get feedback from
  others and refine the screencast

East Carolina University
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Best Practices

• Remember that students are the target audience
  --- create a student-production, not a commercial
  production

East Carolina University
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Contact Information

• Ken Luterbach (luterbachk_at_ecu.edu)
• Abbie Brown (brownab_at_ecu.edu)
• William Sugar (sugarw_at_ecu.edu)

East Carolina University