The Visual Lounge lets you find out about TechSmith behind-the-scenes. Watch screencasts and videos from other customers, meet up with your fellow TechSmith users and staff, and get more tips and tricks!

I'm happy to share some good news with you! My partner in crime, Dave McCollom, our Education Evangelist at TechSmith has just launched a brand new blog. Plus, he's added a new page chock full of great resources for educators that are using all TechSmith products.

There already are some tutorials and examples showing how to creatively use Snagit, Camtasia Studio and Jing in the classroom. Dave will be working to provide you with more content all the time. We made the site with you in mind and need your input on what you need and how to improve. So, poke around the site and let us know what you think.

Check out some useful links from the new site below!

Education Community Site

Screencast Tour of Community Site (also embedded in the first post on the Education Blog)

Education Blog

Want some creative inspiration in the classroom? Check out some of these ideas and examples (you can find more on the TechSmith Education Community site too!):

Introduction to Screen Capture in Education

Students Demonstrate Understanding via Video

Have a "digital hallway" to display student work

Create quick "how-to" guides for students and staff

Make a video for when you or students are absent

Provide Thorough and Personalized Feedback to Students

Capture Instructional Content for Additional Student Practice

If any of you educators out there have any Snagit, Camtasia Studio, or Jing content and/or stories that you'd like to share please let Dave know! And, please keep the feedback coming...

Remember Maria Andersen from Muskegon Community College? She wrote a jingle about Jing Well, she's been at it again and creating lots of cool content!

Maria wanted to show what a year of blogging about math and technology looked like in video form. She discovered Animoto and it seemed like a good way to make promotional videos for courses and clubs at her college. Maria wanted a fast way to explain (in presentations and workshops) what it is that she has been doing for the last year with her Math & Technology blog.

How did Maria make this video? Maria has a math blog on Blogger. She discovered that Animoto can scrape your images from Picasa (and other services). And, since Blogger automatically creates a Picasa account and stores all your blog images for you, Animoto was able to pick up the images automatically. Then, Maria only had to order the images, spotlight the ones she want featured more prominently, and choose her music. Then Animoto does all the work so you can sit back and relax.

I like Maria's video because in addition to her photos, it shows off a lot of SnagIt screenshots from her blog! Check out her video below. This is a great way to visually off her year of blogging. It is like a blog scrapbook!

As a student, I always had to work harder at math and science to get a good grade. It just didn't come naturally to me at a certain point in my schooling. I would often get so wrapped in taking notes that I would not process what we were being taught. What I would have given to have access to the teacher walking through the math or science problems again when I was at home for review. That brings me to this week's Screencasts of the Week - they allow you to just that. Bring home the teacher in the form of a screencast!

Now you've heard of me talk about mathcasting before with the pioneer, Tim Fahlberg. Tim introduced me to Graeme MacNeil who contributes to Tim's mathcast wiki. In addition to mathcasts, Graeme also creates 'phicasts'. What's a phicast? Well, it is a physics lesson that incorporates screencaptures and screencasts. Graeme uses classroom response system (clickers), a tablet, ExamView software, plus Jing or Camtasia Studio to record his phicasts. Click on the pic to the left to watch an example of a phicast - it is about Newton's Second Law of Motion. Remember that law? If not, watch the phicast to re-learn it! You'll see in the screencast the use of the classroom response system when the students have to participate and give their answers to the problems. You can see additional phicasts here.

And, since we're talking math and science, I thought I'd give you an update on Tim's mathcast project. His wiki continues to grow which you can see here. He's working on creating a library of 500 screencasts for K-7 math using many student and educator voices! Another expert mathcaster, Colleen King of Math Playground is also participating in the K-7 Mathcasts 500 Project. Graeme also contributes many mathcasts to the wiki.

And, math must run in the family. Tim's sister, Linda Fahlberg-Stojanovska (pictured on the left) is a Professor of Mathematics and Computer Sciences at the University "St. Clement of Ohrid". She not only contributes to Tim's Math247 wiki, but also has a mathcast wiki here complete with mathcasts in Macedonian and Albanian! Linda has created 100s of calculus mathcasts. And, be sure to check out some the videos she created wtih Graeme here. What makes these screencasts cool is that they relate both physics and math!

Graeme and Tim also have an interesting twist on mathcasts - they have the students create them as well. Here is Graeme's write-up on why this is a good idea (hint: it engages students, they like to show off what they can do, it is different...).

What's also interesting is that Tim is in the USA, Graeme is in Australia and Linda is in Macedonia. They don't let the physical distance separate them - they colloborate online using Skype to work together and make mathcasts and phicasts.

Hats off to you Tim, Graeme, Linda and Colleen for making math and science easier for students to learn. I am in awe. This is a service that benefits all of us. And, they're making these screencasts available for free to everyone! Do you like what you see? Please be sure to thank Tim, Graeme, Linda and all the other screencasters who are helping students learn.

What can you do with a screencast? Who can you help or inspire? Share your knowledge and pass it on.

Students have flooded the campus of Michigan State University which is right next door to TechSmith. That means longer lines at the grocery store, freshman driving the wrong way down one way streets and general chaos. On the plus side, that also means football, basketball and hockey season are on their way! With schools getting back in session, I thought I'd introduce you to a great resource at TechSmith dedicated to Education. Meet, Dave McCollom! He's our Education Evangelist. He's focused on K-12 and Higher Education full time. So, if there's anything you need, feel free to put him to work. His contact info is below.

We shot a quick video in our office so you could 'meet' Dave. And, he is also our guest blogger today. And, with that, I'll let Dave take it away... enjoy!

Thanks for the intro Betsy. I think what you were really trying to say is that I am the Oates to your Hall, right? Or maybe vice-versa? Maybe that's a poor analogy anyway, because in a way this post is about launching a solo project of mine. In the not so distant future, TechSmith will be launching a new site for educators. The initial thought was for me to have a blog like Betsy's, but to have it be focused on educational users/content. That still may be the route we go, but before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we'd like to ask you (Educators) what you would like from us. You can help us by filling out this quick 10 question survey located here. If you have any thoughts/ideas/suggestions that don't relate to any of the survey questions please feel free to send me an e-mail (d.mccollom(at)techsmith.com). This is the same survey that was sent out in our recent Education Newsletter.

So without further ado, here is our intro video. It's a short one running 3:28 minutes (let the entire video load for best results). Don't forget to fill out the survey when you're done!

Materials used to make the video:
* Sanyo Xacti HD1000 Camcorder
* HP Compaq 8510p
* QuickTime Pro
* Camtasia Studio
* Hosting by Screencast.com

It's not every day that someone writes a song about technology! But Sunday was one of those days! I was so happy to see that Maria Andersen, a Math Instructor from Muskegon Community College in Michigan, wrote a song about Jing!

Here's an excerpt from Maria's song entitled, "How Do You Write Your Math in Online Classes?" (sing to the tune of, "How do you solve a problem like Maria?"):

You can read the entire song here. You will also find several screencasts here that Maria made to help her students use Jing to share their math questions on the message boards in her summer online calculus classes!

Big thanks for the Jing song, Maria! You made my day!

Anyone willing to sing the song and send us the MP3 file so I can post it? Believe me, I wish I could record it myself, but your ears would bleed if I sang it. No one needs to hear that... ever! :-)

Don't you love it when someone figures out a great trick and then shares that knowledge? This week's Screencast of the Week does just that! It comes from Alec Couros, a Professor at the University of Regina. He's done a Jing screencast with step by step instructions about setting up sub Gmail accounts for all of his students. After a little research, he was able to figure out how to do this and made a great Jing screencast to share it. The screencast runs just over 3 minutes. You can click the screenshot on the left to watch it.

And, I learned about this screencast from a post referencing Alec Couros on Twitter! If you're on Twitter feel free to add me as a friend - @betsyweber. I have also set up a Twitter feed for @techsmith for TechSmith news.

Any nominations for next week's Screencast of the Week?

Ever have one of the those days where you look up at the clock and the day is over? That's what happened to me yesterday. I was having so much fun in Chicago going to the Art Institute of Chicago (they have a great art exhibit on Edward Hopper and Winslow Homer, by the way), Millennium Park, walking on the Magnificent Mile, riding on the "L"...and, you see where I'm going. I ran out of time to post the Screencast of the Week yesterday. My apologies...

This week's Screencast of the Week comes from Dr. Brian Friedlander. Dr. Friedlander is using Jing to answer students questions! Recently one of his students was stuck on a software project and needed help. Instead of writing a long email with step by step instructions to answer his students questions, Dr. Frieedlander just made a quick screecast with Jing and emailed it to his student. His student got the individual attention she needed plus she not only got to hear what she needed to do, but she also got see what she needed to do.

You can read Dr. Friedlander's blog post about how he's using Jing in the classroom here. To see the screencast, click on the screenshot above. It is a short video that runs just over a minute long.

And, best of all, in addition to saving himself time, check out his student's response to his screencast!

What have you screencasted lately?

What do you get when you put together: PowerPoint slides, a TabletPC, Camtasia Studio, a wireless microphone and some biology?! One of the coolest classrooms around! You remember Kelly Carrier, right? He's a high school biology teacher at my alma mater, Okemos High School in Michigan.

Kelly is doing amazing things in his classroom with technology and his students love it! Check out an article written about Kelly in THE Journal here.

Do you think you would have gotten a better grade if your biology teacher had recorded their lectures? What cool uses of technology have you seen in the classroom lately?

Congrats, Kelly!

For the first time, the Screencast of the Week...is a Jing video!

Remember when you were back in school? You'd put your heart and soul in a paper, turn it in to the teacher and a week later you would get some cryptic feedback written on the paper in red ink. Sometimes, for me, a few words weren't enough for feedback and it often left me with more questions than answers.

Alisa Cooper, a professor at Maricopa Community College, has changed the way she grades papers. Most students turn in their papers electronically now, right? Well, why not grade and comment on them electronically as well? Alisa has created a 'grading toolbar' for Microsoft Word that she uses to comment and grade student's papers. In this quick Jing screencast, she'll show you how she adds comments and feedback.

Click on the screenshot below to launch the Jing video. It runs 4:20 minutes.

You can read Alisa's blog post about her technique here. Alisa's method saves time for the teacher and gives students clear feedback. No more questions and everyone is happy! You can read more about Alisa here. Thanks Alisa for sharing your tips and tricks!

Any nominations for next week's Screencast of the Week?

Rich Boys has been with TechSmith for just over a year. He came here from the University of Michigan where he worked in various IT roles for the previous 12 years. There is always a fun rivalry between the UM and MSU grads at TechSmith. Go Blue!

So you want to capture lectures and presentations with Camtasia Studio. Are you worried that your faculty and presenters will find the recorder interface too complex or confusing?

We are exploring ideas to make the process easier on the recorder and very interested in your feedback on the subject.

1. How much feedback should we give the presenter that the recording has started?
2. Should we notify them if the audio is not capturing anything?
3. If we expand beyond just Windows what other computer operating systems should we get a recorder working for this sort of solution?
4. Finally, what are your preferred media formats for the output and where do you prefer to have these files stored, do you have your own web servers or Learning Management System?

So if you have an idea on what you would like to see in a lecture or presentation capture drop me a line. Help us make the product that would fit your needs.

Richard Campbell...where were you when I was taking accounting?

I was never good with numbers... It was always more work for me to get average grades in accounting. It just didn't come naturally to me. It's no wonder why my checkbook is always a little off (never in my favor!). But, I like to think there's still hope! I'm seeing more math screencasts crop up lately so that gives me a chance to review and learn from them.

I was excited to see Richard Campbell's screencast. It's about how he uses gotomeeting.com in his internet accounting class.

You can see this week's Screencast of the Week here.

If you visit Richard's homepage here, you'll notice he has a tagline at the top that says, "Bringing the Excitement of Accounting to Multimedia". I love that!

What have you learned from a screencast lately?

I was back in class last week and I had a blast! I was at Bentley College visiting Professor Mark Frydenberg. Remember him? We did a screencast earlier this year which you can see here.

Mark teaches a really cool class called IT 101, where they cover everything from PocketPCs to blogs and wikis to videos! (It's right up my alley - gadgets and technology.) Last week his students were teaching each other about PocketPC programs they had chosen to try out. He'll have them using Camtasia Studio later in the semester to show each other about PocketPC technologies. He plans on having them record the screen with a webcam and then with Camtasia Studio.

He also gave a talk at the Harvard Law School last week about podcasting. If you're curious how someone is using podcasting in the classroom, you can listen to his presentation here.

After sitting in on Mark's class I visited Colleen King. To remind you, I showed off her great Camtasia Studio videos for SAT prep here.

You might also know Colleen from her popular math website, Math Playground or her blog. Colleen tells me that in a year, there will be a few hundred math videos that answer questions sent in by students. The videos will be categorized by topic and will be interactive - thanks to Camtasia Studio's the quizzing component.

She's come out with a new set of video lessons. Check out Thinking Blocks. Here you will find a multiplication program. Simply click on one of the colored cubes here to load a program.

Camtasia videos are used to demonstrate each individual module. There are also more than 100 video lessons in the practice section of the program. The videos help students transition from modeling with blocks to drawing models on their own. There's another complete program on the site dedicated to addition and subtraction word problems with its own set of videos.

Word on the street is that she is developing a ratios program that should be ready in November.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to make a screencast with Colleen. But then again, you all don't have to suffer watching me stumble through math. I think we're both lucky on that account.

And, that reminds me...If you'd like to use Camtasia, SnagIt, Morae or UserVue in your classroom, I'm happy to support you. You can request materials like eval CDs for your class here. We also have a great newsletter and whole area of our Web site dedicated to Education.

Two of my favorite people got together last week for a podcast. Jon Udell did a fab podcast with Camtasia Studio user, Tim Fahlberg, all about Tim's mathcasts and the future of education.

I enjoyed hearing how technology is helping to engage students in and outside of the classroom. I think you'll enjoy it too.

Click here to go to Jon Udell's blog post or here's a direct link to the podcast.

I can't think of anyone who knows more about SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) than Judy Brown/

Judy launched a blog, SCORM Watch, earlier this year that covers - you guessed it, all things SCORM. It's a great resource! Check it out here.

Camtasia also can make SCORM-compliant videos. If you're interested in making a SCORM-compliant video for your LMS, visit this tutorial here.

Did you ever have one of those teachers in school that inspired you? That teacher that did things just a little different? Recently we headed down the road about a mile from our offices to visit a science teacher, Kelly Carrier, at my alma mater Okemos High School. Kelly is that teacher!

We interviewed Kelly about technology in the classroom. Among other things, Kelly uses a projector, WIFI, a Tablet PC and Camtasia Studio in his classroom.

Click the screenshot below to hear about Kelly's thoughts and experiences using technology in his classes. The video runs just over 11 minutes.

It was a fun visit my old high school and a walk down memory lane seeing teachers and administrators from way back in my history. And for once, on this visit to high school, I didn't have to worry about getting in trouble for talking too much in class.

TechSmith friends Tim Fahlberg, his sister Linda Fahlberg-Stojanovska, and Rev. Graeme MacNeil were featured in an article in the Oxford Journal titled "Teaching Mathematics and Its Applications"! It focused on their whiteboard math movies - or as Tim likes to call them, mathcasts. (If you've missed my last posts about mathcasts, they are a Camtasia Studio screen recording of writing, plus audio, and sometimes text showing how to solve a math problem.)

The article discusses how mathcasts are perfect for asynchronous learning because they are an easy and inexpensive way for teachers and students to interact - plus student to teacher or teacher to teacher. You can find a link to the abstract or entire article at the top of Tim's website here.

On a recent trip to Seattle, Tim showed me how to make a mathcast using a Tablet PC or a Wacom Tablet and OneNote. You can read more about that here in the blog archives.

Tim mentioned to me that he'd be happy to talk with anyone more about mathcasts. So, drop Tim an e-mail here for more info. know he'd be happy to you more about mathcasting.

Tim's a pioneer in whiteboard math movies. In fact, he's been doing them for over eight years! I'm glad Tim and his team are the getting the recognition they deserve for their passion. Congrats to Tim, Linda and Graeme!

Where have your Camtasia Studio videos taken you?

One of the things I always struggled with in business school were the accounting and calculus classes. It's no wonder why my checkbook is always a little off (usually not in my favor) and in disarray. I took the required classes and that was it.

So, on that note, this week's screencast of the week comes from Assistant Professor of Accounting, Richard Campbell from the University of Rio Grande who's making accounting a lot more interesting. Richard is using Camtasia to create material for his Internet accounting course that he's teaching this summer.

Click on the screenshot below to watch this video about using Angel to teach accounting.

I like what Richard's faculty page says, "Bringing the Excitement of Accounting to Multimedia"!

Maybe I'll learn something about accounting just yet. Just don't test me. Or look at my checkbook. ;-)

How did it get to be weeks after TechEd? I made a screencast there that I just got edited and uploaded. Never fear - it's still interesting and of course, relevant!

Mark Frydenberg, a professor from Bentley College, stopped by TechEd to make a screencast on the show's expo floor with me. He teaches Technology Intensive IT 101 which you can read more about here. Mark has even been featured in several articles. Read more about Mark and podcasting in Smartphone and Pocket PC Magazine here and in this article about mobile computing here.

What's especially interesting about Mark's class is that his students use Camtasia Studio in their projects! They needed a better solution than filming the screen with a camera or webcam pointed at the screen, and they discovered it with our software.

In this screencast, Mark talks about students using Camtasia in the classroom and gives advice for everyone interested in doing the same. Learn from his experience!

Click the screenshot below to start the screencast. The screencast is almost 8 minutes long.

Visit Mark's site here.

What would you like to see the next screencast about? Anyone willing to try and screencast with me remotely? Maybe through Skype?

I've been living off bad airport food and out of hotel rooms for the past few weeks. This week is no different. But, hey, I'm having a great time in Seattle at Gnomedex! You can read more about it here. The good thing about being on the road is that I don't have to cook, clean or do any pesky things like shoveling snow (Okay, maybe not that - we're done with snow for a little while) that I normally have to do at home.

This trip has been great - where else, other than Seattle, could I make a screencast in the morning, stand on a volcano during the day (Mt. Rainier) and be at a tech conference that night?!

So, let's talk screencasting. I met up with Tim Fahlberg the other morning. You remember him, right? He makes math screncasts, or mathcasts as he calls them, and runs CoolSchoolTools and Mathcasts.org. He was kind enough to make a screencast with me.

We made the screencast in the lobby of the hotel I was staying at so you'll see all sorts of people wandering around in the background, bad lighting and hear the elevator dinging. So, if you'd like to see me struggle with basic math and see how to make a mathcast, click the screenshot below to start the screencast. It runs almost 11 minutes.

If you're interested in making your own mathcasts and whiteboard movies, here's a link to Tim's online book.

To make the screencast, here's what we used:

Hardware:

• Dell Latitude laptop, Latitude D600
• Creative LiveMotion Webcam
• 2 Lapel Microphones with a Y-cable/splitter
• Wacom Grapphire Tablet

Software:

• Microsoft OneNote
• FSCreations ExamView Assessment Suite
• SnagIt
• Camtasia Studio

A math teacher, science teacher and a social studies teacher walk into TechSmith... sounds like the start of a bad joke.

But it happened! Recently a group of math, science and social studies teachers stopped by our office to learn more about SnagIt and Camtasia Studio. Which reminds me - if you're in the area, you too are welcome to stop by TechSmith... just e-mail me.

The teachers wanted to see examples of how other teachers are using Camtasia Studio in the classroom. For the math teacher, I showed off Tim Fahlberg's CoolSchoolTools and MathCasts.org Web sites chockfull of math videos. I also showed her Colleen King's SAT Math Pro.

For the science teacher, I showed some science videos like these:

• Frog, pig and sheep dissection videos
• Jean-Claude Bradley's Chemistry Screencasts
• Gordon Snyder's Technology videos

And for the social studies teacher... I got nothing. I haven't heard from any social studies teachers using it. I had some ideas how they could use it, but I had no examples to show off. So, if you're a social studies teacher using Camtasia Studio in the classroom (or you know one), I'd love to show off your videos and share with other teachers. Are you out there? E-mail me here!

In the software world, 'bug' is a four letter word. Well, I got some news for the Camtasia Studio users who use the SCORM feature. So, I'm going to apologize to you right away, because we just found out that our SCORM feature isn't working as planned. In other words, I'm sorry to say, there is a bug.

Here's what's going on - in Camtasia Studio v3.1.1, there is a bug that caused SCORM productions using quizzes to never report to the Learning Management System (LMS).

I do have a workaround for you which require you to edit a single file in the Camtasia install folder. After that, all subsequent productions will work. You could also apply the same fix to any projects that you already produced.

The reason for this is that we had a JavaScript function in the HTML file that was called "UserSubmitToLMS", but in the SWF file, we referred to it as "userSubmitToLMS". The difference is that one 'u' is capitalized and one 'u' is not.

Fortunately, the fix is as follows:

1. Open up the file "C:\Program Files\TechSmith\Camtasia Studio 3\Media\Studio\HTML\QuizScorm.js". Note: Windows does not know how to open up a .js file by default, so open Notepad and drag the QuizScorm.js file into the Notepad window to make the modifications there.
2. Search for the line "function UserSubmitToLMS( nScore )"
3. Replace the "U" in "UserSubmitToLMS" with a lower case "u"
4. Save the file and now all productions will work with SCORM.

In order to fix any previous productions, you can open up the HTML file, search for the same line, and make the same modification.

In addition, scores from quizzes in Camtasia Studio are not being included in the e-mail, even if the "include scores in email" checkbox is checked.

To fix this, after each production, edit the config.xml file (in Notepad), and add the following line after each "" line:

Feel free to visit tech support for more info here.

Sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused - a maintenance release is in the works.

Anyone out there using the SCORM feature? Have you run into this problem?

Last week I attended a local conference - Connecting & Collaborating Conference: Online Tools for the Classroom. It was all about how to use blogs, podcasts and RSS feeds in the classroom to improve student comprehension.

I wish I were back in school with all this cool technology. (Video iPods, blogs and wikis? These weren't even WORDS when I was in school!) During a break, I recorded a screencast with TechSmith's Academic Marketing Manager, Tanya Reynolds. Many of you may not know that we have a Web site dedicated to education, so I had Tanya give me an all-access tour.

Click on the screenshot below to start the video. Meet Tanya and get a tour of our educational resources at the same time. The video runs a little over 7 minutes.

To visit our Education site, go here. The site includes resources for K-12 and higher education, and it's chockfull of best practices, lesson plans, stories from the classroom, and the latest industry news.

So, what else would you like to see included on this site? Also - how are you using TechSmith products in the classroom? If you're not using them, why not? How can we improve them for your classroom?

Just think...there's a whole crop of students out there that has SnagIt, Camtasia Studio, or Morae in their virtual lockers. I don't want to brag, but if I'd have had that while I was in school? I might have spent a little more time studying. : )

Recently, Presenters University asked me to write an article for them. I knew I wanted to write it about screencasting, but as I worked on it, I knew it would be even better if I asked screencasting experts for their top tips.

You can visit the article here: http://www.presentersuniversity.com/visuals_screencasting.php

I got input from a diverse group, including:

• Andy Walker of Lab Rats TV and Cyberwalker fame
• Rob Howard over at Telligent
• Thom Robbins from Microsoft
• Bill Myers from Bill Myers Online
• Anthony Garcia from Future Now
• Jean-Claude Bradley at Drexel University
• Yoz Grahame at Ning
• Will Richardson at Hunterdon Central Regional High School
• Troy Chollar from TLC Creative and PowerPoint MVP
• Hans Mestrum from Tulip Computers
• Mathcasting team of Tim Fahlberg, Graeme MacNeil and Linda Fahlberg-Stoljanovaska

The article is full of links, great ideas, and even a screencast!

If you've never visited Presenters University, check them out. It's a site dedicated to helping you make your next presentation the best it can be. It's sponsored by the good people at InFocus, the projector company.

Interested in collaborating with me on an article? E-mail me, and let me know the topic!

My teachers always said I worked well with others...

Last week was a week of firsts... some good, some bad. Last week I had the flu for the first time in a year. On the good side, we had the first Camtasia Studio User Group meeting!

A group of Camtasia Studio users at Michigan State, led by Geraud Plantegenest (pictured above) at the College of Human Medicine, decided to start a Camtasia Studio User Group. They're going to get together monthly to exchange best practices, tips and tricks, and show off their work. Many of the members are recording their college lectures with Camtasia Studio or creating videos for their students to use outside of class. Some even have their students use the software for projects. If you're curious about how professors are using Camtasia Studio in the classroom, you can read about Professor David Imig at Michigan State here.

You can view some pics from the event here.

If you're interested in starting your own local Camtasia Studio User Group, let me know! I'll try to support you in any way I can. E-mail me or call me on Skype (betsyweber) and we'll get the ball rolling!

Since MSU is in our backyard, we had the luxury of easily attending the meeting. If you'd like to start a group, on the times we can't attend, we can still present with the group via Live Meeting and my trusty webcam.

Are you interested in screencasting, but don't know where to start? I just heard from Randy Manteufel at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He did a whole workshop on just that!

Randy's workshop covered the basics of how to screencast lectures and share them with students. He used a Tablet PC, Microsoft Journal, and Camtasia Studio, plus a microphone. He uploaded the files into a WebCT course page and linked for student access. Randy also shares his preferences and techniques.

The best part? Randy recorded the workshop with Camtasia Studio! So, even though you and I did not attend the workshop, we can still watch the event. It's just like being there! Except, I can watch the screencast at 1:00am in my pajamas on the couch at home. And, I can watch it over and over! Okay, it's almost better than being there.

Click the image below to watch the screencast:

Randy also has tips for recording lectures and presentations. Here's what he had to say:

The workshop was for faculty who are potential first-time users of Camtasia and teach quantitative courses like engineering.

Tips:

1. Use Microsoft Journal on a TabletPC (I really like the HP Compaq tc4200)
2. Produce Macromedia Flash (swf) files, 800by600, 2 frames/sec
3. Skip the QuickCam and picture-in-picture, at least for lectures
4. It is very tempting to use technology to blow through material, so I have to force myself to slow down and show each step in the derivation or solution
5. Launch onto the Internet in the middle of a lecture to show a dynamic simulation or video clip or something. It piques the interest of students when you show something with action that is beyond the textbook

Randy sent examples of other screencasts, like these from his engineering courses about statics. Thanks Randy, I was trying to forget that stuff...

http://engineering.utsa.edu/~randymanteufel/Feb9/Feb9.html
http://engineering.utsa.edu/~randymanteufel/Feb14/Feb14.html

and ME 4239 Thermodynamics II:

http://engineering.utsa.edu/~randymanteufel/Feb13/Feb13.html
http://engineering.utsa.edu/~randymanteufel/Feb15/Feb15.html

Anyone else capturing their lectures or presentations? E-mail me! I'd love to show you off! Share your tips and tricks with us.

I'm hearing a lot of terms thrown around for videos, and I'm getting confused. Am I the only one?

Jon Udell coined the term 'screencast' which I'm partial to. Since you're 'broadcasting your screen' on your blog or Web site, it seems logical. That's how I usually refer to Camtasia Studio video online.

I've also been hearing videos referred to as Vodcasts, Vidcasts, and Video Podcasts. The Tablet PC bloggers over at GottaBeMobile.com are calling Camtasia Studio videos on the Tablet PC...Ink Shows. Ink Show makes sense to me - I definitely like it for Tablet PC Camtasia Studio videos.

Chris Henley over at Microsoft is calling them Podcasts on his Blue Blog.

Tim Fahlberg at CoolSchoolTools.com is calling his Camtasia math videos: MathCasts.

Paul Pival, the Distant Librarian is calling them Librarycasting.

Anyone hear other terms? What do you think Camtasia Studio video on blogs should be called?

On a side note, I found this nice article online about the seven things you need to know about screencasting. It has an education focus, but the information is useful. Check it out here.

It's that time of the week again!

Jean-Claude Bradley is a chemistry professor from Drexel University. He's inspiring, amazing, and on the cutting edge of technology! He makes me want to go back to school.

I was impressed with his Camtasia Studio videos. Check them out - I think you'll find them interesting as well.

I like this screencast from the Villanova WebCT conference entitled, 'Augmenting WebCT courses using Podcasting, Screencasting, Blogs and Games'. Even though I missed the conference, I'm still able to hear and see the presentation since he recorded it with Camtasia Studio - just as if I were there. Hey - I don't even need to go back to school!

He records quite a few of his lectures with Camtasia Studio. If you have iTunes, go to the Apple Store and search on "Jean-Claude Bradley" or "Drexel". Or, you can visit his blog here.

If you're curious about screencasts, podcasts, RSS, iTunes, wikis or other new emerging technologies, check out his screencast. He'll answer many of your questions and show you new ways to use technology in the classroom.

Jean-Claude also has a nice showcase of Camtasia Studio videos at his screencast website which you can visit here. And, he has some nice class blogs complete with screencast lectures which you can view at: http://chem241.blogspot.com or http://chem243.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Red ink - that's what I remember scribbled all over papers in my English classes. And, sure that feedback was useful in its cryptic way.

I found this Camtasia Studio video recently. A journalism instructor used Camtasia Studio to mark-up his student's papers and give his feedback on their assignments. Click here to see his video.

For me, this type of feedback would have been much more useful. Visual and audio communication is a very effective way to share feedback with others - with this type of feedback there is no guessing for the student about what the instructor is trying to convey to them. It can also be faster to make a video with your comments narrated rather than write them all out.

Is anyone else using Camtasia Studio this way? How's it working for you and what is the response from your students or employees? Have you thrown your red pen away?

In the past, I talked about math videos made with Camtasia Studio.

Now, I've had a few people ask me how to make their own math or whiteboard videos.

I'd recommend visiting Tim Fahlberg's great site, CoolSchoolTools. He has lots of great resources about whiteboard videos complete with tutorial videos. Visit here to see how to make your own videos.

Tim isn't the only one making whiteboard videos...he's been helping train teachers and students how to create & produce their own Whiteboard Movies all over the world. And recently he even collaborated with his three-year old daughter to make videos with Camtasia Studio - that's got to be the record for the youngest person in a whiteboard movie! You can view her video here.

Tim's got his sister, math and computer science professor Linda Fahlberg-Stojanovska making videos, too.

Tim has also worked with another math teacher, Julie Dansby, who not only creates whiteboard movies with Camtasia Studio but also has her students making them too!

See examples of Julie's Whiteboard Movies here.

See examples of her students' movies here.

I started talking with Tim over five years ago about whiteboard movies and finally had the chance to meet him earlier this year on a trip to Seattle. It was wonderful - I mean, how often do you get a chance to meet a whiteboard movie star?! I should have gotten his autograph...

We also have several free SnagIt and Camtasia Studio lesson plans available on our Web site, including one about making whiteboard movies with Camtasia Studio.

I met so many Camtasia Studio, SnagIt and Morae users at The League of InnovationConference on Information Technology (CIT) this week! It was great to see what they created and how they're changing the classroom and teaching methods at their schools.

I thought I'd share with you just a few of the people I met and how they're using our software.

Clarence Maise from Clark State Community College joined me in our booth to make a quick screencast about how he's using our products.

Watch the screencast I made with Clarence in our booth. Click the screenshot below to start the video.

Clarence has created over 100 videos for his class. He's also helping other faculty members make videos. He mentioned that the students are demanding videos - if he's late uploading lectures or other videos recorded with Camtasia Studio, the students let him know! He also offers text materials supplemented with SnagIt screenshots. Since Clarence is from Louisiana, he says he makes 'Cajun Camtasia' videos with his accent! Whatever they're called, I think they're wonderful! You can see more of them here.

I also met Ron Goodwin who is the Technology Development and Support Specialist from Polaris Career Center. He's using Camtasia Studio videos on several of his sites to help his students and act as a teaching aid for other teachers. You can visit the site for his students here and another of his sites for teachers here.

Terri Johnson from Worldwide Instructional Design System (WIDS) has a lot of Camtasia Studio videos posted on the website. She said the students are much happier with the videos, and it's much easier to direct people to the videos rather than walk them through a process on the phone. You can see her videos here

Terri had a booth at CIT . As I was walking by, something on her computer monitor caught my eye ... sure enough, she was running Camtasia Studio videos in her booth!

I also met Donna Rebadow from Maricopa Community College. She's using Camtasia Studio screen recordings for orientation and web site tours.

Anyone willing to share their videos or other educational resources made with SnagIt or Camtasia Studio with the rest of us? Come on ... don't be shy!

This is a year of firsts for me - it's my first time in Dallas and my first year attending the League of Innovation Conference on Information Technology (CIT). I'm really enjoying the show, the great people, the interesting sessions and the Southern hospitality.

I attended a session conducted by Tim Tewalt from Chippewa Valley Technical College entitled,What Did We Do in Class Today? Easy Ways to Record Lectures on Other Class Activities. Not only did he keep me laughing through the whole session, but I learned a lot, too.

I asked Tim to share part of his presentation and tips with us, and luckily, he was able to join me in our booth to make a quick Camtasia Studio screencast about how he helps his distance learners and records his lectures with Camtasia Studio.

That marks another first...making a screencast in our booth at a tradeshow. I hope you enjoy it!

Click the screenshot below to launch the screencast.

You can access Tim's resources and PowerPoint from his session at his site SimplyOnlineLearning.

So, what do you want the next screencast to cover?

I can't believe it's been 15 years since I took the SAT! Just like everyone else, I wished I had prepped better for the test.

SAT Math Pro is a recently launched online program that helps today's students better prepare for the big day.

The Practice Sets contain 5 interactive math problems, complete with step-by-step Camtasia Studio video solutions to reinforce the concepts.

Colleen King said: 'Like my other projects, SAT Math Pro would not have been possible without the amazing Camtasia Studio.'

Congrats to Colleen King! To learn more about Colleen and this free resource, please visit: http://www.satmathpro.com/About.html

This might be the little extra edge that gets students the score they want. And hey - anything's better than lugging those SAT study guides around. My back hurts just thinking about it.

I wish this had been around when I was studying. Of course, where would better scores have taken me? There's no better job thanTechSmith Chief Evangelist!

Have you seen other cool uses of Camtasia Studio in education? Please share them with us in the comments!

How do you use SnagIt screen capture in the classroom? I'd love to know!

Please be sure to tell me which captureprofiles you use the most, if you've created any special captureprofiles, and when you use them. Don't forget to include whatgrade and class you teach.

Please email Betsy Weber aboutyour experience using SnagIt in the classroom. The first 10 SnagIt users to share their story with me will receive a TechSmith t-shirt. I'll also have a drawing for a copy of SnagIt that anyone who submits their story will be eligible to win.

We will share some of the responses at a variety of places including this blog, The Visual Lounge, as well as at our Education website and newsletter.