1. Camtasia is software used to record screen actions and narrate presentations. Instructors at UW-Stout use Camtasia to create video lectures and tutorials. A quiet room is available for recording. 2. Several instructors from different departments like Education, Chemistry, Physics, and Biology use Camtasia to create video content for their online and face-to-face courses. 3. Recorded lectures can be broken into smaller chunks and include captions for accessibility. Student surveys showed positive responses to the use of recorded lectures.

1. 1. What Are They?
Camtasia is a mul media recording and authoring program used to record screen
ac ons and narrate PowerPoint slides. Video clips, images, and audio can be added.
Instructors use Camtasia to make videos of screen ac ons or their PowerPoint slides
with voice narra on. Videos can be produced in mul ple formats and posted to a
streaming server, YouTube, or directly 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 (Educa on) 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 tradi onally
covered in class. He uses quizzes through D2L to gauge understanding and encourage
watching videos and reading the textbook outside of class. Class me is devoted to
focusing on just those concepts that students find difficult or interes ng and on more
interac ve 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 me working on problems or discussing difficult concepts. He also records
short videos for students to watch before reading the text, poin ng out important details
to focus on and ques ons they should be able to answer a er they have completed the
reading.
Jennifer Grant (Biology) Jen Grant uses Camtasia to instruct students in an online
course on biotechnology. Dr. Grant is par cularly 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 me to watch a recorded lecture from start to finish. However, if that lecture
is chunked, they may find mes throughout their day to watch the lecture modules.
• The screen recording feature in Camtasia can be used to make a video demo of a
so ware applica on or website for students. Students can watch the video mul ple
mes to understand the applica on or website naviga on.
• Videos made in Camtasia can be cap oned. Cap oned videos are more accessible to
students who are deaf, hard of hearing, or non-na ve 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. Using recorded lectures enables 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 transcripts of
Possibilities & Applications
• Provide lecture materials for student viewing
outside class and using class me 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
knowledge for ac vi es and discussions.
• Encourage student accountability for
class prepara on.
• Cap on recorded lectures to increase
accessibility for deaf, hard of hearing, and
non-na ve English speakers.
• Produce lectures properly for delivery via
mobile devices for increased availability
to students.
• Create class prepara on or supplemental
materials for hybrid or flipped courses.
• Provide students with addi onal problem
solving exercises.
• Create a screen recording tutorial that
guides students through the process of
opera ng a so ware applica on.
• Bring history to life through the inclusion
of famous speeches, videos, 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 wri en
assignments.”
- Dr. Ann Brand
What students are saying:
“I really liked the lectures that he posted
online! They were informa ve and would
help clarify parts of the chapter I had already
read. Keep it up..... I thought it was very
helpful.”
- Chemistry Student
7 Things You Need to Know about Recorded Camtasia Lectures
from Learning Technology Services at UW-Stout

2. their recorded lectures, students may read them or use them to take notes.
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
real in the eyes of the student.
Student responses to recorded lectures have been mostly posi ve. 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.
5. What Are the Implica ons for Teaching and Learning?
When recorded lectures are placed online for students, F2F class me can be used to
engage students in conversa ons about the course content and gauge student learning.
For completely online students, recorded lectures give the students a chance to gain
the same kind of informa on and understanding they would get from the instructor in
a tradi onal lecture. Online lectures also help keep the online experience from being a
completely text-based form of delivery.
6. What Are the Downsides? Things to Consider?
Prepara on is key for instructors when deciding to record lectures for students. It is
most advisable to consider preparing recorded lectures the semester before actually
deploying them for student consump on. If using PowerPoint lectures, instructors
need to have PowerPoint slides up-to-date and chunked into logical sec ons.
Recording and edi ng me is another issue. Instructors may want to do some edi ng of
recordings they have made, add tle slides, and add a UW-Stout wordmark. In addi on to
the me it actually takes to make the recordings, these edits, depending on how many,
may add some me to the process.
Cap oning can be one of the longer processes involved with edi ng, depending on the
length of the recording and the amount of speech present. If an instructor does not
have the me or inclina on to create a transcript, they may be able to use a fee-based
transcrip on service. Some services are already in place for the UW System and can be
found at the following link: h ps://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/page.php?id=15016. Instructors
need only to have a transcript created, which they can import into Camtasia for cap on
crea on. The transcript can also be posted in the instructor’s D2L course site for students
to read, or to print out for note-taking purposes.
There may be some ini al resistance to the use of recorded lectures, when they must
viewed outside of class me 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 a ending class. To help students adjust to this approach, instructors should strive
to make in-class experiences meaningful and enriching.
7. Where Is It Going at UW-Stout?
Learning Technology Services has had Camtasia for a number of years. Over the last
two years, however, interest in Camtasia has begun to grow. Some instructors come to
LTS for training and to do some ini al recordings and then purchase their own licenses,
which enables them to record anywhere at any me.
Recent surveys administered by faculty who are using recorded Camtasia lectures and
screen recordings have been promising. Student responses have been mostly posi ve.
Students have also given feedback on how the recordings could be improved in the
future.
Over 75% thought the recorded lectures helped them to feel confident
that they understood the course materials well
Over 71% thought listening to the recorded lectures helped them to
master the course content.
Over 81% thought the content in the recorded lectures was a
good supplement to other course materials
Over 87% thought the recorded lectures added instructional value
to the course
Over 81% thought the recorded lectures reinforced their
understanding of the course content
Ini al Results:
Survey responses collected from students
whose instructors used recorded lectures
4.08%
0.00%
8.16%
30.61%
57.14%
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
The recorded lectures added instructional value to the
course.
2.08% 0.00%
16.67%
27.08%
54.17%
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
Listening to the recorded lectures reinforced my
understanding of the course content.
4.08% 4.08%
10.20%
36.73%
44.90%
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
40.00%
45.00%
50.00%
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
The content in the recorded lectures was a good
supplement to the other course materials.
2.04% 2.04%
20.41%
42.86%
32.65%
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
40.00%
45.00%
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
Listening to the recorded lectures helped me to feel
confident that I understood the course materials well.
2.04% 4.08%
22.45%
53.06%
18.37%
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
Listening to the recorded lectures helped me to master
the course content.