Camtasia studio with activstudio

[saha]

I tried this at first as an experiment.
But it turned out to be a hugely powerful and popular tool for my students.
Stoichiometry is one of the most difficult concepts this semester, but for the first time, my students are mastering this concept better and quicker.
I have attached the flipchart for illustration.

[LisaD]

That's a great recording! I was wondering through....why did you use camtasia versus the built in recording tool in Activstudio?

Lisa

[saha]

Hi Lisa,
I used Camtasia to do the recording instead of using the recording tool in Activstudio was because I wanted the flexibility to be able to post the recordings either in pure html or flash format on my website for students to access.
From what I understand, activstudio recording format cannot be exported to html or flash format.

The internet is a great way to reach my students when they go home. None of my students have Activstudio at home or even the activstudio student edition.

By this approach, they have commented that they understand so much better. They have also said that they have got used to the activstudio view in class so much, that they feel like they are sitting in my class as they view the camtasia recording of the activstudio session :)

[markrobinson]

In the new version 3 software you will find a new export wizard on the dashboard. This extend the current export options in the menu. This lets you save flipcharts and FLASH/HTML and a variety of other formats - PPT, Word, PDF.

If you have a school website - you will also find an FTP client in the software that will mange the upload of your exported flipchart.

Activ software uses Camtasia internally - although as you have noted, not the full range of exporting options. Since there are so many things that can be added to a video - captions, soundtracks, compress with movie maker, make podcast (great with AP on MAC and iMovie) etc. we could not do it all in the software.

[markrobinson]

BTW If you have the FLASH Pro software you can import the Activstio movie capture files and convert them to FLASH.

Other software is around that does the same - some shareware

[saha]

In the new version 3 software you will find a new export wizard on the dashboard. This extend the current export options in the menu. This lets you save flipcharts and FLASH/HTML and a variety of other formats - PPT, Word, PDF.

If you have a school website - you will also find an FTP client in the software that will mange the upload of your exported flipchart.

Activ software uses Camtasia internally - although as you have noted, not the full range of exporting options. Since there are so many things that can be added to a video - captions, soundtracks, compress with movie maker, make podcast (great with AP on MAC and iMovie) etc. we could not do it all in the software.

Hi Mark,
Nice to hear from you .
Yes the new export options on version 3 are fantastic.

My students are very weak in math, and a step by step explanation seems to help them the most...so a movie seems to work best for this concept.
You and your team have done a terrific job with version 3. congratulations! [clap] [clap]

[saha]

That's a great recording! I was wondering through....why did you use camtasia versus the built in recording tool in Activstudio?

Lisa

Hi Lisa,
Another big reason why I chose Camtasia to do the recroding instead of the activstudio recording tool was the "file size".

A 24 second activstudio recording is about 5 MB in avi format.

Compared to that a 4 minute recording in camtasia studio is about 1.5 MB in swf format.

[Nigel Pearce]

The complete design and development team can be seen by clicking on the Promethean Man 'flames' in Main Menu --> Help --> About Activstudio. (same in Primary).

[saha]

congratalutions Nigel. [clap]
For some reason, I cant see the names of the application development team when I click on the flames icon.