Using Camtasia 2 with Keynote to upload training content to Youtube

I recently purchased Camtasia 2 for Mac so I could screen capture recording and upload it in various ways. My reasons for this are:

1. To see if I can “flip” my own training model. In order to do this I first need to create a body of video style content and make it available.
2. To provide remote support for our NCALNE (Voc) learners who are involved with embedding literacy and numeracy into their trades and vocational training. With our professional development course we bring groups together for intensive workshop training, but many people still need addition support outside of these sessions. The video content is to help them access the same information they received during the live workshops.
3. The future of my business in education and training is probably online. This means a shift from live training to digital and online. Currently, I’m in the process of working out what this means. One of the implications is that I need to learn to use some new tools. Screen capture software is going to be one of these tools.
4. Making our content freely available online means that more people can potentially be exposed to the work we do and then investigate it further with minimal commitment and zero cost. We think that this will result in an increase in the number of people who want to gain the qualification that we offer. This is a move towards a “flipped” business model in education as well as a “flipped” classroom. In other words, end users pay for assessment and credentials rather than the training and information which eventually will be free.

Here’s my attempt at using Camtasia 2 to record some of the content that I discuss in the introduction to ALEC’s professional development course.

To get this clip on Youtube I did the following:

1. Created the slideshow in Keynote. This is the latest version of the NCALNE (Voc) content and I’ve only just revised it.
2. Hit record full screen on Camtasia 2.
3. Immediately opened the Keynote via the Keynote Remote on my iPad (which is linked to Keynote on my Mac)
4. Used the presenter notes from Keynote Remote playing on my iPad to do the voiceover while Camtasia recorded the full screen on the Mac
5. Edited the very end of the presentation to cover up my fumbling around while I tried to stop the recording.

There are a couple of things that I’m still not quite happy about. One relates to the length of the clip. This clip is probably too long but for the sake of the course participants I wanted to include all the information. Also, Camtasia 2 ha a bunch of editing features and effects that I haven’t had time to look yet that will probably make this experience better.

Also, it takes ages to render the video and do the upload to Youtube. However, I just recorded several videos in sequence and then set the upload for the longest at night and forgot about it. The upside is that it hasn’t failed on me yet. Keynote has an export to Youtube function but it pretty much fails every time.

One annoying thing is that YouTube generates three random thumbnails for the clip. You can choose which of the three you want to use, but you can’t actually choose your own custom thumbnail. I think you can get around this if you become a paid user.

Anyway… how are you creating educational video content for YouTube? Any tips or thoughts? Let me know in the comments.