Thank you to everyone who responded.  This information is wonderful!



Nicole



Question:
Does anyone have software suggestions for creating online interactive tutorials?  For example, software that records what's happening on the screen, allows voiceover or may even force the user to type or click.





Responses:



*         3 years ago I had to develop tutorials for teaching Word & Excel to the students at our faculty. I used Camtasia Studio (http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp) and got decent results. After that I had the opportunity to try Adobe Captivate. Both products were good, but Captivate seemed to get better image quality in the final product and had more tweaks to play with. Some years have passed and new versions of both products are available now, maybe the differences are minor now.


*         I use Captivate by Adobe. It does everything I need it to do without too much trouble. Except, it provides an end product in Flash. We have a lot of iPod touches in our med school, so I'd like to have more in MP4 format, and a way to easily produce that too would be nice. It's probably out there, I just don't know about it yet!


*         I have used Matchware ScreenCorder in the past. Much simpler, can't edit as much, costs nearly the same as more sophisticated software. Our nursing school and some other librarians use Camtasia and seem to like it very much.


*         I have used both Captivate and Camtasia to create tutorials for students. They are easy to use. You can find many tutorials for how to use them. They both have free trails too. As far as I know, captivate is more expensive. If you just want tutorial, Camtasia is enough, but if you want to create interactive quizzes, you may need Captivate. Also, they are easy to use. I start to create a short clip using Captivate for every class I teach.


*         Check out this NNLM article on just-in-time screencasting: http://nnlm.gov/pnr/dragonfly/2009/10/13/screencasting/


*         For pretty straight tutorials (not interactive for the viewer), ScreenJelly or Screencast-o-matic are popular and easy to use freeware programs. For more interactivity, Captivate -- but it's not freeware.


*         I think Camtasia is a popular one. I've tried an open source one once but it wasn't very user friendly. I'm actually looking into purchasing Camtasia for our Library too!


*         Have you looked at jing.com?


*         We use Camtasia. http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp


*         http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp Camtasia, Jing and Webinaria


*         MLA 2010 is offering CE courses on this topic - Creating Online Tutorials in Less than Thirty Minutes

Screencasting: creating online tutorials



Go to NNLM page, click on Midcontinental Region, click on Training and Educational Opportunities, click on MCR class schedule.

Class Description Screencasts are an easy way to provide step-by-step instructions (tutorials) for a new software program, how to search the library catalog, or how to make an interlibrary loan request for example. This class will meet via a blend of one required, virtual face-to-face orientation session using Adobe Connect on March 23rd at 11 CT, with the remainder of the class work being done online in Moodle, the NN/LM's online course management system. You should expect the coursework, including the online meeting, to take a total of 4 hours.



Enrollment is limited to 20. This class is approved for 4 - MLA CE credits.



*         Try jing - its' free on the web. Or better yet, purchase Adobe's Captivate.


*         I have heard mention of some librarians using Jing and SnagIt, but I believe many of them are at Academic libraries so it's much easier for them to use those resources.


*         I do a lot of distance teaching and we worry about this problem virtually constantly :) Typically, I am recording narrated PowerPoint lectures which I then convert to Flash files using some program or other. At my previous university I worked with Impatica; here, we have a homegrown solution that does the same thing. For screen shots and walk throughs, I have created some tutorials in Captivate and can vouch for that one. All the librarians at my university are crazy about Jing, but I find that Jing gives you a very rough look (because it's intended for quick 'n dirty) so I don't use it. If I was a reference librarian I would definitely use it!
My one large caveat about creating interactive tutorials is not a software caveat, but a time-sink caveat. Every time a vendor messes with their interface, your tutorial is out of date. this keeps me from putting more time into these tutorials -- half of the ones I spent hours creating last year were out of date in 6 months.


*         We have had very good success with Camtasia.


*         We use Camtasia here. It offers a free trial period so you can check it out. http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp It is fairly simple to use.


*         We're working on an online tutorial now. Camtasia seems to be what a lot of people are using (showed up in our literature review). We've used Camtasia in usability studies to record screen activity. There's also a freeware program from Camtasia called "Jing".


*         I use SnagIt and Camtasia. Not too expensive and does the job.


*         Adobe Captivate


*         Camtasia


*         Jing (there is a free version of this but you can also get the Pro version which I don't think costs as much as the other two I mentioned. I know you can do voice recordings but I'm not sure if it's interactive.)



*         I actually just got my copy of Adobe Captivate yesterday from our IT department. Both this and Camtasia were recommended at some conferences that I attended (ACRL last year and a CARL North meeting). I decided to go with Captivate because from what I had read, it seemed like it would be easier for me to learn to use.





*         I use Captivate by Adobe. It does everything I need it to do without too much trouble. Except, it provides an end product in Flash. We have a lot of iPod touches in our med school, so I'd like to have more in MP4 format, and a way to easily produce that too would be nice. It's probably out there, I just don't know about it yet! I have used Matchware ScreenCorder in the past. Much simpler, can't edit as much, costs nearly the same as more sophisticated software. Our nursing school and some other librarians at OSU use Camtasia and seem to like it very much.



*         We're working on an online tutorial now. Camtasia seems to be what a lot of people are using (showed up in our literature review). We've used Camtasia in usability studies to record screen activity. There's also a freeware program from Camtasia called "Jing".



*         For our tutorials we use software called Adobe Captivate to capture/records what happens on screen. Usually we integrate this into a PowerPoint presentation which is then supported by software called Brainshark. We use Brainshark to retrieve usage statistic, these stats give you a very good idea of what the user's attention span is and how good your tutorial actually is.






Nicole Montgomery, MISLT
Librarian, Library Services
CoxHealth
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Phone: (417) 269-3460



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