Camtasia or Camtasia Studio is a software used for screen recording and video editing. Camtasia is similar to Adobe Captivate and they both are used in the industry for the same purpose. Camtasia allows you to capture video streams and add annotations to it. You can also add voiceovers and present it to your audience. Camtasia is ideal to use for any of the video content that you want to edit and present.

What you need to know about Camtasia:

Technical Communication Managers do not list Camtasia as a must know tool for graduate students. But, when they interview graduate students, knowing a video editor is seen as a good skill for future projects.

• Knowing how to edit a video – The main purpose of using Camtasia is for editing video content. Basic editing includes chopping, trimming and using the fade in/fade out options for the video.
• Adding visual effects to the video – Camtasia also has preset visual effects for videos. For example, you can zoom in a particular detail in the video and add callout at that spot.
• Adding callouts – Another major feature in Camtasia is the callout option. When editing a video, callouts are added to mark the important spots within a video.

How it is used in the industry:

Camtasia is a paid software and hence many organizations do not implement them in large numbers. Corporations install Camtasia only when there is a demand for the tool for a project. Organizations with documentation teams specializing in e-learning components use Camtasia the most.

Managers expect new graduates to know just the basics of the tool. If they know the basics, they are given further training on-the-job.

How it is used in the MSTC Program:

This tool is taught to students in the MSTC Program. Video editor is seen as one of the most important tool that a technical communicator must know. Instructors believe that if students are taught the basic of a widely-used video editor then they can learn how to use other video editors.

Tool-based courses in which the tool is taught:

ENG 517 – Advanced Technical Writing, Editing, and Document Design

Camtasia is taught to students in the ENG 517 course. Students are taught the basic as well as advanced features of Camtasia.

Once students learn how to use the tool, they are given assignments in which they create instructional video and add voice over to it along with visual effects. For the assignment, students are first asked to write a task-based topic of their choice. This gives them the experience of how instructional videos are recorded in an organization.

Where can you get more information about Camtasia:

Camtasia is available for both Windows PC and MAC OS and the trail as well as paid version can be downloaded from http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html.

For students who are interested in learning the basics of Camtasia, tutorials are available in the website and it can be accessed at http://www.techsmith.com/tutorial-camtasia-8.html.