Preface

Video is an important trend in education as learners become more visually oriented and less willing to read textbooks. The generation of visual learners is already upon us.

You may be wondering how you will ever be able to reach this audience. For the past few decades, we have created classroom lectures, textbooks, and yes, even e-learning with limited visual content. What will happen if learners eventually expect all learning to be visual with little or no text? Will education morph from boring texts, slides, and lectures to glamorous Hollywood-style events?

That's not likely anytime soon, but you can certainly see evidence of the expectation. Video learning is all the rage right now. Everyone carries a video camera and everyone is an expert at making movies. Just tune in to YouTube and see for yourself. Why not extend those capabilities and skills to learning?

While it is not quite that simple yet, the drive to visual learning is firmly in place. New cameras and software technologies have made it easier than ever to break into the movie business. There is no reason at all to expect it won't happen in education.

That's where this book comes in. You have chosen the volume specifically designed to help you get up and running with Camtasia Studio to create e-learning videos. This versatile, powerful, and inexpensive tool can become your "classroom in a box." You will be amazed at the things you can accomplish quickly, easily, and without a huge software learning curve.

This book makes no attempt to teach you all of the many powerful features of Camtasia Studio. Instead, it focuses on those features that support the creation of professional e-learning videos that are ready to be uploaded on a website or learning management system.

If you were somehow able to see me working at my desk at the daily business of doing exactly what Camtasia Studio was designed to do, you would likely see the occasional quirk of a smile or hear a satisfied sigh of contentment. I really like doing this. It's a joy to get started each morning. Maybe I was smiling because I was able to accomplish some trick of transferring knowledge in record time, with high visibility and exceptional quality. Nothing else compares in the e-learning world to knowing you have the right tool for the job and you know how to use it.

Get ready to join me in the magic journey of gaining skills and knowledge creating fantastic e-learning videos that really work using Camtasia Studio.