Screencasting with Captivate

Screencasting:Adobe Captivate

LSU LibrariesStaff PresentationRebecca K. Miller

August 4, 2009

Interactive tutorials

“Passive” tutorials

Import directly from PowerPoint

Example from LIS 1001 Course

Edit the size of the slides

Select which slides to include

Decide how your tutorial will progress

With these tools, you can add (from left-right):

CaptionsRollover captionsHighlight boxesRollover slidelet

Zoom areasText entriesClick boxes

ButtonsText animations

ImagesRollover Images

AnimationsVideos

Mouse movements

Capturing Screen Movement

Determine where you’d like to add the capture

You can add the recording at any point in the tutorial you’ve already created

When you are ready to record the capture, Captivate lets you choose which window you’d like to record and how you’d like to record it. For capturing screen movement, “Demonstration” works well. However, “Simulation” is still an option at this point.

You hit the “Record” button to begin recording , and the “End” key to stop recording.

The capture is added in a series of “slides” that you can edit using any of the tools or properties available in Captivate

Publishing the Tutorial

Flash is the most popular file format for publishing tutorials, since it is viewable across various platforms.

Placing the media file you just created on a plain web page is, likewise, the most popular choice for disseminating tutorials…

Tutorial with screencapture from LIS 1001

The Summer 2009 LIS 1001 online course was built entirely with Captivate software to explain

material and demonstrate methods through digital tutorials.

A total of 19 tutorials, ranging from 1:00 minute to 9:00 minutes, were created. No audio was

associated with these files, for various reasons

Both students and instructors found benefits in this method.

Other Uses…

Professional Development◦Software Demonstrations◦Training Scenarios

Special library functions ◦The Plant Patents Workshop

Integrated Information Literacy Instruction◦Business School Podcast Series