Camtasia Studio Screen Recording and Presentation

Home / Community /

Spotlight on Mary Longcore, Michigan State University

Training Videos Eliminate Need for Massive Manpower

Mary Longcore is an IT Professional at Michigan State University's HealthTeam. As a member of the team responsible for the implementation of Electronic Medical Records (EMR), she uses Camtasia Studio to develop training materials for the program.

Because of the nature of their EMR implementation, coupled with the ever-changing staff, medical student and physician population, the training needs were preventing them from moving forward with actual system improvements. Longcore was asked to create training videos that new staff members, physicians, and residents rotating in the clinics could use to become familiar with the program and processes.

For example, last year the EMR program was overdue for an upgrade, but it was also the time of year when one batch of residents were on their way out, and a new group was coming in.

Longcore said, "We didn't have the manpower to prepare for the upgrade, train the existing users of the changes coming, and get the incoming medical students and residents up and running on the system. So, we created a video and accompanying documentation, distributed it to clinics and offices on CDs, and also made it available via our Web site."

To create a video, Longcore normally writes up an outline of the topic, runs it by the other team members, and turns it into a script. As she tapes various clips, she often modifies the script. Once the video is completed and approved, she generates a written version, and both are uploaded to the Web site. When applicable, she also creates a two-sided cheat sheet, which is also made available to the end users on the Web site.

Longcore finds it very useful to be able to create several small clips that she can piece together smoothly on the timeline. She explained, "Being able to do this, including the use of meticulous editing tools at both ends of the individual clips, serves to both reduce production time and increase the overall quality of the finished product."

In addition, she likes using callouts and hot spots, and then when producing, being able to control file sizes by choosing to include them or not.

She added, "And the best of all - I can produce videos as Flash files, so that the material is readily accessible to our users on any system that has the Flash player and a decent Internet connection. This obviates issues with our medical students trying to learn the EMR program before working in our clinics, but from a location where the computers have been 'locked down' and they can't download some other player or codec."

"The learning curve for Camtasia is far superior to other products of a similar nature," she said. "I originally tried using Flash for more detailed animation, but the investment of time was too high for the amount of materials I needed to produce. Camtasia Studio allows me to include as much or as little detail as I want for any given clip."

For example, she can take a simple Power Point presentation and create a quick, introductory rollout video, and then create a more detailed, step-by-step video for follow-up.

She explained, "By working this way, we avoid issues with players and software on the end users' computers by producing to Flash files."

"Camtasia Studio works great for me," she said. "I haven't ever experienced a conflict of Camtasia with other software on my computer – and the price tag is considerably easier to swallow for departments with small budgets."

Return to Education Customer Interviews.

Subscribe to the Education Newsletter to receive new articles and other news monthly.

Explore Camtasia Studio