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Who is the audience?
As an Electronic Resources & Serials librarian, I do not have direct contact with students. I see my role is to train the trainers, rather than working directly with library patrons.
Why screencasts instead of
in-person training?
Screencasts are a great opportunity to teach by demonstration. Unfortunately, I attend many meetings and I'm often not in my office. It is difficult for me to provide training when a co-worker needs my help. Instead, with online tutorials I can be teaching on-demand.
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How did you make your screencasts?
I used Adobe Captivate and posted the tutorials with Adobe Contribute.
What are some best practices?
Faster is better.
Screencasts are most useful, when they are available for learners. Don't try to make the "perfect" tutorial. Sometimes "done" is good enough.
Take smaller bites.
Divide screencasts into shorter episodes. They are quicker and easier to make. Plus audiences of all ages have short attention spans.
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How did you publicize your screencasts?
Location of the audience (within or outside of the library) often determines marketing strategy.
In the examples listed below,
I targeted Library staff and faculty. Therefore, I used internal email lists and the intranet.
When possible, place screencasts at the point of need. For example, for my next project,
I am planning on putting a link to a database screencast in a catalog record.
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How do you know if your screencast is effective?
Typically, the shelf-life of a screencast is shorter than a Twinkie.
It important to build-in a method of gathering feedback from your audience. Some strategies are word-of-mouth comments, website traffic, or surveys.
Based on this user input, you can make decisions to create an additional, revise an existing, or delete an outdated screencast. |
