The Problem
A team that was accustomed to conducting in-person train-the-trainer courses converted them to Virtual Instructor-led Training. It was then decided that asynchronous eLearning would be the better option for both the trainees and the trainers. The challenge was that the courses included a number of open-ended reflection questions. There was no time to rewrite the sessions and limit resources for new tech. More urgently, this training needed to be completed ASAP as the trainees were expected to begin work facilitating sessions only a few months later.
The Solution
Camtasia was a tool which some of the trainees were familiar with from another project they worked on. So it was easiest to have them record their presentations in Camtasia and then add the reflection sections as lock-screens and open-ended quiz questions. While there is a case to be made for rewriting the courses to better fit an asynchronous context. The timing of the training was crucial. And while Canvas does offer some LTIs that allow embedding of questions in video, the per-user cost for these options was prohibitive.
While the trainees were recording the presentations and adding questions, I worked on customizing the styling of the quiz objects and developing a workflow for the incoming data, since Camtasia would only be tracking completion metrics by percent viewed.
Tools
- Camtasia – Facilitators recorded their sessions in Camtasia, then SCORM was enabled and lock-screen questions were added. A custom CSS file was add to style quiz objects in Camtasia.
- Canvas LMS – Used to host videos and track learners’ completion.
- Microsoft Workflows – Used to gather and sort learner constructed responses in a single spreadsheet for training follow-up sessions by facilitators.
Examples
Unfortunately, given the proprietary nature of these trainings, examples can not be shared here. Please contact me directly if you would like to see similar examples of embedded Camtasia quizzing with customized styling.
Summary
In this project I learned that often times the best solution is not something new, but smart application of things people already know.
- The “Best Solution” is a compromise between a number of competing factors. Given the time and resource constraints, it made the most sense to record the VILT content and add leverage Camtasia’s quiz and lock-screen features to provide enforcement of the reflection portions that are done in the VILT. Using this approach the trainings were completed and tested in time.
- Camtasia’s themes and styling options do not extend to the quiz objects. If you are going to style those object, you will need to make changes to the CSS in the published files. This was fairly easy to do, and we were able to train a couple of writers to switch the CSS file in the published files once they styling decisions were finalized.
- Microsoft Workflows can easily facilitate data sharing – The facilitators wanted to be able to read the users constructed responses. We did not have the resources to set-up and test an API for this project, so instead we used TechSmith’s Camtasia email reporting option, and used workflows to compile the emails and then sort responses in a singe resource facilitators could reference.