UX Research
Camtasia
Improve Learning Outcomes with Recorded Video
Client /
Techsmith
Role /
UX Researcher
Agency /
UMSI
Year /
2021
Overview
TechSmith is a software company specializing in screen-capture, screen-casting, and video editing software. Their primary product, Camtasia, is a screen-capture and video editing software ubiquitous in education fields, which has seen an increase in use during the pandemic. Camtasia occupies a sweet spot in ease-of-use and video editing features between low-level editors like iMovie and professional editing software like Adobe Premiere.
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For this project, we partnered with the UX Design team at TechSmith to identify design opportunities to better assist teachers in education video production, investigate user’s needs in video editing, and learn their challenges and frustrations in the video production process.
Process
Our team used a four step research process, beginning with background research to learn about the product and users to form our problem statement. We next interviewed 9 users provided from the client's research lists, iterating on our interview script as we heard new problems or common themes. To analyze the interviews, we transcribed our interviews and coded the data before creating journey maps for the four different types of users we identified. We then presented our findings and recommendations to the client.
Methods and Tools
Our primary research method was semi-structured interviews, working off a script developed with the client to target various issues previously identified by their internal research. Following each interview, we identified new issues or themes and iterated on our script.
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Our target users were instructors using Camtasia to produce educational videos, ranging from novice to expert users. We conducted 9 interviews, narrowing in on 4 users who were both teaching and doing the video production on their own. For these 4 users, we transcribed their interviews using Otter.ai, then coded the interviews in Taguette. The tagged data was imported to Miro for Affinity Mapping and Journey Mapping.
Journey maps were particularly useful in sharing the different ways users work in the software and companion programs with the client. Here we found the fourth user compiled visual assets from image sites and their previous videos before beginning any work in Camtasia, while the other three users began their production in Camtasia. User four also frequently re-edited old videos due to the ever-changing nature of their field. Using this map, we highlighted to TechSmith the importance of improving version compatibility of video files edited using older versions of Camtasia.
Findings and Recommendations
Production Finding 1: Users prefer to work on animations outside of Camtasia
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“In Camtasia you are pretty much limited to the tools they have.
I don't know how you would have an object fly across the screen in Camtasia, but I can do it easily in PowerPoint, because you can use all the animation features in PowerPoint”
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Instructors learning Camtasia are usually already familiar with Powerpoint. While animation on video is not the same as animation in a slideshow, we found that users do not differentiate the two and want the animations in Camtasia to function similar to the way they are implemented in Powerpoint.​
Recommendation: Merging or adjusting which functions are found within the animation and behavior panels, and adjusting the custom animation workflow and UI to be in-line with other software that are commonly used by instructors.
Production Finding 2: Clip magnetization and timeline navigation are difficult on large projects
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“Another feature that would be nice is in the editing portion is if you’ve cut out a segment, what I would like is to be able to just click and have it snap into place, the stuff that’s to the right of what I had edited out. Instead, I have to go and drag.”
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The second production finding is more like a missing feature that the software fails to allow users to place or replace a video segment. It would be a waste of time if instructors just need to change a resource or an example but have to adjust the timeline over and over again. So it would be helpful if users get to choose if they want to magnetize clips after creating a new track.
Recommendation: Prompt users to decide whether to magnetize clips each time a new track is made.
Post-Production Finding 1: LMS quiz integration function for student engagement.
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“What ended up happening because the scores weren’t being transferred correctly……So this feature that’s supposed to wire directly into learning management systems, I think is a little bit buggy. ”
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The first post-production finding is not only for the video creation process but also important for student engagement. Since many instructors store their educational content on the learning management system, the interviewees expressed the need for having the quiz scores be directly transferred to the system.
Recommendation: Look to collaborate with LMS providers to improve Camtasia quizzing integration on LMS platforms.
Post-Production Finding 2: Recycling previous completed video content is difficult
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“I had to go back and open one video in Camtasia 2017 and save it. Then open up Camtasia 2018, pick up that video, and open it…then I could finally edit it in Camtasia 2020. ”
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The last finding was that instructors use two methods of recycling content. Some instructors need to reflect changes in their field frequently, requiring them to update videos with new or changed information. These users want to reuse previous project files and swap out clips as necessary. The other method happens when instructors need to cover the same content in a new textbook or course structure. These instructors tend to reuse assets such as slide decks, but will remake the entire video without reusing recorded content.
Recommendation: Improve version compatibility for Camtasia project files moving forward. Assisting users to archive content for future content recycling within Camtasia or outside the software would also benefit power-users.
What I Learned
Due to some changes to the client's business planning between their submitting the project proposal to UMSI and our team beginning work with them, the original proposal was no longer viable. The client gave us a lot of freedom in designing a new project, and I gained valuable experience alongside my team in scoping a UX research project in a field where no team members had significant prior experience. TechSmith was excited by the direction we chose and provided guidance and assistance where they could, and we quickly ironed out a research plan,
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The only shortcoming of our project also provided a valuable learning experience. While we completed 9 interviews, we found users who were information technologists at academic institutions did not have much experience with the specific issues we were looking into. While we were able to gain some evidence to support our findings from the 4 instructor interviews, we learned to be careful identifying interview targets, and to not be afraid to adjust interview lists if we identify shortcomings in our recruiting.