Screencasts a smart training alternative in a tough economy

Let’s face it: Even with Main Street and Wall Street going down the tubes, the tech industry is holding its own. This year saw the release of new mobile devices, software releases from all the major vendors, development of virtualization, cloud computing, and so much more. We can celebrate the survival of our industry through this horrible year, especially if you read and believe all the buzz about 2009 being the “Year of Tech Deployment.” There is a good possibility 2009 will stand out as a banner year on all fronts, especially if the rumblings are true that Vista and Office 2007 deployments will skyrocket.

But when a company rolls out all that new technology, usually the last item on the list for admins and decision makers is training. Obviously the goal of any new rollout for both hardware and software is to provide greater functionality, increased administrative control and security, and certainly higher productivity. Without training, you cannot accomplish those goals. However, in a recession, there are concerns about the high costs of traditional training methods.

The days of sending your employees or users over to a training center, such as New Horizons, may be history. I used to teach the Microsoft Curriculum courses as a MCT (Microsoft Certified Trainer) there, and it was wonderful, with high per-diem rates for instructors, the students would be relaxed as if they were on a mini paid-for vacation from work, and usually everyone learned something.

But those were the days of excess we no longer have. In truth, having your people go offsite not only costs a ton of money and means you lose productivity from your users for the day, but only so much of the information will be retained by the students. With attention spans growing shorter, a full day of training may be a waste for most adult tech employees.

So, we might look to alternative methods that appeal to the budget, the daily productivity of your people, and their attention spans. Personally, I’ve found that task-oriented screencasts presented in a self-serve manner is the best way to accomplish all three of these goals.

First off, what is a screencast? It’s a recording of a trainer’s screen output (using videocapturing software) that typically uses audio narration. You might perform a slideshow mixed with video capturing or even add real motion video; there are a variety of different ways to make these effective. Different software allows for zooming in and out, transition effects, callouts, video and audio overlays, conversion to different file types, and more.

You have two ways to provide this form of training for your company. Make it yourself or buy it. If you think you want to try your hand at making these, there are four things to remember: prepare, record, edit, and produce, or PREP. The PREP method is what you need to define to create a solid program for your users. You need to decide things such as the following:

• What software do I use? Personally, I use Camtasia Studio, of which Version 6.0 just came out, but you might opt for something else depending on the platform your users work on (Windows, Linux, Mac) and the amount you wish to spend on the software. Camtasia is a little pricey but not as pricey as Adobe Captivate. You may consider lighter solutions, such as UTIPU or Jing.
• What screen resolution do I want to work with? Obviously every environment is a little different, although the industry standard these days seems to be 800×600.
• Do I use slides or not, audio or callouts, transitions, or quick cuts from one thing to another? Again, consider all parts of the design process before you go too far. You want to try and provide a consistent look.
• What do I produce my content as? Well, you might consider FLV files, but many companies prefer WMV or MOV files.

In terms of buying content for your users, there are several well-known providers that you might consider, including ClipTraining, CBT Nuggets, and Train Signal. (Disclaimer: I should mention that I am a co-founder of ClipTraining.) There are certainly other solutions available, and it is important for you to do the research so that you get the best price and the best solution for your particular environment and needs.

It’s been said, “Desperate times call for creative measures.” Well, creative doesn’t necessarily mean less effective in this case. In fact, screencasts can be one of the most effective means of training your users because they can watch a video whenever they want and, more important, whenever they need. This can help reduce calls to help desk personnel (or worse yet, administrators directly) and can promote more comfort and productivity in your workforce.

What forms of alternative training have you considered for your environment?