Creating training videos with recordMyDesktop
Learning Curve
© sebastian kaulitzki,
A training video of a new application can really reduce the learning curve. The recordMyDesktop program is at an early stage of development but already stable enough for everyday use. We'll show you how to use the program to capture custom procedures in a desktop video.
IT trainers understand that the best way to teach a desktop procedure is to help the user visualize each step. Overhead projectors were long regarded as the best approach; in recent years, computer-based slideshows and video projectors have extended this philosophy. But even these "modern" teaching aids suffer from the fact that they are static: In the best case, all you can show your students is a short text segment and a couple of screenshots.
Educational videos, typically implemented as Flash animations, are a relatively recent innovation. To play the video, all the student needs is a web browser with a suitable Flash plugin. Because a native Linux application for Macromedia's proprietary Flash format did not exist at first, trainers and teachers had no alternative but to create their own tools for building training videos.
A number of Linux developers rose to this challenge and programmed recordMyDesktop [1] and Istanbul [2]. Both programs are currently at an early stage of development, but lab tests reveal that recordMyDesktop is certainly mature and stable enough for everyday use.
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