Why Would I Waste My Money on Captivate

Most of the comments on my YouTube videos are encouraging, but someone challenges me every once in a while.

Here is such a statement from Kim:

“Thanks for the video – however, if Adobe Captivate is such a great teaching tool, why are you using a screen recorder and YouTube to teach it? If all I need is a free screen recorder and YouTube to teach my subject, why would I waste my money on Captivate? Does not make sense. Thanks.”

Here was my answer to Kim:
“That’s a good question, and hopefully, you’ll agree that I have the right answer. Like my favourite handyman Mike uses different tools for different jobs, Adobe Captivate is an excellent tool for many other learning solutions. Adobe Captivate is a perfect tool for creating self-directed learning that you would upload to a learning management system. Adobe Captivate projects with a good LMS allows an organization to track and report on the progress of their learners. My YouTube videos don’t do this at all. Sure Google gives me analytics related to how many people watched my videos and for how long, but I have no idea if anyone is learning anything. Besides, the purpose of my YouTube videos is not necessarily to train my students. I prefer to think of my YouTube videos as advertising for my real business, teaching clients Adobe Captivate. My videos are the free sample to find out if you would like to have me teach you for an hour or more on one or more topics about Captivate.

But like Mike the handyman, I use other tools for other tasks. I record and edit my videos for YouTube using a program called Camtasia (there is a link in the description for this). I used to use Adobe Captivate’s Video Demo feature, which performs a similar function. In this case, Camtasia is a more robust solution. If you asked me to create a software simulation or an interactive video that I could report on the learners’ results, Adobe Captivate and a good quality LMS would be my choice.”