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TechSmith Revamps Academic Licensing for Lecture Capture Software

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 09/27/12

Riding a wave of flipped classroom action, TechSmith has introduced new pricing structures for its screen capture and recording software specifically for educators. TechSmith's products include:

• Snagit, a Windows and Mac program for creating quick demo videos;
• Camtasia Studio and Camtasia:mac, for recording screen activity; editing video and mixing in camera video; adding themes, music, and photos; creating interactive videos with clickable links, search, and other features; and sharing the final product; and
• Camtasia Relay, an enterprise screen recording and sharing application.

The new education volume pricing offers per-user licensing, site licensing, and full-time equivalent (FTE) licensing, all of it at least 40 percent less than the retail price of the software and in some cases considerably less than that. Site licensing can be used across a campus for up to 500, 1000, 1500, or 2000 users, or more. The FTE program is structured for institution-wide usage and includes home use for faculty, staff, and students. It covers unlimited deployment of Camtasia Studio, Camtasia:mac, and Snagit, and software maintenance for three years. For example, under FTE pricing, licensing of Camtasia Studio for 469 full-time faculty and staff and 4200 students would be about $53,827; under the previous academic license discount, the price would have been $90,000.

"We know from our customers that the flipped learning model fosters collaboration amongst students, increases educators' availability for one-on-one time, and promotes an individualized learning experience," said John Veit, academic solutions manager at TechSmith. "Our innovative customers are spreading the word, and we're responding to requests from the marketplace for the flexible pricing options they need to expand video and visual content creation to an entire department, building, or campus."

Veit acknowledged that in the higher education environment, a college might buy a site license for all of its faculty vs. including students in that purchase. However, the company is seeing more interest also among students who are using Snagit especially to do "quick little video things" that can be included as part of a portfolio with a resume and cover letter. He said the students doing that tend to be those who have had exposure to the use of recorded videos in a flipped classroom environment, where the instructor makes lessons available prior to class in video form and then uses class time for follow-up discussion.

Natalie Scott, TechSmith's global public relations manager, added the new pricing structure is turning out to be attractive to institutions where multiple departments are already using the lecture capture and recording technology. "It's not so much that someone in purchasing decides to spend $100,000. It's more a bubbling up from an organic or grassroots level. It's more about, this makes so much financial sense for us because there are so many people using the software."