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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, K-12 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. Under the new pricing structure, K-12 site licensing is based on a single site location with pricing designed for up to 100 or 250 users, or more. It includes a year of software maintenance and upgrades. The FTE program is structured for district-wide usage and includes home use for teachers and students. It covers unlimited deployment of Camtasia Studio, Camtasia:mac, and Snagit, as well as software maintenance for three years. For example, under FTE pricing, licensing of Camtasia Studio for 469 full-time teachers and staff and 4,200 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 said a couple of school districts were already talking to his company about using the FTE licensing.

TechSmith products are in use at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, CA to allow students to create their own math video lessons; at William Henry Harrison High School in Evansville, IN in biology and chemistry classes; and at Clintondale High School in Michigan, where the entire school has been flipped.