What lessons work well with Camtasia?

I've had the best success using Camtasia for projects in the computer lab, especially projects that have multiple steps to remember. At Edgerton Middle School, I used Camtasia for lessons involving Adobe PhotoShop and Microsoft FrontPage for 8th grade students. I'll see if I still have these files so I can post them if possible.

The PhotoShop lesson involved making a slide show set to music on the topic of pollution. Students put text on the images, either to describe the image or to match the song lyrics (the song choices were all related to pollution of the earth). The FrontPage lesson was about (what else) making a webpage.

In both cases, there were many steps for the students to follow, and these were both multiple day projects in the lab.

I've tried making paper handouts for these types of lessons, as well as using an LCD projector to show all the steps and keep everyone "together". While both of these methods work, there can be problems.

Middle school students don't really like reading directions on paper, they like to be shown what to do. I spent hours making detailed direction sheets, with screenshots, arrows, text boxes, etc. Sometimes it's difficult to put directions into words. Needless to say it's frustrating to put in the time to make written directions and then have the students not wanting to use them.

Having them follow along with me via the LCD projector has its issues as well. Not all students are paying attention, leading to some getting many clicks behind. There are hands in the air from students that miss something. Repeating directions on the LCD screen leads to bored students that "got it" the first time.

Making video tutorials helped both of these issues. Students were able to "watch" me do things. They could learn at their own speed, and rewind the video to see certain parts again if needed. They were also very focused on their work as they had headphones on, listening and following along to the video.