Screencasting
As someone who has always been intimidated by recording software, I can safely tell you: Do not be afraid of screencasting. It is incredibly easy and yet looks highly professional. If you want to impress a teacher, colleague, or your boss, use screencasting for your presentation. With the right software, screencasting takes a minimal amount of time to get up and running, and allows you to explain or give instructions while recording your screen. There are several Screencasting tools available on the internet, but the two I chose (and highly recommend) are Screencast-o-matic and Jing (by techsmith). Ultimately, I went with Screencast-o-matic, and I will explain why in a minute, but first here is my sample screencast using Screencast-o-matic explaining how to use thinglink (a wonderful presentation tool).
Screencast-o-matic took me all of about 30 seconds to understand. It's incredibly user friendly and is simple yet effective. I chose to download the screencast-o-matic software to my computer, but one pro of screencast-o-matic compared to Jing is that you don't have to download software to use it. You can create a free account, and click the "start recording" button straight from the website to begin. The software downloaded in less than two minutes and I was up and running. I clicked "launch free recorder" and hit record. That's literally it! You can chose whether you want to record just your screen, just your webcam, or both. You can test your audio and change screen size. I went with the default settings. I was very happy with the audio and the minimal amount of background noise heard. When you are finished, you hit stop, and save as a file on your computer that you are free to upload anywhere, like I did here (you can also edit if needed). IT'S SO EASY!
Jing is another free screencasting program. You do have to download the software to your computer, but it downloaded quickly with no issues. You create a free account and then a cute little sun appears on your screen at the top. If you click the "capture" button, a window pops up asking whether you want to capture audio or video. To screencast, you choose video, but it is nice to have the option to do audio only. Like screencast-o-matic, Jing is very simple and user friendly. Once you click capture video, a box of your screen pops up, and you start recording. When you are finished, you click stop (you also have the option to pause) and save. You can edit if needed, which is also pretty straight forward. The downside of Jing for me came to the audio quality. It was extremely fuzzy and sounded like I was in a cave. I had just done my screencast using screencast-o-matic on the same computer with the same microphone, so I know it was a difference with the software audio and not something on my end. The audio part of screencasting is crucial to making a professional presentation so it was disappointing that Jing had such terrible sound. If you have a high quality microphone, this might not be a problem for you.
I hope that you feel more confident in screencasting. It really takes very little time or effort but it can make a huge impact. Give it a try!
Hi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteWow, that sounds like a record, in that it only took you 30 seconds! Not for me; I found it very confusing at the beginning, having to figure out how everything worked, and where the screencast ended up after I finished. After exploring it a bit, I realized many things, but it took me a while. Your screencast is great as I didn't not about thinglink. Thanks for sharing this. I like what you mention at the end, that screencasts can make a huge impact, which is super true and I totally agree with you, specially if the screencast is about recording a lesson or giving instructions about something. You can always go back to that screencast if you need to review something you missed. Great work!
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad this was such a great experience for you! I LOVED Screencast-o-matic but couldn't get any of the other platforms to work. I tried for two solid hours with no luck; it was so frustrating. I'm glad to know I wasn't missing out much with Jing. Nobody wants their presentation to sound bad; people would be focusing on that instead of the content. Thank you for thorough and well explained reviews
I'm glad that you tried recording on Screencast-O-Matic first than Jing since it did not work so well. I also like Screencast-O-Matic and made my screencast there too. I like that we all have many options to create something simple in different tools and showcasing them to our audience.
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI love that you use a Screencast-o-matic to teach your reader how to use yet another tech tool; that is like a 2 for 1 deal. Also, I like how you talk up screencasts so that the readers feels what a large impact they can make by using such a simple program.
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteLike you, I have always been uncomfortable with recording software for some reason. I have always gotten nervous and anxiety about using it. Using Screencast-o-matic made it really easy for me to record my video and save it to my computer. This tool made me feel more confident with recording software as I was pleased with how user-friendly it was. I will definitely be using this tool in the future.
I thought creating screencasts would be a really difficult challenge, but with Screencast-o-matic, it was really easy. I also used Jing, but didn't like it as much as the other. I can see creating screencasts for library use as well as classroom use. I think it would be a great way for teachers to give instructions and demonstrate what they want students to do for an assignment or project. That way the students can go back and access the information as many times as they need to. Also, I think it is a great tool for students to use themselves. They can create screencasts sharing the steps they took to complete an experiment or activity. Also, as a librarian, we can create screencasts that model how to access a tool and use it in the classroom. These mini-lessons can be made available at any time for staff to access. There are so many ways we can use screencasts and enducation and I am glad to now know how to use it.
ReplyDeleteI also used Screencast-o-matic. I found it very easy to use and will definitely be using it again in the future!
ReplyDeleteI used Screencast-o-matic as well and found it very easy to use. I'm actually using them in my classroom right now. I create them and post them in my class page and it gives my student step by step instructions on how to log in to certain apps. Great Job!
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