There are many tools that can be used online or downloaded to a desktop to create screencasts, and two of the most readily available and easiest to use are Jing and Screencast-o-matic. Both are user-friendly and both offer free and paid accounts. As with most online tools, the free accounts are more bare bones while the paid accounts offer more robust services and tools. The main difference between the two is that Jing offers a free download so that it can be used offline as a desktop app while Screencast-o-matic is an online-only tool with an offline component available with a paid subscription.
The offline component of Jing allows for it to be ready at a moment's notice in order to create a screencast quickly and easily. The drawback of the program is that a download is required to use the program. While I was able to download the program, my personal computer is older, and Jing would not run on the equipment that is installed. Additionally, I was not allowed to install it on my school-issued laptop, so I was not able to use Jing to complete my screencast. This first problem might befall students who work with older machines, while the second problem could be more prevalent among teachers with school-issued computers who are not permitted to install programs. With that in mind, Screencast-o-matic was my choice to create my screencast that is embedded below.
Screencast-o-matic allowed me to run an online program without a download and select what I wanted to include in my screencast. From that point, Screencast-o-matic made it as easy as pressing the record button and speaking into the microphone while navigating the Quizlet website that was featured in the screencast. When I finished recording, I was able to upload it to YouTube using the interface offered by Screencat-o-matic.
With their wide ranging uses, teachers could use screencasts for many different purposes in the classroom and in the school environment. The first use that came to mind was as a tool for flipping the classroom. Teachers can use screencasts in conjunction with Powerpoint or other slideshow presentations to create a lecture or presentation complete with narration that students can view and review at their leisure at home, in the school media center, or from their mobile device.
The flipped classroom can be a powerful tool to maximize student learning time in the classroom, and it can be used with teachers for professional learning in much the same way. Used in conjunction with a professional learning network such as Edmodo or PD360, a screencast could allow for the professional learning committee at a school to provide training on software, technology, and computer use in a format that is repeatable and can be viewed from anywhere at virtually any time. This same concept could be used with students in the classroom to provide a ready and repeatable resource for how to complete tasks that students often make mistakes in like attaching documents to Edmodo posts.
Finally, teachers could have students create screencasts of their own. An example possibility for my own math classroom is to have students create a screencast in which they explain a mathematical concept. This would allow for me to evaluate one of the foci of my class this year: for students to be able to articulate the steps in solving problems rather than simply following them through rote memorization. I might have students choose one of the processes of Algebra that we study and create a screencast of themselves solving a problem using that process.
With these and many more uses, screencasting can be a powerful tool for teachers and students alike.
Resources
Richardson, W. (2010) “Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms.” Thousand
Oaks, CA: Corwin.