Thing 21 - Screencasting

1. For my Screencasting lesson I will be explaining how to use the Creative Commons to add a license to a website.

2. I sent the link to this screencast to the other computer teacher in my building because I was sharing some information about the Creative Commons with them about a week ago and they were interested in using it for their classes as well.

3. The screencast that I created can be found at this link: http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cXhj0dbyG

I found the Screencast-o-Matic tool to be a very easy tool to work with. I have used Camtasia and Jing in the past and both of these tools work very well for this same process, but I figured it would be fun to try something new. In working with Screencast-o-Matic I had no problem with creating the recording or using the website; however, I do think that using the 2 button keyboard combinations to pause and end the screencast can be a little clunky when you are trying to end your screencast or pause it quickly.

I feel like screencasts can be very useful tools for teachers and students because they allow the viewer to watch a process over and over again at any time. Though I do not always love recording myself and creating videos, I am getting more and more comfortable with the process. Ultimately, I think I have learned not to be quite so picky with my final product. I used to get hung up with trying to create the perfect video with not fumbling or mistakes, but that can become very time-consuming and sometimes I think it is alright to have students or teachers to watch you make a bumble or two on the screen.

As far as feedback for my video went, the other teacher at my school thought that it looked good. There were a couple of points where I referred to what I was doing and you could not see it on the screen because I was using keyboard commands and she thought that maybe I could explain that in the video so that the user can understand how those processes were occurring (example: copying text by using Ctrl C) Other than that one critique, I felt like my video turned out all-right.

I will continue to create more screencasts in the future. I like to use them for showing processes for both student and teacher learning. Our school will be using an updated version of a teacher gradebook next year and I am certain that I will make a screencast for showing teachers how to setup that gradebook and work with it. There are also simple things like installing printers, navigating the network, etc. that often raise questions that could easily be answered with a screencast. In the future I also hope to do more with using video lessons as homework. I would like to try to flip the classroom on some occasions and see how that goes.