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INTRODUCTION

Have you ever wanted to show someone how to navigate a web tool, use the library catalog, record instructions for a class lesson so students can review them later, explain how to solve a math problem, or help someone fix a computer problem? Or have you had to show way too many people the same steps over and over?  Screencasting tools let you make short recordings of your computer screen to share with others. And Screen Sharing tools let you quickly share a computer screen with others in real time. Handy for troubleshooting.

Screencasting

Screencasting tools record whatever is happening on your computer or mobile device screen and most let you record a voice narration as well. When you’re done recording, you end up with a video. What you can do with the video depends on the tool you used, but most common options include uploading to YouTube, downloading to your computer, share via email or embedding on a website.

These are terrific tools for students to learn to use as well. Students can use screencasting to demonstrate mastery of tech tools, to create narrated presentations, teach skills to others and much more.

Screen sharing

Screen sharing tools don’t record your screen activities, they’re more like a live meeting where you’re sharing your screen with a limited group of people. This is helpful during online meetings, webinars and when you’re trying to troubleshoot someone’s computer problems. If you’ve ever had a tech support person “take over” your computer to help you solve a problem, then you’ve experienced screen sharing.

Articles, Resources

• Technology in the Classroom: Why, How to Screencast – Cover lots of examples of how to use screencasts with tips for creating them. (list of specific tools is a bit out of date though)
• How to Screencast in 3 Easy Steps
• Screencasts Turn Students into Digital Teachers
• Eight Options for Creating Screencasts on Chromebooks – Free Tech for Teachers roundup of 8 different tools for Chromebooks.
• How to Create Screencast GIFs – Fun way to create very short GIFS to demo a skill.
• Overview of Screencasting Apps for Mobile Devices -Handy list of 20 free & low-fee screencasting tools for various devices: Desktop, iPad, Android, Chromebook
• Create Killer Presentations with Explain Everything
• Loom: Screencasting and sharing so simplified! – Handy chrome extension for creating screencasts.
• Students Teaching Teachers with Screencast-O-Matic

• TIPS
  • Keep your screencasts short! 3 minutes is a good goal! Shorter is better.
  • If you need more time, chunk the content into tiny pieces. Ten separate short 30 second screencast will be more useful than one very long screencast.
  • You don’t always need to be perfect, don’t spend hours creating screencasts. People understand if there are a few “ums” or other stumbles in your narration.
  • That said, a bit of planning can help enormously. Run through your demo a few times, so you know what you want to show. And if need be, write some notes for your narration. Whatever works best for you.
  • The more screencasts you create, the more confident you’ll be and the easier it will get.
  • Use closed-caption options if available. Accessibility is important.

USES

• Create lessons for flipped classrooms.
• Students can use screencasting to share the work they’re doing on an iPad or computer.
• Short screencasts to explain how to use a tool. Embed on website where needed.
• Create a screencast in response to a request for help. Email the link to the screencast.
• Handy for recording a presentation. Bring up your slides on the screen and use a screencasting tool to record your slides and your voice as you give presentation.

SELECTED TOOLS

There are tons of tools & apps for different devices. These are just a few of the tried and true ones.

Screencasting

• Screencastomatic – (Free and Fee) – This tools runs from a web browser window and can be used to record anything on your computer – desktop apps and web browser windows. Works on Chromebooks now as well by simply visiting this screen recording page. Free account is limited to 15 minute videos, which is plenty of time for most uses. Closed Caption feature included with free and pro accounts. With the free account, the videos have a watermark. Mouse clicks are highlighted with a yellow circle.  Pro account is only $18 year, with lots of additional features.  (TUTORIALS)
• Screencastify – (Free and Fee) Similar to Screencastomatic. Runs from a website and records whatever you have on the screen, both in your browser or on your desktop. Has extensions for Chrome & Chromebooks. Recording limit of 10 minutes, which is usually more than enough.  Premium plan with longer recordings removes the Screencastify watermark and other features is $24/year. Education bulk pricing.
• Loom – Free. Runs as a Chrome extension on Mac, PC and Chromebooks. Records your computer screen, your webcam or both!
• iOS –  iOS 11 has some new screen recording features built right in.
• Google Slides (or any other slide software) – Take screenshots of what you want to explain. Annotate them as needed. Pop them into a Google Slides document (or powerpoint or other slides program). Put the your Slides program in Present mode and turn on your screencasting app to record your audio as you go through the slides.
• Gyazo GIF – (Free and Fee) The free Gyazo account can be used to create a very short screencasts that loop, essentially GIFs. Use it to create a very quick demo or to record a few screen shots strung together. Kasey Bell explains Gyazo GIF in How to Make Screencast GIFs
• Explain Everything – (Free and Fee) An iPad whiteboard app that lets you write and draw and record what you’re doing.
• EduCreations – (Free and Fee) iPad app that helps you capture screenshots, annotate them and record your voice. Great for students to show their work to you. And for instructors to record help files and lessons for students.
• Airserver and Reflector – Try out a free trial of these tools for broadcasting and recording from your iPad
• Hangouts on Air with YouTube Live – Using the screen sharing function, you can record what’s on your screen and talk at the same time. You can broadcast live if you like, or create a private recording.

Screen Sharing

• Appear.in – Really simple & free video conferencing tool for up to 4 participants. Web based, no accounts needed. Screen sharing works in Google Chrome.
• Google Hangouts – Need to show your screen to someone? Or do they need to share theirs? Google Hangouts is a quick, easy way to do that. You can have up to 10 people in a hangout.
• ScreenLeap – Share your screen with others. Very handy for troubleshooting a problem on a remote computer. Free account limits your sessions to 8 other people and up to 1 hour a day. Pro accounts available.
• join.me – Similar to ScreenLeap. Share your screen with up to 3 participants using the free account.

LEARNING ACTIVITY

• Explore some of the articles and tools.
• Choose a screencasting tool and make a short screencast to demonstrate that you know how to use it.
• Or test out a screen sharing tool and invite someone to test it with you.
• For your blog post:
  • Share your experience testing out a new tool.
  • Link to your screencast if you made one.
  • How might you use them with your students?
  • How can you use them yourself?

*TURNING IN YOUR ASSIGNMENT

• Write & publish your blog post.
• Copy the URL (webpage address) for your post.
• Return to your Google Classroom, find the assignment page for the lesson you just completed and follow the directions for turning in and sharing your work.

*Only for students participating in the workshop for PD credit hours through the Google Classroom.

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