
By Teachers, For Teachers
A screencast is a video recording of what’s happening on your computer monitor, often with annotations and/or narration. It can be simple or sophisticated, anything from a whiteboard presentation to a slideshow to a movie-like video.
With Common Core's emphasis on understanding and explaining tasks, technology in the classroom screencasts are a great way for both students and teachers to share the required steps in completing a math problem, collaborate on close reading, or pursue any other literacy activity.
Your technology in the classroom screencast tools may be web-based, software, or a browser add-on, and include some or all of the following:
There are a lot of reasons to use screencasts:
Once you've selected your preferred tool for screencasting, here are tips to make it easier and more effective:
While there are too many technology in the classroom tools to mention all of them, here are the seven most often considered the best-in-class. Still, none provides everything so evaluate them against your needs. I've started for you by noting cost, what digital devices they work best on, and suggested age group:
Freemium
Educreations is a virtual whiteboard for direct teaching or explanations, complete with colored ink choices and the ability to import images. The program is easy to use, even for students, and you can save finished videos to your teacher account as well as the Educreations community. Screencast as you draw, add text and images, and share the completed whiteboard instantly.
Educreations is best suited for any age group and is designed for iPads.
Freemium
Explain Everything is a whiteboard app where you can show step-by-step actions, add videos, images, voice-overs, audio files, notes, annotations, and more to clarify the message, and then export as a video or an image. Use it to design a lesson collaboratively, record student projects, and make presentations. The lesson canvas is infinite (think Prezi), allowing any number of pieces to be included and then zoomed in on to display. Once a project is complete, it can be uploaded as a PDF, an image, or a video to most major digital portfolios.
Best suited for any age group and is designed for iPads.
Free
Google Hangouts on Air (run through Google+) is a virtual meeting room that allows for group get-togethers, screensharing, Q&A sessions, and more to be posted instantly to YouTube. It can be available to select participants or public viewing, depending upon the settings you select.
It is best suited for any age group for viewing, late middle school and up for creating. It works on the web, with Chromebooks, and on mobile devices, but beware: Each is a bit different with varied set-ups. Before using Google Hangouts on Air, review its application to your digital device.
Free
Jing is simple screensharing with no bells or whistles to complicate the activity. You simply start the program, share whatever you are doing on your screen with viewers. It is intuitive to use, and the completed screencast can be shared via Jing's Screencast.com site (with a link) or saved to a local drive as a .swf file.
It is best suited for any age group for viewing, upper elementary and older for creating. It is available only as a software download, though TechSmith (the creator) has other options that work nicely on Chromebooks and a browser.
Fee, free
Screencast-o-matic is one of the easiest and most popular screencasting programs in classrooms. Its free version is robust, records up to 15 minutes, offers a highlighted mouse and an inscreen webcam picture. You can record directly from the Screencast-o-matic website, requiring no installation, registration, or download. The fee version is a download that allows longer videos, more options for saving, and the ability to store videos on their server.
Best suited for any age group for viewing, upper elementary and older for creating and is designed for web use, computers, or Chromebooks (if using the free web-based version). Record directly from the internet or through downloaded software
Free
Screenchomp is a perfect choice to test out screencasting. It's intuitive to use, with an uncomplicated screen and clear tools for drawing and recording student voiceovers, making it easy for both teachers and students. The completed video can be saved to the device or shared via a link.
It’s best suited for lower elementary and is designed for iPads.
Free
ShowMe is an interactive whiteboard app that allows drawing, handwriting, text, and voice-over. Users construct a series of linked slides (think slideshow), save them as a video, and then share with others either publicly or privately. The learning curve is shallow and intuitive for anyone who has used iPad apps in the past.
This one is best suited for any age group for viewing, upper elementary and older for creating. It is designed for iPads.
**
Review these and then pick the one best suited to your class. Once you start screencasting, you'll wonder why you didn't try this sooner.
More about classroom tools:
22 Digital Tools You Must Have in Your Classroom
3 Whiteboard Apps for Teachers and Students
3 Organizational Apps to Start the School Year
Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-8 technology for 15 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, CSG Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, CAEP reviewer, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and a weekly contributor to TeachHUB. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.