Screencasts

 

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A screencast is a recording of your screen.  It often includes audio of someone talking through what they are doing on the computer.  This is an amazing way to include flip teaching instruction or to reteach individual students.  It's also a quick and easy way to help staff navigate a new tech tool! I tried out two different screencast tools and made a sample video using each. 

I know that in my district, we have an account with Loom.  I work very closely with my Instructional Technology Coach, and she often uses this program to record screencasts, so I was excited to start there.  I was very impressed with how easy it was to navigate and how quickly I could get accustomed to using Loom.  I could download the Chrome extension, which made it incredibly easy to pick up where I was and start recording.  

As we are nearing the end of the school year, I want students to check their Destiny accounts to see what books they have checked out.  In this two-minute video, I walk students through their portal and show them two places to check for lost or late materials. 

The next application I tested out was Screencast-o-Matic.  Again, I am surprised at how simple it is to get started.  I was immediately able to start recording.  I like that I could go to the website, log in and record.  Quick and easy.  However, I messed up multiples times in my video and ultimately kept getting hung up at the end.  You can see how I started to stumble a bit.  This would be a part I would've liked to cut out, but I would need to upgrade my account to edit the video.  By now, you can probably guess that that is not something I want to do!

For the sample video that I made using Screencast-o-Matic, I wanted to let students know that they would be able to access ebooks and audiobooks over the summer using Sora Overdrive.    

We use screencast tools often in my district.  I personally have never made one myself up until now.  Typically, if my team is planning something, someone usually volunteers to make the screencast.  Normally, I am happy when they share, but I love that I could experience how easy it is, and I will be volunteering the next time we need to get information out using a screencast! 

I think Screencast-o-Matic has a lot to offer. Still, for the screencast battle, Loom is taking home the trophy simply because it is quick, easy, and I really appreciate the chrome extension's availability. I am not currently in a classroom, but I see this web application used many ways in the library.  I think of the reasons I used in my sample videos, explaining makerspace activities, make-n-takes, searching for books, utilizing our databases, and many more!