BUYER’Sguide
Ascreencast, or video screen capture, is a digital recording of the visual and audio output
of a website or software application
that usually includes narration. Screencasting is not new. Many companies
use it to market and demonstrate
software applications. What is new
are the many easy-to-use applications
that allow educators to create their
own demonstrations and provide
professional-looking and effective
instructional videos.
With screencast software, you can
press a record button and capture your
computer screen as it changes over
time, including the cursor moves and
software choices you make. You can
narrate the video using a microphone,
then save the video and share it. Students can create screencasts and personalize them with added graphics.
Uses of Screencasts
As the flipped classroom concept
gains popularity, more educators
are providing videos and screencasts
for their students to watch at home.
Teachers use them to introduce new
topics, help students review concepts
before discussing them later in class,
and provide step-by-step tutorials.
You can use screencasts to capture
anything that plays out on a screen,
such as navigating through archives
at the Library of Congress or showing
students how to set up an RSS feed.
Students can watch the videos repeatedly, pausing or repeating sections
they don’t understand. Although it
takes time to create screencasts and
customize them for your classroom,
they can save you time when students
need clarification and review.
Editing and Advanced Features
Most screencasting software cap-
tures the entire screen. The more
sophisticated pro, plus, and prem-
ium versions include features such as
cropping, zooming, arrows, highlight-
ers, speech bubbles, and captioning.
Some programs, such as Camtasia,
have chroma key, a feature that allows
you to integrate your own image on
top of an existing video. Trimming,
splitting, and splicing allow you to
select portions of the video to
connect or edit out.
