3 Screencasting Tools Every Teacher Should Know How to Use

This week the teachers in my graduate class experimented with screencasting and video tools. It was exciting to see the creative ways these teachers used tools for a variety of purposes. One teacher experimented with Screencast-O-Matic, a web-based tool that allows you to capture your screen, use webcam to capture you teaching, or do both by capturing you teaching in the lower right corner of the screen and your screen on the remainder of the video. This teacher quickly created a screencast to demonstrate to his students how to create a Google Earth Tour. He will post this screencast at his Google Classroom site so students can view to remember how to create their tours during the Favorite Vacation project in which they are involved. You may save these screencasts on your computer, at Screencast-O-Matic, or in YouTube. I made a Screencast-O-Matic sample for you to see how easy it is to use this tool on any computer. I like the feature of the yellow circle that highlights your cursor as you teach your lesson, making it very easy for learners to follow as you explain.

The second screencasting tool we used was the TouchCast Studio app. This app provides very professional backgrounds where you can annotate a webpage, video, pictures, map, or file from Dropbox or Google Drive. You can select a background that puts you in a news studio, talk show, at the Lincoln Memorial, or any place you can imagine as you use the green screen feature to insert a picture or video behind you. Students can use this app to create a sportscast, how-to video, or review
of information covered. Think of the exciting book reports or story retellings you could do using this app! TouchCast also allows you to record screen, webcam, or both. Select from over 30 visual Apps to easily bring up websites, Twitter feeds, maps, photos, movies, files, and more! And use the screen as a whiteboard so you can add content as you present. Check out this short TouchCast I made on the current presidential debate.

And now for my all time favorite screencasting tool, Educreations. This tool was originally created as an early childhood tool to allow even young children to make their thinking visible as they write or draw on the whiteboard and simulateously record their voice as they explain what their process. As schools purchase a variety of devices for teachers and students, Educreations is available to everyone in both app and web-based formats. I know teachers who use Educreations to flip their classroom, creating a short 4 minute video to teach a lesson students view the night before, then come to class to apply their learning in creative ways. So this versatile and easy to use tool allows teachers and students to screencast. Click here for a sample Educreations video I made: Flipped Classroom video about creating screencasts.

I encourage you to take a few minutes to try out these screencasting tools, and share your videos! Remember to keep it short for maximum viewer attention, and keep in mind your purpose is to teach, not win an Academy Award! Have fun.