I was pleasantly surprised when I created my Snagit account and started my first screencast. While the process itself was relatively easy producing a decent finished product required a little more work. I immediately noticed that creating a script will help you sound informed and hopefully reduce the “um’s” and “well’s” that always seem to sneak into public speaking. Rehearsing was definitely required if it didn’t just occur naturally as I made an occasional mistake and had to start over. Overall, the process was relatively easy and it sparked lots of questions and ideas as to how I could use it in the classroom.

As a teacher professional development is important to stay current with proper instructional methods Screencasting is a great tool that can be used to capture professional development sessions and make them available to be shared online. Teachers can also share steps to teaching a lesson or strategy that can be archived and used when needed.  Teachers can also use “Live screencasting” to record lectures live and present them to students that missed class.Math almost always requires the student to remember and preform a series of steps. If I new a specific part of a subject area was going to be difficult for my students, I could create a step by step screen cast that could be help to guide them through the process.  Students can also create compelling digital stories for English, history, and foreign language classes.

I would also like to add that while I was finishing this assignment I ran into some technical problems.  As I started a chain of emails seeking the answers to my questions it dawned on me that perhaps a screencast would help the situation.  It took me 3 minutes to create a screencast that specifically explained what my problem was and showed how I was encountering the problem in a recorded video format.  I’ll admit I was proud of my small accomplishment and I was able to get a precise answer to my question. Three cheers for screencasting!! Hip, hip, hurray!

For additional ideas check out these websites:

http://blogs.techsmith.com/for-educators/screencasting-in-the-classroom/

http://www.schrockguide.net/screencasting.html