Digital Tools for Blended Learning
Create Your Own Content - Screencasting
Sometimes you can't find the exact video or resource you need to teach your students about a particular topic or concept. You may decide to create a screencast - a video recording of what’s happening on your computer monitor, often with annotations and/or narration. Screencasts can be simple or sophisticated, anything from a whiteboard presentation to a slideshow to a movie-like video. Here are a few tools you and your students can use to create Screencasts.
Screencastify is a Chrome extension that allows you to capture your entire desktop, as specific application, current browser tab or just your webcam. When you are finished recording, you can share it using a shareable Google Drive link or publish your video directly to YouTube. The free vision has a 10 minute video length limit with a maximum of 50 videos per month. The premium version has an unlimited recording length and number of videos, editing features, and more saving options.
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 paid pro version is a download that allows longer videos, editing tools, and more options for publishing.
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 designed for iPads. However, it is available as an online tool through your web browser. It does require Flash to be enabled.
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. There is a 30-day free trial, however it is a subscription plan.
