Communication

Screencasts:

In this assignment we are focusing on the communication tools that allow us to stream information to anyone at anytime. Communication is an important skill in any leadership role and often the communication loop can be made more efficient by sharing recorded messages, while at the same time maintaining a sense of personalization and connectedness. The tasks this week are intended to provide an opportunity to experiment and play with some of the more popular forms of communication recording technologies.

Objectives:

1. Explain how Trello can be used in a school environment

2. Identify differences between the card, lists and boards within Trello

3. Promote the use of Trello for a variety of school projects

4. Understand the different techniques and functions available within the Trello program

How can Screencasts Change the School Environment

Screencasts can be used in a variety of ways within a school. Teachers can use a screencast to create a tutorial for an assignment that students will work on during class, either individually or as part of a team. Students can review the screencast in the evening and be ready to go for class the following day, especially in a blended learning classroom. A benefit of this scenario is that students can re-watch the screencast as many times as they need in order to complete the project or understand the instructions. Teachers can also use a screencast to send information home to parents.

Students can use a screencast as part of a project-based learning assignment. Instead of creating a long essay on the results of their research, they can show and explain their findings within their screencast. These can either be submitted to the teacher, or shared with the class as part of a presentation. One of the uses of screencasts that I am particularly fond of, is using them for feedback to your students; or for your students to follow-up on feedback from the teacher. I like that you are able to hear the intonation of the teacher and student's voice on a screencast. It helps paint a clearer picture of the feedback you are providing/receiving.

Screencasts also are very beneficial to teachers for professional development programs. Whether it be for instructing teachers on how to use new technology within a classroom, or for sharing best practices among teachers. By creating a screencast, teachers can watch the recording at a time that works for their schedule - for example, in elementary schools when all the students in a second grade class are in PE class, the second grade teacher could use the half hour to watch a new training video. Teachers are so busy, asking them to attend an in-person learning session is often not an option for many. In districts where the professional development is only offered in-person at a remote location, the teacher would need to find a substitute teacher and drive to the other location for a meeting. With screencasts, the teacher can watch when they have time - and even pause the video if they are suddenly interrupted.

For this assignment, I used Screencastify. However, I did a fair amount of research and have found great reviews on Screencast-o-matic, Panopto, Camtasia, Loom, and OBS Studio. I am anxious to try OBS Studio; however, I chose Screencastify because it seemed a little easier to use as a first-time attempt at screencasting.

Reflection on this Artifact:

This artifact took a little time to jump into for me. I had only completed one screencast in the past using Panopto, which I was not real satisfied with. I was a little nervous about beginning, but found that the research portion was very helpful. I took the time to review several other programs including the ones mentioned in the paragraph above, before finally settling on Screencastify. I was happy with the decision and found the program to be easy to use and edit. Although, once again, it took several attempts to get it right! In my research, I found many special features to each of the programs and look forward to the opportunity to try out some of the similar programs soon. With the pandemic and many lessons being moved to remote learning, this was a very important program to learn and become comfortable using. Additionally, I was able to talk about a program that I use a lot in my current position and think is very useful - Trello!