Monday, March 26, 2012

Screencasting for Teachers & School Leaders


I love finding tools that address problems I frequently encounter as an educator.  Using technology for the sake of using technology is not the point; when I promote tech integration to both colleagues and students I always aim to show them why it will be of educational or organizational value, how to functionally use it, and, of course, what the given service or site does.  I have recently discovered the possibilities that screencasts present, and I embedded examples of how they can be used by both teachers and school leaders to improve their ability to communicate integral information both efficiently and effectively. Both screencasts were made using Screencast-O-Matic and were uploaded and embedded using Vimeo.  I chose Vimeo over Youtube simply because the latter is currently unavailable at school.

This first screencast is a compilation of excerpts from recently submitted student essays; I provide commentary on each of the points the excerpts raise and explain how students could use the example to improve their own writing moving forward.  It's a way to quickly communicate and possibly remedy any common mistakes one sees students making as a whole.  Especially in an AP class where there is so much content to go along with necessary skills, teachers may find screencasts as a great way to save time and effectively improve writing at the same time.




This second example highlights how screencasts can be used by school leaders as a way to communicate important information to the school community, and as a way to quickly provide a visual tutorial on how to use a digital tool that some on staff may not be comfortable with.  I explain each section of a proposed expectations for student learning document as well as a brief visual explanation of how to use Google Docs and the comment feature. Tools like this allow school leaders to communicate efficiently with their entire community in a way that combines visual and auditory means.  As opposed to sending emails that get buried over the course of one day videos can remain front and center for longer periods of time, increasing the chances for more views.  For anybody interested, the learning expectations were ratified unanimously and we look forward to implementing them moving forward!



Whether you're looking to target specific skills in the classroom or communicate essential information or tutorials to your faculty, screencasting presents fantastic opportunities!