Screencast-O-Matic for Teaching and Learning

When someone emails you and asks a question about how to do something on the computer, do you ever wish you could show them instead of type out your answer in an email response?  Have you ever heard that a picture is worth a thousand words?  What does that make a short, explanatory video worth?

By using Screencast-o-matic, you can save time, keystrokes, and frustration for everyone by providing a short video answer to questions from students, instructors, and others who need tech support and learning support from you.  I’ve used it to answer questions about Carmen, show students how to use a web site, orient participants to an online course, and demonstrate a procedure to create a piece of jewelry.

Screencast-o-matic is a Java-based web application used to create screencasts on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.  Specific benefits of using Screencast-o-matic over other free screen recorders are the highlighted cursor and click indicators, ease of use, the ability to add captions easily, the ability for creators to add notes and for viewers to add comments, and the fact that there is no application to download.

Go to http://www.screencast-o-matic.com and simply click the Start Recording button.  Drag the recording frame and adjust its size to the appropriate recording area on your screen, and begin recording.  Perform the actions you want others to see on your computer screen and narrate into a microphone as you work (or include system audio from the computer).  If you have a built-in camera, you can include video of yourself or something else in a picture-in-picture format.  Add a text file for captioning. Share your video with your audience.  Videos can be saved to your computer, uploaded to Screencast-o-matic’s web space, or uploaded to YouTube.

Try this out and let me know if you have questions or comments!

Screenshot of recording interface

Link to a sample screencast I created to introduce and orient participants to an online workshop.