1.2 Screencasting

Figure 4.3 All you need for screencasting is your laptop or computer and a microphone.

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A photograph of a person recording audio to their laptop with a microphone.

Figure 4.3 All you need for screencasting is your laptop or computer and a microphone.

A screencast is a recording of what you are doing on a computer screen, with a voiceover, which is then published online or sent to your audience. It is ideal for demonstrations where viewers benefit from seeing something being done. Learners can replay screencasts as often as they wish and can pause and rewind them.

Free screencasting tools, and free trials of paid-for tools, are available, although these may be limited in terms of the length of recording that can be produced, and sometimes the finished recordings contain a watermark advertising the tool used. Paid-for tools offer a much greater range of features and flexibility in output. Try these out first and see if it would be worthwhile to purchase a licence. Camtasia and Adobe Presenter are examples of paid-for tools, both of which offer a free trial at the time of writing. Wikipedia hosts a list of screencasting software [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] that includes many free and paid-for tools.

Activity 4.1 Demonstrations of screencasting

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Watch these two short screencasts. The first provides tips for using photo-editing software, and the second demonstrates how to screencast using Google Meet.

It is not the subject matter of these clips that you need to note here, but the possibilities for your context. Are there are any elements of your work that might be explained or demonstrated effectively through screencasts? Make a note of some ideas for suitable topics in your own department.

Screencast 1: Quick tips in Photoshop Lightroom

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Transcript

NARRATOR:

Welcome to The Open University video tutorial designed to supplement the module T189 Digital Photography.

In this video I want to show some of the quick keys that you may use, making Lightroom easier to control. Let's start with the ‘Tab’ key.

• Pressing the ‘Tab’ key removes the side panels if they are distracting you when you're looking at one of your images.

• ‘Shift’ ‘Tab’ removes all the panels enlarging your workspace to view the image on the screen.

• The ‘F’ keys – F5, F6, F7 and F8 – also turn the different panels on and off.

• The ‘L’ key operates what is basically a fade of all the panels around your image. Pressing the ‘L’ key cycles through, lights dim, lights out and lights on.

• The ‘I’ key cycles the information shown over the image: nothing, date and size of image, and lens type and camera settings.

• The last one I want to look at is that the side panels. Having multiple panels open can clutter your workspace. Right click on a title and choose ‘solo mode’. When you click on a sub-panel the other panels close up.

Take a look at the top menu to see what other quick keys are available.

This completes this quick-tips tutorial.

Get more from The Open University; check out the links on screen now.

End transcript

 

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Screencast 2: How to screencast with Google Meet

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Transcript

HANS TULLMANN:

To screencast with Google Meet, here's what you do:

• You go ahead and start a Meet.

• Once you're in your meeting you're going to click ‘join now’ and, in order for you to screencast you're going to need to record the session. So, click the three dots and click ‘record meeting’.

• Ask for consent and click ‘accept’.

Now, notice I don't have any guests in my Google Meet, and yet in the top left corner it says I'm recording even though I don't have anyone here.

Now that you see the red recording button in the corner, you can now present your screen.

I'm going to click ‘present’ now on the bottom right. My entire screen. Select this, click ‘share’. You're going to see this tab go black and it says, ‘you're presenting to everyone’ and I'm recording.

So now I can go to a Google Slideshow. I can click present and here's what's going to happen:

• It's going to record my slideshow.

• It's going to record the audio from my voice so you can go through your slides. If you play video, they may not be able to hear it.

In addition to Google Slides, you can also take your audience to any other place on the internet and give a narrative about anything you want. For example, I could take you to my Google Classroom and show you what I posted for my announcements; I could go into class work and I could explain what I did for Week One; what I did for Week Two; I could open any of these assignments, read you the description, show you the resources I've attached, and so on. You could give a mini tour of pretty much anything on the internet.

But let's press exit; let's press ‘stop sharing’. Now I'm no longer sharing my screen, but I'm still recording and now I need to click on the three dots and stop recording. I'm going to click ‘stop recording’ and the recording will now be saved in my Google Drive.

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Comment

Screencasts can be very effective for explaining or demonstrating certain concepts or topics. This activity should prompt some thoughts about elements of your own work that might make good subject matter for screencasts. Screencasts vary depending on the subject matter; if you think there is potential in your context, then it is worth trialling some of the software listed as this can be a very powerful tool.

A related approach of sharing the screen during a ‘live’ video call is possible using many modern video conferencing tools. However, if this is not recorded it will not be available for later use in the way that these screencasts are.