Making a movie of the changes over time that are seen on the computer screen, with or without narration, is known by several titles, the most prominent being screencast. Other titles for this concept are video screen capture and screen movie. The more educators need to teach about and with digital technology, the more important this kind of movie making has become. The screencast software application becomes the camera and the computer screen is what its "digital lens" sees. A microphone also records what it hears. Screencasting is one of many kinds of movie making that can stand on its own or be integrated into other video shot and edited in other video editors. Screencast use is discussed in numerous ways in the scholarly literature. These thoughts review the variety of uses, provide examples and tutorials on different applications, and address both stand-alone screen recording applications and those included within Web conferencing software.
This type of movie is being used for several different genres of video composition:
training on how to do something at the computer from software applications to Web sites;
archiving Web conferences;
documenting particular problems and error statements with a computer;
documenting personal achievements such as getting a high score in game or simulation and the tricks required to do so;
and machinima (using computer game and simulation software to create theater acted out by the game players). Machinima is using role playing characters within a computer game or other application and recording the plot as it unfolds.
Millions of screencasts can be found at YouTube and other video sharing sites by simply typing in the name of a software application and the word tutorial. Sometimes adding a skill level helps and sometimes it reduces the number of hits too significantly. As examples, try these YouTube searches: GarageBand tutorial beginner or Adobe Flash CS5 tutorial beginner. Delete the skill level term from the end of the search string and notice how the hit count jumps.
Screencast Application Software
There are free and more fully feature commercial applications that create these screencasts. Web conference screen recording will be discussed later as a special case of such applications.
Among the many commerical applications that can be used for screencasting are ScreenFlow (Mac, tutorial) and Camtasia (Win). I have used and like both. These are professional grade and commercial applications to be installed on the local computer. They must be purchased to go beyond 30 day trial uses.
There are also ways to make decent screen movie recordings for free for both Mac and Win users without buying applications with fancier features. The application Quicktime (Mac) comes with the Mac. For Windows, Microsoft first made Media Encoder, which can sometimes still be found online. They have "retired" this program, directing searchers instead to Microsoft Expression Encoder (Expression Encoder 4 SP1, http://www.microsoft.com/expression/try-it/Default.aspx).
All interactive whiteboard applications, such as those from Smart Technology and Prometheus also include the capacity to record what is shown and said about activity on the interactive whiteboard. Their Web sites have tutorial sections that explain the step-by-step process to do this. This allows the numerous animation and special internal teaching media and tools, such as a compass and protractor, to be included in the recording.
Screencast Tutorials
Screencast tutorials about 3 of these free versions of screencasting software are below.
Quicktime (Mac)
The version of the Mac operating system beginning with Snow Leopard (version 10.6), includes an updated version of Quicktime. See Web page tutorial or YouTube screencast below. The screen recording options are found under File in its menu bar. There is a click option for full screen display.
Expression Encoder (Win)
The "New Screen Recording" command records both audio and screen actions.Windows users should try downloading the free Windows Expression Encoder. See the YouTube tutorial below for details. There is a click option for full screen display.
Jing (Mac/Win)
An online site, screencasting.com, can also be used as a server for Jing's screencasts.
For providing infinitely patient "instant replay" of how to do something on the computer screen, screencasting is invaluable.
Web conference screen recording
Web conferencing is similar to live television but has the option of using all of the media of the digital palette, just one of which is video. Web conferencing software is generally thought of as an application for live meetings, but its built in recording features are a kind of secret weapon that gives such software even more possible uses. Such recording features mean that anything that was shown from other applications and heard during the conference can be played back. That is, if you have access to a Web conferencing application, you already have a screencast recording system and may not need the other screencast applications mentioned above. This form of screencasting has its advantages and disadvantages.
Screencasting software can also be used to edit a long Web conference into short more specific useable clips, but increasingly the Web conference software provides not only the ability to record whatever is happening on the screen, but internal software to edit it as well. This generally includes a more efficient built-in screen mark up system, so that as in the example on the right, things can be circled, arrows draw, highlights added, slides advanced and text comments added in the chat window on the fly. These techniques can be done in screencasting software, but done in such a different way that knowing both provides advantages for a composer deciding on which system to use. More importantly, Web conferencing software is designed for collaboration, making it easy to include the voice and video from one or others sites in the screencast, or to include no one else and just make a solo screen recording to demonstrate the use of a particular application. Some applications allow the scene from multiple cameras to be shown at the same time.
One example is Wimba Live, but it is available and accessible only to participants of a course. A screen image of its many options is on the right, clickable to a much larger image. However, there are versions of Web conferencing software that can be used independently of Wimba, some of which have free versions. Blackboard bought two major Web conferencing applications, both Elluminate and Wimba, and has been busy merging them into a new product called Collaborate. They are providing a 30 day free trial. This enables Web conferencing connections with family members and friends outside of the class context. A search for 'web conferencing software free' will lead to many other similar applications.
There are a couple of important disadvantage to this approach to consider. One is that the control features for a Web conference can be seen as a distraction to a later playback of a recording. The disadvantage goes away if the Web conferencing software provides a way to hide (turn off) or reduce their visibility. Many do. Another possible disadvantage is that the recording software is running from and recording to a remote server, which, depending on bandwidth, can greatly slow the number of frames per second that are captured. This means that video and animation may show 1 frame every couple of seconds instead of 24 to 30 frames per second, making the video playback distractingly jerky. However, testing the situation from a particular computer can generally answer how much of a deteriment this will be for a particular situation. But as pointed out earlier, these disadvantages can also turn into advantages, paricularly if an interview or collaboration with others across the Net is involved.
Summary
Screencast applications and skills with their use are essential elements of a 21st century teachers tool chest. The products that they create can be shared with students, parents and colleagues via the Web, school building networks and portable file storage such as thumb drives (USB drives) and external hard drives. They are also not just for teacher use. As teaching something requires rehearsal and practice, having students use this software to teach what they know not only provides an opportunity to consolidate what they have learned but to provide motivation for ample rehearsal and practice. The end result is not only useful for assessment of what they have learned, but a learning object that can be inventoried for future learning by others.
Making a movie of the changes over time that are seen on the computer screen, with or without narration, is known by several titles, the most prominent being screencast. Other titles for this concept are video screen capture and screen movie. The more educators need to teach about and with digital technology, the more important this kind of movie making has become. The screencast software application becomes the camera and the computer screen is what its "digital lens" sees. A microphone also records what it hears. Screencasting is one of many kinds of movie making that can stand on its own or be integrated into other video shot and edited in other video editors. Screencast use is discussed in numerous ways in the scholarly literature. These thoughts review the variety of uses, provide examples and tutorials on different applications, and address both stand-alone screen recording applications and those included within Web conferencing software.