Screencasts

 Screencasts

In the day and age of virtual schooling, screencasts have become a vital tool for teachers all around the world.  Screencasts allow the user to record their computer screen while adding narration to what is being shown.  This concept has a wide variety of applications in the classroom and library.  A librarian might want to create a screencast of how to search for books, place a book on hold, search on a database, create a proper citation, etc.  A teacher might want to record short videos to reteach a concept for students who may be struggling.  This is great for centers or guided math rotations, because the screencast video can be accessed by students who are not at the teacher time rotation.  Screencasts are also excellent tools to use for when students are absent.  The teacher can record snippets of what she taught for absentee students to watch from home.  The teacher could also record a video of them teaching a concept and email it to a substitute teacher in the event of their absence, so they can show the students while the teacher is out.  The possibilities are truly endless, so it’s no wonder screencast software has greatly increased in popularity and usage lately.  

With so many to choose from, it can be overwhelming knowing which one to choose.  I decided to do some research and try a couple out.  I narrowed my choices down to Screencastify and Screencast-O-Matic.  Both are free sites that do not require a software download onto your computer.  They are very similar in their formats, but they each had unique characteristics as well.  Below you can find my opinion on the pros and cons for each, as well as an example of a screencast made using them.  I am basing my evaluation solely on the free accounts they offered.   

Screencast-O-Matic

• PRO: There is a free version.

• PRO: The free version allows you up to 15 minutes recording time per video, which is longer than other free screencasting software does.

• PRO: You can resize the recording view to be your whole screen or only a portion of it. 

• PRO: It allows you to upload your video into Youtube, Google Drive, Google Classroom, and more.  

• PRO: You do not need to download software to use this.

• PRO: It has a “quickshare” feature, which allows you to upload it easily to various social media sites. 

• PRO: The free version allows you to trim your video. 

• CON: In the free version, it does not record any sound coming from your computer, only your voice (narration).

• CON: The process of saving your video can be confusing. 

• CON: It takes quite a while to process and save your videos.  

Screencastify

• PRO: There is a free version.

• PRO: The app is user-friendly and quick to learn. 

• PRO: There is a Chrome web extension, which makes it easily accessible.  

• PRO: You can use this with multiple monitors.  It allows you to select the screen you wish to record.  

• PRO: It automatically saves the video to your Google Drive. 

• PRO: The free version allows you to trim your video.   

• PRO: It is easy to upload these videos into your Google Classroom. 

• PRO: You do not need to download software to use this.

• CON: The free version only allows you up to 5 minutes recording time per video, which is quite short.

• CON: The Chrome extension tends to glitch quite a bit.  It took six tries for my video to finally save!

• CON: The free account only allows so many screencasts in your account, so you will eventually have to delete some to make new ones.

Overall, Screencast-O-Matic and Screencastify are so similar that it’s hard to say one is truly better than the other.  Both can be used for anything your mind can think up and are fairly easy to use.  However, I think Screencastify is only useful for short snippets since it limits the videos to 5 minutes or less.  It could be used for short reteaches, how-to videos, student presentations, but the 5 minute limit really constricts what you can do beyond that.  Screencast-O-Matic, on the other hand, allows you up to 15 minutes recording time per video, which I find more practical.  This allows you to record mini lessons, narrations to slideshows, longer student presentations, and more.  Based on the ability to create longer video content with it’s free version, I would ultimately choose Screencast-O-Matic over Screencastify.  However, you really can’t go wrong with either.