Screencasts are not just for flipped classrooms – but for any classroom. For a screencast, you record your voice with actions on the computer screen. You need: your computer, the best microphone you can get, and screen recording software. Screencasts are a valuable instructional tool – rather than show a dozen or more students how to do a homework problem, record the solution once, post it in Blackboard, and the students can view the solution as often as they need to. A recent study found that this is the most popular use of screencasts by students.
Mini lectures are also a common use of the screencast technology. One surprising use of mini lectures is for instructors to review the material just before class.
The study I mentioned earlier noted that students watch these screencasts strategically: they typically don't watch the entire homework solution, but just the part(s) that they need.
Several software tools are available for making screencasts. I have been showing faculty how to make screencasts with Camtasia 7.1. It has these advantages: free to UAA faculty on the keyserver; creates MP4 files or posts to YouTube; unlimited length (though shorter is better); and the ability to edit them.
I use a free screencast tool, Jing, fairly often. It's dead simple, but creates .SWF files – which cannot be viewed on iPhones or iPads – and is limited to 5 minutes of video. The files cannot be edited in Jing. There are other options for screencasts. These are the two that I use and teach.
Here's a summary of the research.
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