The Importance of Screencasts

Screencasts are videos that involve sharing your screen and allow you to record yourself explaining something. I have been a fan of screencasts for many years, but never really put them into practice until distance learning came along. This tool is important for all stakeholders: students, parents, and fellow teachers.

Students

I use screencasts primarily to help students. I have made these videos as a pre teach or a reteach for certain content areas and lessons. This was extremely helpful in the beginning before there was a set structure to synchronous and asynchronous instruction. I used these videos for majority of my lessons to accompany the work for the day. Now, I use them as a way to assist students while they are completing asynchronous (independent) work. 

Math Instruction: Fractions

How To’s: Add Images into Google Slides

Writing: Story Elements

Grammar: Common and Proper Nouns

Parents

I have also used screencasts for parents, which I didn’t expect to. I have made videos to explain how to do an assignment or as an overview of that day’s lesson so parents were aware. I’ve also used screencasts to support claims that students have not submitted their work to show parents what I was seeing on my end of Schoology. Sadly, I’ve also used a screencast to show a parent how a clever student covered up instructions on an assignment using a white rectangle. Screencasts are beneficial to parents, especially in the area that I teach, because most are unfamiliar with the tools and technology. 

Teachers

Finally, I’ve used screencasts to show my fellow teachers how to do something. This is especially helpful to those who never had to use this much technology, like K-2, and were overwhelmed with how to figure everything out. Recently, my principal asked me to share at a staff meeting how I am able to monitor if students have opened a document on Schoology. Although I can’t share that screencast here (student names), I made one to show at the staff meeting so my colleagues could get a sense of how I manage accountability during live synchronous instruction. 

If you want to try creating screencasts, the two tools I frequently use are Screencast-o-matic and Screencastify.

Post written by Co-Author Madalyn Bradburn