Creating a Screencast with ShowMe

Reflection - Part 1 - Screencasting is a great way to change and supplement my current teaching style. It can be used simply as an alternate method of delivery, but one that will catch the attention of the students. They are very interested in something that is different than the normal methods of delivery. I also like the fact that the screencasts can be presented even when I am not available. The screencast can also be linked to my webpage so that students can view it independently and can refer back to it as often as needed for reinforcement.
Reflection - Part 2 - There are many ways that screencasts could be used in the classroom. One idea is to have my older students create screencasts for the younger students teaching them about logging on the computers, maneuvering about our school's webpage, or describing the parts of a computer. This would also give me the opportunity to to assess older students' knowledge. Teaching others is a great way to prove what you know. A second way I could use screencasts would be to set up instructional videos about the technology lesson of the day. When students arrive, our class could run like an online experience, where instructions would be received through the webcast, and then students would work to complete the assignment described to them. My third screencast idea focuses on my library classes. I would love to see my older students design screencasts describing non-fiction text features. Students could identify features such as table of contents, index, glossary, labels, captions, maps, citations, etc. They could take pictures of the features in texts, narrate the way they found the feature, and then annotate the text to identify each part. This would be an example of augmentation. The technology would act as a substitute for showing what was found, but it could done in a creative and detailed way.

Explore Screencasts

     I used the ShowMe app to search technology videos. The two that I have included in my post are lessons that I could use in my technology classroom. The first is a step-by-step lesson in creating QR codes. The second one is a lesson instructing others how to print a document from Word. I am not sure who created the videos, but I believe they were done by students. Both of the screencasts were effective. They were only 1-2 minutes long so the points were made quickly. I felt that I would be able to follow the instructions to complete the task described. But the QR code screencast did not use any narration which took something away from the instructional value. I also don't like how long it takes for the creator to annotate. I think time is wasted while I watch the words spell out one letter at a time. The printing screencast was better, because it combined narration, media, and annotations. Her directions were clearly spoken, she used screenshots from the computer and annotated the specific areas she was talking about.
Reflection - Exploring the screencasts was very beneficial. I really liked using ShowMe more than Educreations because I had many more examples to choose from. I was also able to enter in my own search terms instead of searching the main headings. The screencasts not only gave me a better idea of what a screencast should look like, it also gave me some great ideas of ones that I would like to create myself. I was able to see how important clear narration can be. I was also able to get better ideas of how to make the annotations work in an effective manner.