Brief thoughts and Screencasting.

[mrtimbones]

Brief thoughts on this activity and its content.

I’m familiar with some of the pieces of software listed. A major factor limiting the implementation of some of this stuff is the ruling of the IT department where I work in F2F education. They would be extremely reluctant to allow the downloading and installation of any software based solutions, so that would rule those out for me from within the institution. Also, any site that contains a link to a download is automatically blocked. Yes, it’s stifling at times and I have challenged this mentality for 10 years. Each institution has different policies on permitting downloads and installation.

As for many of us, finding or being afforded time to learn new pieces of software is extremely limited. Particularly those of us delivering HE in FE on FE hours. Typically teaching 864 hours or more per academic year leaves little time for anything else,  but that’s another topic.

As a design tutor I already spend many hours of my own time playing keep up with Adobe’s Creative Suite and so I need to learn other pieces of software like I need a hole in the head. I do try, as I don’t wish to limit developing my new skills or those of my students, but it’s just a consideration. I know from experience that I have invested much time into learning new software only for it to become obsolete far too quickly or simply be too cumbersome to learn and/or deploy.

For my online instruction I use both written documents and screencasts made using Screenflow. This is very easy to learn, use and edit. My screencasts then go onto Vimeo and within the CMS.

Tim @mrtimbones

[GraphDesProject]

Tim, I’ve just uploaded my thoughts (Living in Tech Wilderness) and have mentioned our institutional issues. As I said there, it seems that there is the assumption that everyone has smooth, unimpaired access to technology (well, the internet at least) when the truth is quite far removed – so many ideological (institutional), logistical and also affective/skills issues impede. I also wonder about designing for people – too much to complicate the real issue of learning. I had a comment yesterday about students using blogs to the effect that could they not move on to “better” technology for their portfolios. Of course, better, smoother, more effective methods (tech or otherwise) are always welcomed. But sometimes I think things are pushed for the sake of newness, not for the sake of user friendliness.

Sancha (@GraphDesProject)

[AliSheph]

 

We have some download restrictions as well – I’ve been using Articulate with Powerpoint slides, which is institutionally licensed – not true screencasting but it does what I wanted it to do, which is allow me to talk over a problem that I am solving and have this as a video for my students.  However, I tried Screen-o-matic as part of this activity.

How easy was it to understand how this tool worked?

Extremely – I watched a demo video but probably didn’t need to do even that!

How quickly and easily would you find it to use?

Very – took me about 5 mins to record practice screencast with vis aid and a nice feature was ability to link to recording of me from my webcam, so students can see as well as hear me.  I’ve not seen this on other free tools.

How could you apply this tool in your own teaching?

I can see lots of applications for it – supplementary resources at exam time, video podcasts every week to supplement classes, revision aids etc etc etc!  I notice that the max length is 15 mins which seems fine.  Other tools have 5 mins as the maximum, which isn’t long enough for what I need.

What does this tool  offer that has advantages over your current practice?

I wouldn’t have to use Powerpoint – so I could just start with an Excel spreadsheet or interactive whiteboard tool and build everything up.

Things I would need to consider are – says it works on Mac and PC, so I think that means it won’t work if I tried to record on a tablet (I have an Android tablet).  Not sure about iPad!

Also, regarding upload – if I didn’t want to make public, I would need to save as a video file – limited options in the free version, and I need to explore how these would work within our institutional VLE.  So, some homework for me!  However, subject to those limitations, I will definitely use and recommend to others.

[mrtimbones]

Alice,

I agree. Very easy to use. Your post reminded me of something that I once wanted to try and this software might make this possible. One activity that I asked my students to engage in was peer group tuition to help then to share the great range of otherwise hidden creative software skills that they’ve developed. Students could work in pairs or as individuals to present on an overhead screen, a technique of their choosing. The activity was a great success. However, what I also wanted to make were screencasts of this activity. At the time I couldn’t use Screenflow, so Screencast-o-matic might be a solution the next time.

[ElizabethECharl]

Alice – I have never used Screen-o-matic so I was very much interested in your review. It was good to hear how easy and versatile it is.  I too have institutional restrictions so when looking for tools and resources to produce learning activities it can be difficult. It is therefore reasurring to know that this is a definite alternative.

[PeterHartley]

Institutional issues and barriers have been really important in my experience as well. When I ran an educational development unit, developing a good relationship with the IT Services staff was a priority for me. This can work very well if you demonstrate that you appreciate their issues and constraints. But this does take time. From an academic tutor’s perspective I think you need make your educational development unit/team aware of what you are trying to do and see if they will act as ‘go-between’ to get software installed. For example, we managed to get cmap (free) and mind genius (not free) installed on the network and then it only needed one email a year to keep this updated.

[AliSheph]

Agree, Peter – I’ve aimed to build this kind of relationship at each institution I have worked in, and it’s usually paid dividends.  Our IT support team (not learning techs.) told me last week I had gone up in their estimation as I have an android tablet for my personal use – they took this as evidence of technological discernment (rather than cost-consciousness) I think!

[Martin Hawksey]

Something I’ve experimented with in this area is Google Hangouts On Air. This is part of Google+ and the browser does need to install a plugin for it to work so it may create institutional barriers. With Hangouts you can have private invited sessions but if you select ‘On Air’ the hangout is automatically broadcast via YouTube and a recording is also made. Within Hangouts you can share your desktop (although the quality is great and something you should be aware of). Here’s an example of a session I recorded with Marc Smith who is a Social Network Analysis expert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXLXHKnDi9s. You don’t have to have others in your hangout so if you want you can just make quick videos.

For quick ‘howtos’ where screen quality is important I use screenr http://screenr.com. It’s  similar to screencast-o-matic in only requiring java to use. I like it because you are limited to 5 minutes per video so it helps prevent rambling. When I’ve done a recording I download the video file (mp4) and upload to YouTube (there is a YouTube export tool, but I don’t like the way the account is connected in the screenr)

[suebecks]

Jumping in here to echo the comments on screencast-o-matic. It is very easy to use, something I can pass on to colleagues who find it challenging to engage with any technology.  A professor has since screencasted a presentation for an international conference he could not attend in person. I have used to create quick how tos, one take and no editing. Colleagues found them useful. My first year undergrad students have used it to capture ‘about me’ videos to go in their blog and evidence of their online group meetings hanging out in G+.  The free version gives you 15 minutes (the Pro version is only $15 dollars a year should you have the need to record something longer). As Martin says sometimes being forced to be succinct is good!

I really like the use of Google hangouts on air too. No tech to worry about as the recording and upload to YouTube is done for you! Thanks Martin for sharing yours.

Martin – On a side, is it ok for me to share this with my students? We are just discussing social network analysis on the Social Media Use in Organisations module I’m teaching to DL postgrads.

 

[ElizabethECharl]

Martin – thanks for information about Google Hangouts and screenr.com as alternatives for short videos/screencast.

[Martin Hawksey]

Share away (I think the clip is CC so feel free to remix 😉

[suebecks]

Thank you!

[jimpettiward]

Hi – just a quick word about Screencast-o-matic. We use it a lot for CPD at my institution and I echo what others say about its ease of use. (we’ve even persuaded our IT department to start using it!)  Another great feature is how easy it is to edit screencasts and add notes so users can easily skip to the relevant place in longer videos (10 – 15 mins). But if you download as MP4s or upload to YouTube these notes can’t be viewed so we’ve been simply putting the links in Blackboard so users view them directly on the Screencast-o-matic website.

One disadvantage with Screenr is that you can’t make your screencasts private. When I was looking at these tools for giving students feedback this was a reason not to use Screenr. I went for Jing at the time, which is a good tool but fiddly in terms of filetype and requires a software download. JISC has a basic guide which might be useful if you’re just starting out http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/guide/free-online-screencasting-tools

Also agree about the institutional barriers – can be very frustrating… it can be quite difficult to find a quiet space within an institution to create screencasts so I often advise staff to do them at home if at all possible. We tried using Google Hangouts but found that inside the uni we got sound but the video didn’t work… 🙁

[AnnaC]

Backing up the general thoughts on Screencast-o-matic – I think that this looks like a very useful tool for me going forward.  I teach Creative Suite PS & AI from beginner level and while I have looked for relevant tutorials on YouTube they are not always exactly right so I am delighted to find a tool where I can create my own tutorials. It will also help cut down on the repetition if students miss classes or need another refresher etc. which would free up my class time to keep moving the group forward.

We also have limits on our tech which makes something as simple as downloading a font impossible, not great for encouraging creativity but something that I have experienced in my non educatiuon based previous career as well.  Very frustrating though.

[Jillian Pawlyn]

I too am constrained by the securities and permissions regarding installing non institutionally supported technology on my work PC.

Screencast-o-matic certainly looks like a good tool, thank, Jim, Sue and others for your feedback as a users. I like the interface and found it intuitive and easy to use. I like the option of distribution via an existing YouTube account and the change to either share publicly or unlisted. If we didn’t have an alternative then this is likely to be the freeby for me.

Fortunately we have a screen capture software (Echo360)  in pilot so we will have an institutionally supported equivalent. Our capture recordings are uploaded into an authenticated environment so at the moment the default is private. Our intention is to have the option to create public viewable resources soon.

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