What is Screencasting?
Screencasting is using a piece of software to record on-screen activities, frequently with narration, that can then be shared with an audience. Techsmith’s Camtasia is one popular tool for screencasting on which Academic Computing provides workshops, but there are a range of programs out there. When talking about screencasting, people usually differentiate between creating tutorials or instructional content (recorded in one’s office) and capturing lectures (recording a live PowerPoint talk in front of an audience.)
How One Instructor Uses Screencasts
Todd Crosset in the Sport Management department in the Isenberg School of Management uses Camtasia to capture his live classroom lectures and post them for a separate section of students who will experience the course in blended format: consuming the lectures by watching videos online via SPARK and then attending in-person discussion sections.
The process for generating the screencasts is relatively simple: Professor Crosset’s TA starts up Camtasia and PowerPoint before he gives his lecture and activates a wireless microphone connected to his computer. He then gives his lecture while Camtasia records his voice along with the visuals of his PowerPoint presentation. After class he uses Camtasia to process the video and generate a Flash video file that can be posted to SPARK.
Not only are screencasts essential to Professor Crosset’s his blended course, but they are also helpful for dealing with snow days and students with frequent excused absences. He has recently expanded his use of screencasting to use pieces from past lectures to lead into discussions or writing assignments. Many student, particularly those with learning disabilities, find reviewing materials online convenient. Professor Crosset notes that one of the downsides to screencasting is that the audio recording misses his frequent use of non-verbal cues in lecture and any other activities that don’t happen via his PowerPoint slides. He sees the assistance of a TA for helping with the recording and occasional editing as important to his success with using this tool.
Challenges
Recording good quality audio is one challenge of creating quality screencasts. Options for recording your audio will vary based on your location (office vs. classroom) and access to equipment. Some instructors make use of equipment available in the lecture halls and the built-in mic on their laptop; others find it necessary to purchase their own wireless mic for better sound recording quality. (The microphone setup in our lecture halls tend to be optimized for sound amplification to the audience, not for recording into a laptop.) Instructors creating content outside of class frequently invest in a USB headset or tabletop mic.
Delivering your videos online can also be a challenge; while Camtasia exports convenient Flash video files, other screencasting programs may require you to search for a web-friendly video export option. The process of generating the video files to post for your students can take awhile for your computer to render, so though you won’t be doing any work yourself, your computer may be occupied for over an hour to process a recording of a 75-minute lecture.
Camtasia does offer tools for doing basic editing, but many instructors quickly discover editing can be a time-consuming experience. Time spent editing will vary depending on the intended use of the content. Instructors wishing to simply deliver a recording to students who missed the class may do minimal if any editing, while those looking to create a polished instructional segment for a fully online class may find themselves tweaking and adjusting their edits for hours. One instructor who was concerned about the amount of work it would take to the edit out improper language was mildly receptive to my suggestion of “swear less if you’re going to record it.”
Example of Different Types of Screencasts
Some example of screencasts I’ve created in the past:
My First Screencast: A Review of Common Graphic Design Mistakes (4 minutes)
Recorded in a computer lab using the Windows version of Camtasia and a USB headset for audio.
Example Lecture Capture: Presentation Design (1 hour)
Lecture capture of a talk I gave in February 2010 using the Mac version of Camtasia and the built in mic on a laptop.