Creating a Screencast

We are studying Cool Technology Tools in class this week.  For this unit, each person in the class chooses one Cool Tool, writes a SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats) analysis about the tool, and then creates a screencast discussing the analysis.  I signed up very early and chose Twitter as my Cool Tool.

I had a surprisingly good time creating my screencast.  I thought it would be daunting at first, but I enjoyed researching Twitter's strengths and weaknesses.  The part that was most difficult was that I had to record my screencast several times because I would tend to stumble over my words and make mistakes.  It was very frustrating! After about 3 or 4 tries, I got myself down to minimal errors and then posted the final product.

I learned that screencasts themselves are great ways to instruct others about how to do something on the internet without actually being there to show them.  This is why the majority of instructional videos on youtube are in the form of screencasts.  They also provides a great visual versus a podcast, which is strictly audio.  By using screencasts, not only could I instruct my students about certain tools and websites, but parents would also have the opportunity to be informed.  The only complication would be that the students and parents would all need to have internet access in order to view the screencasts.

My screencast of Twitter can be located here: Twitter Screencast