What I love about this course is
that it keeps surprising me. I never thought I would successfully create a
screencast, yet here it is. Voila! I decided to include the screencast not only
because I am super proud of how it turned out, but I’m also really impressed
with how I was able to take this screencast and turn it into a usable
assignment that I can’t wait to unleash on my students.
Even though creating the screencast wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be, it definitely had its challenges. Arguably, at 15 minutes, my screencast might have been a bit too long. When I reviewed it critically, I could see where there may have been a lull, like when I was entering text. If I would have done another take, I could have tightened that up. I also wished I would have created a “screencast introduction” page on my computer that was on my screen rather than the Screencast-O-Matic website page. If I would have watched one of my earlier takes instead of immediately recording over them, I would have caught that. As a perfectionist, I also hate that it ends so abruptly. I had a perky, cute ending, but it got cut off. I’m not sure if I pressed stop too early or I ran out of the allotted recording time. So, yes, my good screencast could have been a great screencast with some tweaks, but there are still some things I did really well. For example, I thought that anyone could watch my screencast and know exactly how to use the SMORE program to complete the assignment, and I took viewers through the assignment from conception to submission. I was incredibly meticulous with my pre-planning outline, so I thought pacing and content were well done. I really took care to include overarching concepts like digital citizenship that I wanted my students to consider. All in all, not a bad effort for my first go around with this technology.
Until this assignment, I never considered all of the ways teachers could use screencasts in the classroom. From introducing new concepts in step-by-step clarity to flipped classrooms to student assessment opportunities, there really is a variety of creative uses for screencasts in the classroom.
Even though creating the screencast wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be, it definitely had its challenges. Arguably, at 15 minutes, my screencast might have been a bit too long. When I reviewed it critically, I could see where there may have been a lull, like when I was entering text. If I would have done another take, I could have tightened that up. I also wished I would have created a “screencast introduction” page on my computer that was on my screen rather than the Screencast-O-Matic website page. If I would have watched one of my earlier takes instead of immediately recording over them, I would have caught that. As a perfectionist, I also hate that it ends so abruptly. I had a perky, cute ending, but it got cut off. I’m not sure if I pressed stop too early or I ran out of the allotted recording time. So, yes, my good screencast could have been a great screencast with some tweaks, but there are still some things I did really well. For example, I thought that anyone could watch my screencast and know exactly how to use the SMORE program to complete the assignment, and I took viewers through the assignment from conception to submission. I was incredibly meticulous with my pre-planning outline, so I thought pacing and content were well done. I really took care to include overarching concepts like digital citizenship that I wanted my students to consider. All in all, not a bad effort for my first go around with this technology.
Until this assignment, I never considered all of the ways teachers could use screencasts in the classroom. From introducing new concepts in step-by-step clarity to flipped classrooms to student assessment opportunities, there really is a variety of creative uses for screencasts in the classroom.
No comments:
Post a Comment