Speedy Screencasting

Have you heard about Educreations, a new iPad app/Web 2.0 tool that allows you to create screencasts? It is a fun lured tool that allows you create video demonstrations. You can use photos or the blank whiteboard space they provide you.

I was recently absent from my classroom for professional development and decided to give this tool a go. After the initial download it took me only minutes (10) to create two screencasts for my classroom! I created one to teach my students how to play a multiplication game and the other was q quick demonstration on multiple solutions for open-ended math problems.

A few things that I like we're that I could include images in my screencast. From online and from my iPad. I also liked that I could re-record as many times as I needed to. In addition, once the video was complete I could choose to make it accessible to the public, just my students, or only me. This made it easy for me to add the video to my How-To page.

But, here is the true hidden gem. While recording, it really made me fine tune my teaching point. When it got down to it, it took only a minute. Yes, a minute to teach what I needed to. The beauty of this, is that so much happened in that minute and because of the brevity it could be replayed as often as needed without taking up too much time. This really made me reflect on how much extra verbiage I include when teaching.

Whether or not you have an iPad, I highly recommend you check out Educreations! Another screen casting tool, Jing, that I use is perfect for creating screencasts online or on your PC. It allows you to record while working on your computer or online. I have used it to make screencasts about TweetQuests, using Evernote, and more.

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