Thursday, September 29, 2016

Screen casts and Playlists!




As a Technology Integration Coach, I always use screen casts to create tutorials, or "how to" videos for staff at my school. Having these resources available allows staff to learn the concepts at their own pace and to reference the material at their convenience.




In the past, I created screen casts using Screencast-o-matic on my Windows computer.  While this application served its purpose, I wanted to use my Google Chromebook instead.  So, I installed the Screencastify extension on my  Google profile and used it to create my videos.  (This extension can be found in the Chrome Webstore.)

Using Screencastify on my Chromebook allowed me to create the videos easier and quicker because I was able to connect my Google account and save my videos directly on Google Drive and/or upload them to YouTube.   Having that ability really made my workflow much easier.  I created many videos and I was very impressed with this extension. If you are using a Google Chromebook, I would highly recommend installing the Screencastify extension and trying it out.

Furthermore, teachers can use screen casts to implement a flipped or blended classroom.  Creating short videos on concepts will allow students to access the resource at home and view it at their own pace.

Additionally, I would recommend creating YouTube Playlists for all of your videos.  This will allow you to sort and organize similar videos into a list.  It will be easier for your audience to view and find the videos.  For example, I created 10 videos about Google Classroom and I was able to add all of the videos into a playlist.  The playlists will show up in the Library tab in YouTube.    Having a playlist will allow you to add collaborators and share the list with your audience.

Here are the links to my YouTube playlists.  Note, these playlists are evolving.  I recommend that you subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified of updates..

Google Calendar Playlist
Gmail Playlist
Google Classroom Playlist #1
Google Classroom Playlist #2
Google Chrome