Screencasts

Screencasts are a fun and easy way to allow people to actually "see" what you're talking about.  I am a notorious visual learner and need to see something in order for it to completely process into my brain.  When asking for directions, don't tell me to travel North or South, please just tell me where to turn once I reach the corner McDonald's.  Because of this fact, I was excited to learn a little more about Screencasts and how to use them.  I started off by using Screencast-o-matic.  I'm not thrilled about the name, but it was by far, my favorite.  I was able to quickly record myself and get my message across and it gave me a good 15 minutes to explain what we were going to do using Animoto.  I truly believe my students can navigate Animoto and create book reviews or book reports.  It would take some time, but with Screencast-o-matic, we can do anything.

Now, for some reason which befuddles me, I cannot use the embed option when inserting into Blogger sometimes.  I have tried over and over again and finally just uploaded my videos onto YouTube and embed from there.  I've become aware that I'm not the only one with this problem, but it is what it is.  I included the link when I created the second Screencast using Jing.  While using Jing seemed liked a good idea, I was a bit concerned that I needed to create another account using Screencast.com in order to share the video.  First, I had to upload the video and then try to share it via link or embed.  The dreaded embed option.  Jing is constantly reminding me that it's there...staring at me with its big yellow eye in the middle of the screen, very Sauron-esque like.  That's a major difference between Screencast-o-matic and Jing.  Screencast-o-matic is that faithful friend that hangs out when you want it to, it's not lurking around watching what you're doing every second of the day.  It's kind of a creepy stalker.  Either way, Jing gave me 5 minutes to record my website explanation and I felt a bit rushed and definitely needing to do more.  I realize that in explaining the website, Biblionasium, I was going to require more screencasts or perhaps use Screencast-o-matic since it will give me more time to explain it thoroughly.  After 3 hours trying to upload my Screencast using Jing, I finally had to insert the link.  There were countless ways I tried to embed the video on the blog, but no can do.  This was terribly frustrating.

Jing through Screencast.com

http://www.screencast.com/t/A67DH3QRYKj

Sadly, I did not get to use Screenr.  It seems I got to it a little too late and received this message upon opening the site.

I think I might have liked Screenr. 

Regardless, I prefer Screencast-o-matic.  The name could be better, but it was easy and convenient and maybe a bit simple, but it definitely does the job.