Chrome Can: Screencasting!

One of the 21st-century literacy skills for students according to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is to “create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts.”  What this means is that students need to be given the chance to create more than just written text.  One of the easiest ways to enable students to create in the video format is to have them create screencasts.

Screencasting software allows students to create vlogs, how-to type videos, annotated slide presentations and explain their understanding.  To learn more about how screencasting can be used in the classroom please visit this great blog post.  If you are still not convinced that screencasting is right for your classroom, check out 50 Ways To Use Screencastify in the Classroom,
it is the ultimate teacher’s guide to screencasting.

Chromebooks can be used to create screencasts.  It isn’t as hard as most people think. In fact, making a screencast on a Chromebook is super easy.  There are currently two fantastic tools available on Chromebooks that make screencast creation simple.

Screencastify

Screencastify is a Chrome Add-on Extension and can be used by any student running the Chrome browser.  It is easy to install and setup. To get it, go to the Chrome Webstore and install it.

Screencastify has the basic tools most screencasting software has, such as mouse focus, a tool to focus audience attention on what the mouse is pointing to, a pen for drawing and the ability to embed your webcam.

Here is an example of how Screencastify was used in the Spanish Class at my current place of employment.

If you want to learn more about how to use Screencastify please visit their fantastic tutorial video website. 

What is really cool about Screencastify is that it is integrated with Google Drive. So if your school is already a Google Suite for Education school, this tool fits right in!  After students sign in, their creations are automatically uploaded to Google Drive.

If you want to do more with this software, they offer a paid version.  There is also an education version for schools. 

Screencast-o-Matic

Another great tool for creating screencasts on a Chromebook is called Screencast-o-Matic.

I love Screencast-o-Matic!  It is another very easy to use tool for the Chromebook.

Screencast-o-Matic has many features that make this tool a great addition to the creative tools on a Chromebook. It is a bit more robust than other tools out there.  The following image was grabbed on their website.   Screencast-o-Matic is also available on Macs and Windows machines.  

To install Screencast-o-Matic on your Chromebook head over to the Chrome Webstore and install it or head on over to their website and launch the recorder on your Chromebook.  One of the cool features of this tool is that it is available in multiple languages.

Whichever tool you choose, you and your students will be able to create awesome screencasts on your Chromebooks!

Thanks for reading

Dr. Shannon H. Doak