Screen Recording

Reflection on Screencast-o-matic

This was my first experience using a screen recording software and I really enjoyed the screencast software. It was really intuitive and easy to use and works really well with my subject area, photography. I made myself a brief series of notes on a pad to follow along with, resized my work space and just jumped into the recording. Being able to talk through my normal work processes and explain my thinking and process as I go feels natural and easy. As a teacher who's lessons often involve technical work and moving through a routine series of steps when working with photos, screencast allows me to record as I teach or to create additional content focused on the day's lesson. This can then be uploaded to a Google Classroom or Youtube resource page for the students to reference should they forget one of the steps in their current assignment. The circle highlight over the cursor is a nice touch that makes following along to the video more intuitive and being able to pause and rewatch sections makes learning easier for those who are a little slower, get lost, or are ESL students. Of the various learning technologies we've covered so far, this one makes me the most excited. Being able to create a resource library for my students to use has huge potential benefit and allows them to essentially carry me in their pocket when working on their own. I can think of a few assignments that require a great deal of technical detail in order to accomplish with camera settings, tripods, and lighting where students might need a reference or explanation and this would be a great way to make sure nothing gets left out.