Every part You Have to Know About Constructing a Nice Screencast Video

Take heed to the interview with Kareem Farah:

Sponsored by World101 and ViewSonic

This put up comprises Amazon Affiliate hyperlinks. If you make a purchase order by way of these hyperlinks,
Cult of Pedagogy will get a small proportion of the sale at no additional price to you.

Early in March, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a domino impact of faculty closures. In a single day, educators have been pressured to rethink their instruction as they moved on-line. Fortunately, most aren’t comfy merely changing themselves with cookie-cutter, ready-made content material constructed with out the distinctive wants of their college students in thoughts. They miss their college students, and their college students miss them, so they’re prepared to place within the arduous work to make sure that their genuine instructing kinds stay intact. This shouldn’t be a shock to anybody who understands the artwork of instructing; know-how merely can’t change academics. 

One of the vital efficient methods to maneuver instruction on-line is to construct screencast movies. Screencast movies are distinctive as a result of they’re precise recordings of your pc display screen or pill versus a video of an in-person lecture. They’re a robust solution to ship instruction, however they do require a good period of time and planning, which I’ve discovered by way of loads of trial and error. Constructing efficient screencasts continues to be the barrier that stops educators from making a clean transition to distance studying, so I’ve put collectively the next suggestions to assist information you thru the method.

My Personal Screencast Journey

As an educator myself, I spent a number of years creating screencasts and making errors alongside the best way. I used to be fed up with lecturing and was decided to discover a higher solution to tailor my instruction to college students’ wants. I knew know-how might be a robust instrument to amplify my affect, however I wasn’t prepared to exchange my lectures with a disembodied voice on a display screen who didn’t know my college students. So 5 years in the past, I made the dedication to remove lectures from my classroom and change them with educational movies I created myself. This allowed me to facilitate a blended, self-paced, mastery-based classroom constructed on the spine of top quality suggestions and differentiated instruction:  

Years later, I left the classroom to launch The Trendy School rooms Undertaking, a nonprofit that equips and empowers educators to create blended, self-paced, mastery-based school rooms of their very own. By way of our in-person trainings and our Trendy Classroom Necessities* course, we now have supported academics as they discover ways to: 

• Plan and file their very own educational movies 
• Construct student-friendly web sites for educational content material
• Design efficient self-paced studying experiences for college students in any respect ranges

The next suggestions align with what we educate members about creating their very own educational movies.

Begin with the Analysis

When launching distance studying and assembly college students’ wants, it may be tempting to dive head first into educational video creation with out truly understanding what works. However earlier than you begin investing numerous hours of time and power establishing movies, it’s vital to grasp what the analysis says about cultivating engagement. 

Video Size

The analysis on how lengthy educational movies needs to be is extremely clear and tells a easy narrative: Maintain it quick. The best size needs to be below 6 minutes. Between 6 and 9 minutes, engagement drops barely.

After 9 minutes, engagement drops significantly, and in case your video is over 12 minutes, you’ve got an actual drawback in your fingers. You will need to word that almost all of those research have been performed on younger adults, so for youthful college students attempt to maintain it 6 minutes or below (Brame, 2015).

These time suggestions could make educators anxious. It may be arduous to think about how you can synthesize ideas or abilities in such a brief span of time. One of many beauties of educational video creation is it forces you to consider delivering content material in a lean manner. What is crucial? What isn’t? And the place can college students uncover the content material for themselves with out you strolling them by way of the method?

A easy solution to make movies quick is by chunking extra regularly. Educators are used to fascinated by classes in 45-, 60-, or 90-minute blocks of time. If you use educational movies, these constraints disappear. A ten-minute lecture that’s designed as a part of a 60-minute lesson will be chunked into two 5-minute movies, every of which then turns into a part of a 30-minute lesson (Ibrahim et al., 2012). 

It additionally helps to talk rapidly and enthusiastically. Lecturers are used to talking slowly and enunciating very clearly, however that’s not needed in a screencast; in actual fact, it may be fairly boring. As a substitute, converse quick and use conversational language to carry your genuine self into the image (Guo et al., 2014). Don’t fear that college students gained’t have the ability to comply with in case you converse too rapidly; they’ll at all times rewind the video and watch sections once more. And don’t be afraid to make errors—a number of of those will make your video sound extra real.  

Video Design

Subsequent let’s speak about design rules. First off, reduce textual content (Guo et al., 2014). Nothing is much less participating than an educational video with a complete bunch of typed up textual content. It’s particularly redundant whenever you merely learn the textual content through the recording. You may as effectively simply ship them a doc and have them learn it over as a substitute. When doable, at all times accompany what you say with visuals (Brame, 2015). 

Second, educational movies don’t must be fairly; they must be private. Your college students need to hear from you; in any other case you possibly can simply ship them present movies from YouTube. Analysis has proven that engagement will increase when college students know their very own instructor is behind the display screen delivering the instruction (Li et al., 2016).

Lastly, interactivity is participating. Embedding pop-up questions into your movies gives nice checks for understanding. Furthermore, accompanying movies with guided notes helps youngsters keep targeted and ensures that the data travels with them to their subsequent activity or task (Lawson et al., 2006; Vural, 2013; Zhang et al., 2006).

Don’t Neglect to Plan First

As with every lesson, good advance planning is crucial. Don’t simply discover a software program, hearth it up and begin screencasting. This often results in lengthy, dry movies that usually disregard the analysis. After we practice educators to construct educational movies, we inform them that the big bulk of the work shall be equal elements planning and recording. The remainder of the time is dedicated to enhancing your movies and sharing them out along with your college students.

Typically, planning your video means placing collectively the visuals. We discover the simplest instruments for this are PowerPoint or Google Slides: You’d design the slideshow, then current that because the visible part of your screencast whereas narrating along with your voice. Relying on the content material space, these slide decks can look fairly completely different from each other, however the very best ones are extremely visible and embrace a pleasant stability of recent data and examples, with as little textual content as doable. 

Different educators will use guided notes as a substitute of slides. You probably have already constructed a pleasant collection of guided notes that might accompany your in-person lectures, these can work very well because the background of your educational video. Whether or not you employ a slideshow or guided notes, about 40 % of the time you spend constructing your screencast needs to be spent getting ready this half.

Discovering the Proper Recording Device

In case you haven’t seen already, there appears to be an limitless stream of edtech merchandise that every one permit you to accomplish very comparable duties. That is particularly the case for screencasting, so to maintain issues easy, I’ll simply suggest a number of instruments I do know are good. When you’ve discovered these, it’s fairly simple to switch these abilities to different instruments you may need to strive. 

The massive distinction in screencasting instruments is determined by whether or not you’ve got a touchscreen machine. Whereas not required, touchscreen gadgets with styluses (tablets and 2-in-1 laptops) unleash a complete new frontier of performance. Right here is how it’s best to take into consideration the 2 choices: 

Interactive Whiteboards  

(for touchscreen gadgets solely) 

You probably have a touchscreen machine, we encourage educators to make use of screencasting instruments that function interactive whiteboards. Our favourite is Clarify Every part. The fantastic thing about a instrument like Clarify Every part is it acts like a extremely interactive digital whiteboard with a built-in recorder and enhancing instrument. Extra importantly, you get to regulate the background of your whiteboard. As a substitute of writing on a clean canvas, you’re in a position to add visuals—slide decks or guided notes—to turn into the background of your interactive whiteboard.

Right here is an instance of certainly one of my Clarify Every part movies: Unbiased vs. Dependent Variables. 

For educators trying to discover ways to use Clarify Every part and all of its instruments, you’ll be able to entry our complete tutorial on our on-line course* or by clicking immediately right here: Clarify Every part Tutorial. In case you do go this route, ensure you have a stylus to annotate. We suggest the Meko Common Stylus as a result of it’s inexpensive however permits for actually clear and clear annotations with a excessive stage of precision. 

Conventional Screencasters 

In case you do not need a touchscreen machine (most individuals don’t) then don’t worry! Conventional screencasters will nonetheless get the job executed. With the suitable planning in place, you’ll be able to create actually high-quality, participating movies. When choosing an efficient screencaster, you need to search for one that offers you a excessive stage of flexibility, sturdy enhancing instruments, annotation capabilities, and a webcam perform. An important enhancing perform is the capability to “truncate.” This lets you scroll to a selected level in a video and re-record whenever you make an inexcusable mistake with out having to redo the entire thing. 

Our favourite screencaster is ScreenPal (previously Screencast-O-Matic). It’s very easy to make use of and has all of the performance you want. The free model is okay, however the paid model is well worth the improve for the added options. Right here is our full ScreenPal Tutorial which may also be discovered on our on-line course*. There are various different screencasters on the market with comparable performance. The product does probably not matter a lot if it covers all the important thing elements; ultimately, it’s going to come right down to how you employ it. 

Since it’s troublesome to annotate or write utilizing a conventional screencaster, it’s important to make up for that lack of performance with animations; these permit you to present strains of textual content or bullet factors separately, as you’re talking, fairly than suddenly. This minimizes the stress that college students really feel to put in writing down all the pieces instantly, and retains them targeted on every level of your video as you focus on it. Slide decks which can be animated to slow-release data result in much more participating movies for college students. However be sure the animations are easy and have a goal. Keep away from flashy animations and pointless sound results; they show to be extra distracting than useful. 

Recording: The Most Enjoyable Half

After you have chosen your screencasting program and accomplished the planning course of, it’s time to start out recording. For some educators, that is nervousness producing. Do your finest to chill out; the extra genuine you’re, the higher.

Earlier than you begin, ensure you are in a quiet room and attempt to get headphones with a mic. For years I’ve used easy apple headphones with a mic. In case you are searching for a extra superior possibility, think about a headset with an adjustable mic. If you end up recording, it’s best to have one purpose in thoughts: By no means converse with out doing one thing on the display screen. 

• Interactive Whiteboard (solely when you have a touchscreen machine): When utilizing an interactive whiteboard, it is a comparatively simple activity. When doable, write on the display screen. In case you are studying textual content or photos, continuously annotate.
• Conventional Screencasters: When utilizing a conventional screencaster, this generally is a little tougher. As you learn textual content or focus on photos on the display screen, think about using your on-screen pen or cursor—simply as you may use a finger in particular person—to comply with together with the textual content. When doable, underline and circle key data. That is when animations will make your life quite a bit simpler (Ibrahim et al., 2012). 

Keep in mind to not get slowed down in little errors. After they do occur, use the truncate perform versus re-recording. In case you’re feeling nervous, think about writing out a script for your self. Communicate rapidly and genuinely and earlier than you understand it, you’ll have a strong and interesting video.

Making it Interactive

As soon as you’re executed recording your video, think about how one can make it interactive. You may construct a implausible video that follows all the suitable analysis, however with out instruments designed to make sure college students are following alongside, there’s a good likelihood they’ll inevitably try. 

Analysis exhibits that two easy methods can improve scholar engagement with educational movies:

Embedded Questions

One of the vital vital options of in-person lectures or discussions is the verify for understanding. It’s each a possibility for academics to get a temperature verify on scholar studying and an opportunity for college students to determine their very own misconceptions. The issue with most checks for understanding is that they solely have interaction a small proportion of scholars. That isn’t the case with educational movies. If you add your movies to a platform like Edpuzzle, you’ll be able to embed questions and feedback at key factors within the video that EVERY scholar has to have interaction with. We suggest that you simply use closed-response (multiple-choice) questions in order that college students get quick suggestions on their responses. If you wish to monitor responses, you’ll be able to construct lessons on Edpuzzle to trace the info. Right here’s our tutorial on how you can use Edpuzzle.

Guided Notes

A simple manner to make sure youngsters are paying consideration throughout an educational video is to require the completion of guided notes. The problem is ensuring that your notes assist studying versus being an pointless and tedious barrier. (For an summary of how you can put guided notes collectively, click on right here.) As your college students watch your movies, they need to take notes on key content material. In case you require college students to take freehand notes, you’ll find that some will flourish, however the giant bulk will wrestle. It’ll additionally lengthen the video watching expertise and in flip take away from the remainder of the lesson which is probably going extra participating. As a substitute, think about merely offering college students with copies of your slides—on paper or digitally—and permitting them to annotate these slides with you as they comply with alongside. In case you are not comfy with that, present an express note-taking mannequin for college students, similar to Cornell notes, to offer them with a transparent construction. 

The enhancing part of constructing educational movies is simple to miss. Nevertheless it ought to solely take 10-20 minutes per video and may have a serious affect on engagement.

Subsequent Steps on Your Screencasting Journey

Like all new talent value studying, screencasts require planning and observe. However with time they’ll turn into a vital instructing instrument — whether or not you’re bodily within the classroom or not. Analysis on our Trendy Classroom Fellows has proven that whenever you use screencasts to permit for self-paced studying and mastery-based grading, it considerably improves your capability to successfully differentiate instruction. 

In case you are searching for extra assets and assist by way of this course of, we can assist. For educators who wish to dig deeper into our assets, see exemplar items, or discover ways to incorporate movies into a totally self-paced, mastery-based classroom, our free on-line course will be accessed right here, which incorporates limitless entry to our content material and tutorials. 

Lastly, for any academics who need assist creating movies and operating a self-paced, mastery-based class, we provide our Trendy School rooms Mentorship Program*.  Each participant on this program is matched with an professional mentor from our Trendy School rooms workforce, who gives:

1. Suggestions on each task you submit, from educational movies to progress trackers to mastery checks
2. On-demand, 1-1 customized digital teaching
3. Three Persevering with Schooling Items (CEUs) from George Mason College upon completion

Our mentors have expertise creating educational movies for college students throughout a variety of grade ranges and topic areas, and so they stand able to share their experience. In case you’re serious about enrolling, it can save you $50 at any time with the coupon code CULTOFPEDAGOGY.

Whether or not you are taking our free course, pay for added assist, or just learn this text, we hope you’ll be part of us in utilizing educational movies to create higher studying experiences for all college students.

* Cult of Pedagogy has an affiliate relationship with the Constructing Trendy School rooms Undertaking. Though the Trendy Classroom Necessities course is free, if you are going to buy certainly one of their paid choices by way of the hyperlinks on this put up, Cult of Pedagogy will obtain a proportion of the sale at no additional price to you.

References:

Brame, C. (2015). Efficient instructional movies. Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/effective-educational-videos/

Guo, P. J., Kim, J., & Rubin, R. (2014, March). How video manufacturing impacts scholar engagement: An empirical examine of MOOC movies. In Proceedings of the primary ACM convention on Studying@ scale convention (pp. 41-50). Retrieved from https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2556325.2566239

Ibrahim, M., Antonenko, P. D., Greenwood, C. M., & Wheeler, D. (2012). Results of segmenting, signalling, and weeding on studying from instructional video. Studying, Media and Know-how, 37(3), 220-235. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ980817

Li, J., Kizilcec, R., Bailenson, J., & Ju, W. (2016). Social robots and digital brokers as lecturers for video instruction. Computer systems in Human Conduct, 55, 1222-1230. Retrieved from https://rene.kizilcec.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/li2015social.pdf

Lawson, T. J., Bodle, J. H., Houlette, M. A., & Haubner, R. R. (2006). Guiding questions improve scholar studying from instructional movies. Educating of Psychology, 33(1), 31–33. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1207/s15328023top3301_7

Vural, O. F. (2013). The Influence of a Query-Embedded Video-based Studying Device on E-learning. Academic Sciences: Idea and Follow, 13(2), 1315-1323. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1017292

Zhang, D., Zhou, L., Briggs, R. O., & Nunamaker Jr, J. F. (2006). Educational video in e-learning: Assessing the affect of interactive video on studying effectiveness. Info & administration, 43(1), 15-27. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378720605000170