Screen Casting

Screen casting is when you capture your computer screen in a video format to share with others at a later time. This is a fantastic way to instruct others on how to do things on a computer. I've been using screen casting for years now to show people how to do things on their computer so I don't have to re-demonstrate that particular task over and over. Screen casting is nothing new, it has been happening for a while- what is new is how easy it is and the vast amount of content that has been created. For a more technical explanation check out the wikipedia page about screen casting.

There is a screen cast for almost everything now. If you know where to find the screen casts- you can teach yourself how to do almost anything on the computer without paying for an instructor. Some of my favorite sites for screen casts (and many other instructional videos) are ehow.com and howcast.com

I recently found two great tools for free screen casting: CamStudio and ScreenCastle. CamStudio is a program that has been around for a while and has been used a lot. I've encouraged my students in the MED class I've been teaching to use it. Screencastle is my new favorite free tool. It is very easy to use and requires almost no technical skill to do it- and as soon as you are finished using it- it is live on the net. There are a few drawbacks such as it makes every screencast available to the world. It also does not have the ability to delete the junky stuff you upload. Below is a video of how to use it from the Screencastle website.