Universal Design for Learning tip: How to screencast reading accommodations and scaffold reading strategies with screencast-o-matic

Screencasting is a great way to make test reading accommodations more visual and engaging. Screencasting can also be an effective way of scaffolding a reading assignment by previewing the text, demonstrating a reading strategy, and modeling how good readers attack a challenging text. 

My favorite free tool for screencasting is http://screencast-o-matic.com/. With just a few clicks you'll be recording your voice, your cursor movements, and all the action on your computer screen. 

Unlike verbal reading accommodations, I've noticed that students are more engaged by the screencast recordings and tend to pause and review the recordings more than they would ask me to repeat myself. The recordings also provide students greater autonomy over the pace of the reading. 

In my old school we even started providing screencast and audio recordings as an option for all students. It became a universal support, destigmatized the accomodation, and became an embedded practice for supporting all instruction, not just assessments.

Edmodo overview video with embedded formative assessment using the new quiz feature in Camtasia 8

I wanted to share this 7 minute introduction to Edmodo that I recently created using trial copy of TechSmith's newest version of their screencasting software Camtasia 8. Previously, Camtasia provided the option to embed assessment questions into their videos, however, the results could not be collected by the video creator. In this newest version of Camtasia the results are e-mailed nightly to the creator or an e-mail recipient selected by the creator as a spreadsheet file. This could be a fantastic way to promote active viewing within the video and determine how well the information is being received.

Feel free to check out the video below to see how the embedded assessments function or to learn more about the basic features of Edmodo. You can select the option to skip the quiz if you like by clicking on the "watch video only" link. Enjoy!

Getting Started with Educreations and Screencast-o-matic

Getting Started with Educreations and Screencast-o-matic

Educreations - http://educreations.com

Educreations is a recordable interactive whiteboard that captures your voice and handwriting to produce amazing video lessons that you can share online. Students and colleagues can replay your lessons in any web browser, or from within our app on their iPads.

Educreations works on both the iPad and on any internet browser.

FAQ - http://www.educreations.com/faq/

Educreations iPad app - http://goo.gl/jHwu8

Highlights

• Insert images and screenshots from the web to create narrated/annotated guides and tutorials.
• Create multiple pages for longer presentations (tip: pause recordings to preload images or draw annotations.
• Tutorials can be shared privately with students, by school, or with the whole world.
• Publicly shared screencasts made by other educators and students can be viewed, linked to and embedded in a class website.

Tips

• You cannot start over or re-edit a screencast once you begin recording. Be prepared and don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.
• Keep your presentations brief and engaging (your voice is a critical component)

Screencast-o-matic - http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/

One-click screen capture recording on Windows or Mac computers with no install for FREE! Record up to 15 minutes.

Screencast-o-matic is great for creating screencasts of powerpoints, TI-emulator tutorials, NCTM applet and Geometer’s sketchpad activities, and narrated directions or test accommodations.

Getting started video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4rk5ACdGk4

Highlights

• No account required (Great for quick use with students). However the free account lets you store and link to your files online as well as upload to youtube automatically.
• Capture anything on your computer screen and your webcam.
• Pro-version is only $15 for one year

Tips

• You cannot start over or re-edit a screencast once you begin recording. Be prepared and don’t worry if it isn’t perfect.
• Keep your presentations brief and engaging (your voice is a critical component)

Other screencasting resources

Kit’s screencasting website - https://sites.google.com/site/mctmmultimath/

Other iPad apps for sreencasting

• showme (FREE)- http://goo.gl/2MKKf
• screenchomp (FREE) - http://goo.gl/mQV3r
• explain everything ($2.99) - http://goo.gl/ZkhJb

Other screencasting software and websites

• Screenr (FREE) - http://screenr.com
• Camtasia ($299) - http://goo.gl/JRpFE

Upcoming PD:

• http://sccresa.org/toolsforschools/professionaldevelopment/workshopcalendar/
• June 26 iPads for beginners, June 28 iPads for intermediate, July 24th No more Death by PowerPoint, July 25 Cooperative Learning with or without and iPad, July 26 Blended learning with edmodo, August 9th screencasting for the classroom, August 14 iPads for beginners, August 16 iPads for intermediate

Kit Hard

Education Technology Consultant

St. Clair County RESA

hard.kit@sccresa.org

810-455-4121

website/blog: http://edtechkit.com

Using the iPad's zoom accessibilty feature to enhance screencasting apps like showme and educreations

Showing greater detail or handwriting text on iPad screencast apps such as educreations, showme, and screenchomp can be difficult. This tutorial shows you how to use the iPad's accessibility features to zoom in and out of your screencast canvas and provide greater levels of detail in your tutorials.

Screencast: Testing Camtasia and Audioboo at the same time

This was a test of running Camtasia and Audioboo at the same time for the purpose of making a training tutorial.  Although Camtasia was able to capture the screen and audio process fine, the Audioboo recording was distorted.  It is possible that this was due to the fact my laptop does not have enough processing power to handle multiple recording applications simultaneously.  Feel free to offer suggestions in the comment section below. To hear the audioboo sample which was created in the screencast click on the following link.

http://audioboo.fm/boos/217412-making-a-camtasia-screencast-and-audioboo-recording-at-the-same-time