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Recording Instructional Media for Students: Recording Your Computer Screen

Recording Your Computer Screen

How to Record a Screencast

When producing a screencast you are able to record your voice as the narrator while also recording the visual display of a PowerPoint presentation, a website, a Word document. In other words, you are able to record anything that is displayed on your computer screen.

Browse through these options to determine which method may be best for your project:

Option 1: Zoom

  1. Start a Zoom session in which you have no participants
  2. Share your computer screen in the session
  3. Record your session
    Your computer screen and your voice will be recorded
  • You can record a PowerPoint presentation, tour a website, display documents on your computer.
  • When you end your recording the video file will download onto your computer.
  • You can upload your recording to YouTube and share the YouTube link in an email, document, course discussion.

Option 2: Screencast-o-matic

The free version of this application allows you to produce videos of up to 15 minutes in duration. You can upload your recording to YouTube and share the YouTube link. (Note: In addition to the time limit, there is also a company watermark on each video produced with the free version).

Option 3: Screencastify

The free version of this application allows you to produce videos of up to 5 minutes in duration. Also you are limited to 50 videos per month, including those very brief "false starts" we all make. Each is counted toward the monthly total. You can upload your recording to YouTube and share the YouTube link. (Note: In addition to the time limit, there is also a company watermark on each video produced with the free version).

Option 4: PowerPoint

Only some versions of PowerPoint allow you to capture a video of you, as the presenter, but all versions allow you to record your voice as a narrator. Some versions of PowerPoint allow you to save the narrated presentation as a video file. This can eliminate problems some viewers experience due to incompatible versions of PowerPoint on their own computers (e.g., cannot hear the narration; cannot provide captions or transcript of the narration).

Option 5: Explain Everything

The Explain Everything app can be downloaded onto your mobile device or computer. You can import images, documents, slides, and videos into a project. You can also create objects and animations on the Explain Everything whiteboard. We recommend using an external microphone on mobile devices when recording your narration. This reduces noise when writing on the Explain Everything whiteboard.

Not finding an answer to your question? Contact digitallearning@georgefox.edu for more information.

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