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Recording Instructional Media: Recording Your Computer Screen

Recording Your Computer Screen

How to Record a Screencast

George Fox supports several options for producing instructional videos that capture your computer screen, your voice, and can include video of you as the presenter.

When producing a screencast you are able to record your voice as the narrator while displaying a PowerPoint presentation, a web site, a Word document. In other words, you are able to record anything that is displayed on your computer screen.

Browse through the 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

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 in your course site. (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 in your course site. (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 learners 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: Camtasia

Your department can purchase an educational license to this application from IT. The application is installed on your laptop and gives you controls to record your computer screen and yourself as the presenter. It includes a video editing system that allows you to insert images and video clips and also produce animations. You are able to upload your recording to YouTube and share the YouTube link in your course site. You can download a free trial of Camtasia and convert it to a licensed version.

Option 6: Explain Everything

Your department can purchase an educational license from IT for this application. The Explain Everything app is installed on your mobile devices and includes a web-based version for your computer, all accessible by using your George Fox username and password. You can import images, documents, slides, and videos into a project. You can also create objects and animations on the Explain Everything whiteboard. You can share access to the whiteboard with up to eight participants, who can edit in real time and communicate as a group through the microphone feature. We recommend you use 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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