Have you ever sat down to compose an email or make a phone call and realized that what you want to say would be better expressed by showing someone your computer screen while talking about it? Some processes, ideas, feedback, or explanations are difficult to convey with only visuals (text and static images) or only audio (a phone conversation).  In this situation, a screencast could be very useful. Screencasting software can capture the visual of what is on your computer screen—websites, mouse movements, Word documents—as well as the audio of your speech, creating a narrated video for your audience. This is actually the process that was used to create all of the helpful tutorials on the Teaching Commons Desire2Learn page.

I have found screencasting especially valuable when explaining assignments and clarifying expectations in an online course. It’s also useful for teaching my parents new tech skills when I can’t visit them in person. To discover additional ways that screencasting can make your life easier, read these screencasting success stories.

If you would like to spend hundreds of dollars purchasing screencasting software, you can. Or you can opt for a free, downloadable program called Jing. With Jing, your screencasts can be up to 5 minutes in length and can be uploaded and stored at Screencast.com. If you are using the Jing free version, you will receive two gigabytes of storage and two gigabytes of bandwidth per month. (As with most free software, there is also a pay version of Jing, which offers additional storage and features.)

The first time you run Jing, you will be prompted to provide an email address, create a display name, and choose a password. This creates your Screencast.com account, and you will use this login to access your files once they are uploaded to Screencast.com.

In the following video, I demonstrate how easy it is to create a screencast using Jing once you’ve downloaded the software to your computer.

If you want to share a video you’ve saved to your Screencast.com account, one option is to embed it in a Web page. In the Desire2Learn system, videos can be embedded anywhere you have a text editor box—for example, a News Item, a Discussion Topic description, or an HTML page. This video at the Teaching Commons site demonstrates the process for embedding a video in Desire2Learn. Screencast.com also provides a link to your video, and you can share this link with others.

Good luck future screencasters, and feel free to share your own success story with a reply to this post.