Some of the most frequently watched instructional videos are plain Jane screencasts. They don’t look fancy. They’re just a voice over an excel spreadsheet or a Word document. It wouldn’t seem that anything so visually unexciting could result in something that gets rave reviews from students. There’s definitely a secret to this success. You know that question that gets asked every semester? Or that place in the lecture that always gets blank stares? Or that problem set that everyone stumbles on? Or that concept that no one gets the first time around? You know that thing I’m talking about?
Explain that thing.
It doesn’t have to have lots of bells and whistles, but it does have to be clear. It doesn’t have to be flashy or stylish. In fact, the more direct, the better.
As this screencast below shows, when students are in need of an explanation, they are looking for the thing that brings clarity. Part of the reason this screencast has had nearly 80,000 viewers is that there are an awful lot of accounting students out there who are very confused about how to set up an accounting balance sheet. They all need to do it for the classes they’re taking, but because they aren’t receiving clear instructions on how to do it, they’re surfing You Tube in hopes of finding something that will help them. So necessity is a big part of the demand for screencasts like this one.
But the other thing that makes it so successful is the tone. This instructor makes you feel like you really can set up a balance sheet. She has a very polite, respectful, and warm approach as evidenced by the comments on the video that refer to her “sweet” voice. Bottom line: students found this screencast to be helpful to them. They were able to do their homework because of it and they were very appreciative. Here are some excerpts from the comments section:
Thank you for the tutorial. It has really helped me, I was able to finish my homework and ACTUALLY understand what I did. Thank you again 🙂
Well I learned more in the first 5 minutes than I did in 3h of actual class. Well done!
thank you so much for making this vid, everything makes sense 🙂
That really helped thxxxxxxxxxx
it was great, I can do my homework without pulling out my hair.
Thaaaaaaaaaaaaank you so much !!!!!!!!!!!!! That really helped i wish ur my teacher ,,, i loved it !
Here’s another example that resonated with students. This one explains the 5 paragraph narrative essay structure. Again, the instructor is very warm and uses a tone that is respectful and empowering for students.
So don’t dismiss the humble screencast. It’s a powerful tool for learning. Good screencasts explain something clearly and use a respectful tone. While good screencasts are easy to produce without expensive setups or studio quality recording devices (in fact, the two examples shown above used the free web-based screencast-o-matic and a simple usb microphone), it’s still also easy to fall into common pitfalls.
DON’T fall into the Incredible Shrinking Professor trap where you leave the small square talking head of yourself in the bottom corner of your screen during the entire screencast. Introduce yourself at the beginning of the screencast then switch over to whatever you are showing students on the screen. Anything else is just distracting to the viewer and detracts from learning.
If you’re showing a text document on the screen and you expect students to be able to read it, make sure you are fitting the document (or portion of the document) into the capture window that is set to the proper resolution of the video itself. Don’t capture your entire screen if you are showing a text document.
As much as possible, PLAN your screencast. Use a topic outline. Highlight key points. Don’t just sit down in front of your screen and start talking.
Editing Makes a Difference – If you’re using a high end package like Camtasia, you’ll have access to editing tools that make it very easy to produce a quality screencast. If you’re using free ware, you’ll have to edit the screeencast file (usually in MP4 format) in another video editing program such as Adobe Premiere. If you use YouTube to broadcast your screencast, you’ll have access to the editing tools there. They are basic but will allow you to trim off the beginning and end of a screencast and also make minor edits elsewhere. The more you can cut out long pauses, “ummms” and other errors, the better. Starting over and re-recording is a good option in a lot of cases.
Invest in a decent microphone – You don’t need anything too high end, but a good USB mic will make a noticeable difference.