face 2 face classes
I am sure some of you are confused about how to use a screencast in a face-to-face class. Now that I've been using them in my face-to-face classes for over four years, I can’t imagine not using screencasting in my onsite classes. When I started teaching at OSU-OKC, I taught developmental studies English composition classes. One of the biggest problems we faced as educators was helping our students to register to use our publisher produced web-based homework solution.
The companion site was excellent. It had customizable homework modules. The homework assignments all neatly corresponded to the textbook. All of the multiple choice questions were
automatically graded and exported to an online gradebook. When students got homework answers incorrect, they were given immediate feedback about where they might have gotten confused and
coached up about how to not make those same mistakes in the future. I know that all that sounds desirable, and it is/was.
The problem was that the credentialing set up process was cumbersome, unfamiliar for those
with limited computer skills/experience, and very intolerant of user error, which was a frequent occurrence. I was beginning to embrace screencasting at that point as an educator. So I set about producing a video that helped our students to log into their publisher-based homework solution. The video was successful in dramatically reducing the number of students and/or parents who contacted my office with problems signing up for credentials. I won an award from the American Society of Training and Development Central Oklahoma Chapter for this combination training video and screencast.
The companion site was excellent. It had customizable homework modules. The homework assignments all neatly corresponded to the textbook. All of the multiple choice questions were
automatically graded and exported to an online gradebook. When students got homework answers incorrect, they were given immediate feedback about where they might have gotten confused and
coached up about how to not make those same mistakes in the future. I know that all that sounds desirable, and it is/was.
The problem was that the credentialing set up process was cumbersome, unfamiliar for those
with limited computer skills/experience, and very intolerant of user error, which was a frequent occurrence. I was beginning to embrace screencasting at that point as an educator. So I set about producing a video that helped our students to log into their publisher-based homework solution. The video was successful in dramatically reducing the number of students and/or parents who contacted my office with problems signing up for credentials. I won an award from the American Society of Training and Development Central Oklahoma Chapter for this combination training video and screencast.
Face 2 Face Classes
Screencasting is great to clarify how to interface with webpages or the steps in a homework assignment. Obviously, these are applications that are very worthwhile in face-to-face classroom interactions. Screencasting is also great for making short videos that cover content that an instructor didn’t have time for in class. Screencasting in face-to-face classes is also a savvy way to minimize the impact of absenteeism. I can’t tell you how many times (hundreds) in a face-to-face class that I received the most annoying question that an instructor can receive, “Did I miss anything important?” It gives me a great deal of freedom as an instructor to simply reply back, "I am sorry you aren’t well. Please check out the screencasts of today’s content. Read the assigned reading. Good luck, Mr. Stone” It literally takes me seconds to deal with this question after I have my content constructed. In the grand scheme of things, your screencasts, while labor intensive to create will save you a lot of time after you have them
constructed.
constructed.