Screencasts in teaching

Screencasts are recordings of screen output which are accompanied by audio commentary and produce a film. The image equivalent of a screencast is called a screenshot. These are often video tutorials which demonstratively explain a specific software, individual functions or practical actions. The moved images can be enriched in addition by interactive elements, subtitles, external camera recordings and indexes.

Why deploy screencasts?

Various kinds of teaching content (see below) can be presented more clearly using screencasts. Using various kinds of media caters for different kinds of learning types. The resulting videos can be played many times and simultaneously increase the student’s private study competency. The tutorials can be published on the web, on PCs and on mobile end-devices. Integrating interactive elements such as commentary and questions also permits knowledge enquiries.

How do I deploy screencasts?

For correct use in a higher education context, the learning objectives must first be defined.

Independent exercise of the visualised course requires integration in the course (e.g. in the Stud.IP-Media cast plugin or in ILIAS learning modules). The software should be made accessible to the target group in software training sessions.

Screencasts which are intended to activate previous knowledge should be available before the beginning of the course lecture. Alternatively, accompanying materials can be provided during the course lecture.

Screencasts are suitable for...

...presentation of lasting teaching content which can be explained as a process. Among these are software instructions, configurations, description of processes and the analysis of larger projects.

The presentation of multimedia presentations (often PowerPoint) in the form of screencasts is realisable in a higher education context. Recordings of lecture slides with the associated audio can be provided with or without postprocessing as a screencast.

What are the stumbling blocks?

The video form does not replace practical handling of the contents presented. Videos are used as a supplement to the range of teaching / training courses.

In addition, the students should not just avail of the private study opportunities of screencasts at the end of term and examination time. Temporal structuring with staggered activation can act as motivation.

How do I set up screencasts / Where can I get help?

Camtasia software is used to create screencasts at the University of Göttingen. The software can be accessed in all lecture halls in the main lecture hall building (ZHG), among others. We offer training courses in creating screencasts. The range can be found here.

Examples of screencasts: