If you need to explain technical processes or software in an online course, screencasts are the perfect video format for you. In this article, you will find out why you should use screencasts and which tools allow you to quickly and easily create screen recordings.
In online courses, you can convey many contents simply through images, texts, or short explanatory videos. However, in some cases, standard formats reach their limits:
Imagine you want to explain to your participants in the course the use of a software. You create screenshots and write an instruction manual. Still, there are always participants who struggle to implement your instructions practically.
Classically, the following happens now: The participant reports via email that he/she cannot do it. As the course leader, you ask what the issue is. The participant describes his/her problem, but the explanation does not really work well. It goes back and forth. Often, by the third email and the fifth screenshot, neither of you knows where the other has just clicked.
In companies, the challenge often arises during the onboarding of new employees in offices: Often, they have to get accustomed to many tools and processes right in the first few days. Not even the most detailed text instructions will help. And time is often scarce among colleagues to show it to the new employee once or several times.
As a general rule: The more complex the process and the more individual steps, the harder a purely textual or verbal explanation becomes. In online courses, screencasts help you solve the problem. Below, we explain the term, give you practical tips, and present a simple tool.
What is a Screencast?
“A screencast is a video that displays content by recording the happenings on a computer, tablet, or smartphone screen.” Source
With a screencast, you record your screen and mouse movements as a video. Your participants can essentially follow live what happens on the screen, as if they are looking over your shoulder. Ideally, they replicate the steps on a second screen themselves.
In screencasts, you can optionally record comments while recording or add an audio track later. This depends on the tool you use for recording. Screencasts without sound are also possible, but again leave room for questions or misunderstandings.
TIP: We recommend recording screencasts directly with sound. This is easier for you as the creator than adding an audio track later with video software. And your explanations fit perfectly with what is shown.
Screencast videos in online courses convey complex processes simply and understandably.
Screencasts are an incredibly powerful tool for successful online courses if you use them correctly. You should definitely keep the following tips in mind:
5 Tips for Perfect Screencasts for Online Courses
Choose a quiet environment for recording, especially if you are recording with sound.
Use a good microphone! Your voice should be clear, distinct, and loud enough so that your participants can understand the helpful comments. We have tested four microphones for smartphones, laptops, and PCs for you: For the test report “Microphones for Filming Videos.”
Clean up your screen! This may sound trivial, but it is important so that your participants can keep track. Close all programs and windows that you do not need.
Turn off notifications on your device! How often has a “New Email” banner with a sound notification interrupted my screencast...
Go slow! Especially if you already know the process you want to show well, you might click through quickly. Keep in mind: Your participants need to listen, watch, understand, and possibly try things out or take notes at the same time.
TIP: Imagine you’re slowing down your own speed to 50%. Accordingly, you’d also move your mouse slowly. The same goes for your speaking speed. Before you click the mouse, silently count to three in your head. This way, slower participants can see where you are.
If you keep these 5 tips in mind, you have a solid foundation for helpful screencasts for your online course. What you still need is a tool. Now, I will introduce you to my personal favorite tools:
2 Tools for Simple & Quick Screencasts
Important note: The following recommendation is based on our very personal experience: We at the blink.it team have been using this tool for several years. We do not want to pass judgment on tools that we do not use ourselves 🙂 We do not receive a commission for this recommendation or anything similar, but express it out of our own conviction!
We often create screencasts in the blink.it team. We particularly use them to explain new tools to colleagues (Blended Onboarding) or to explain the platform to customers. On our support pages, you can find many screencasts demonstrating processes on the platform. For this, we primarily use two tools:
1. Camtasia:
Camtasia is a video editing software with an integrated screencast function. You can record sound directly or add an extra audio track later. We also use Camtasia in video recording workshops for the professional editing of learning videos.
Camtasia offers many possibilities. You can not only record screencasts but also edit them: You can add effects, texts, shapes, images, and transitions. Due to the range of functions that require some familiarization, and the price of about €250 (as of 10.11.2020), I recommend Camtasia if you want to create extensive screencasts regularly and also other video formats for online courses.
Camtasia offers extensive features for screencasts and video editing. // Source: blink.it, own recording
2. Screencastify:
Screencastify is my personal favorite tool that we prefer to use in the team for “quick and dirty” screencasts: Quickly creating a screencast in between instead of writing a long text. This does not mean that the screencasts with Screencastify are of low quality, quite the contrary: The image and sound quality of the recordings are very good!
Screencastify is a plugin, a small program that you can integrate directly into your browser. The standard version is free and is absolutely sufficient for simple, short screencasts. In the free version, the video length is limited to 5 minutes. The paid version is also quite affordable at €49/year (as of 10.11.2020).
I will show you how easy Screencastify works in the following screencast, true to the motto of this article “write less, show more”:
Fun Fact: The recording and effects are created with Camtasia, as I cannot record with Screencastify and show the operation at the same time. So you have actually seen both tools in one video 😊
As with any video, the same applies to screencasts: Think beforehand about what you want to say! It’s best to write yourself a small cheat sheet so that you don’t forget anything in the recording. We have prepared something for you: Download the free cheat sheet for filming videos now and get started with videos and screencasts for your online courses!
PDF for download
Example: Cheat sheet for filming videos
Unsure when speaking in front of the camera? Not with our example cheat sheet! It contains: Concrete examples A quick checklist Professional tips for speaking freely
To the free example cheat sheet
Do you have questions about blink.it or this article?
Feel free to write to us if you have questions about the product or specifically about this article. Our marketing team is available to you via email or will forward your request to a suitable Blinkie 😊
