If you need to explain technical processes or software in an online course, screencasts are the perfect video format for you. You will learn why you should use screencasts and which tools allow you to easily and quickly create screen recordings in this article.
In online courses, you can convey a lot of content easily through images, texts, or short explanatory videos. However, in some cases, standard formats reach their limits:
Imagine you want to explain the use of a software to your participants in the course. You create screenshots and write a guide. Still, there are always participants who struggle to implement your instructions practically.
Classically, the following happens: The participant emails that he/she cannot manage it. As the course instructor, you ask what the issue is. The participant describes their problem, but the explanation does not quite work. This back and forth goes on. Often, after the third email and the fifth screenshot, neither of you knows where the other has clicked.
In companies, the challenge often arises during the onboarding of new employees in offices: They often need to familiarize themselves with many tools and processes right in the first few days. Even the most detailed text instructions won't help. And time is often tight for colleagues to show the new employee once or several times.
In general, the rule is: The more complex the process and the more individual steps, the more difficult a purely textual or verbal explanation becomes. In online courses, screencasts help you solve this problem. In the following, we will explain the term, give you practical tips, and introduce a simple tool.
What is a Screencast?
“A screencast is a video created by recording the events displayed on a computer, tablet, or smartphone screen.” Source
With a screencast, you record your screen and mouse movements as a video. Your participants can virtually follow along live with what happens on the screen, as if they were looking over your shoulder. Ideally, they replicate the steps themselves on a second screen.
With screencasts, you can either add comments while recording or insert an audio track afterward. It depends on the tool you use for recording. Screencasts without sound are also possible, but they leave room for questions or misunderstandings.
PRAXIS TIP: We recommend recording screencasts with sound. It's easier for you as the creator than adding an audio track later through video software. And your explanations perfectly match the visuals.
Screencast videos in online courses convey complex processes simply and understandably.
Screencasts are an extremely powerful tool for successful online courses when used correctly. Here are some tips you should absolutely consider:
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 for your participants to understand the helpful comments. We have tested four microphones for smartphones, laptops, and PCs for you: Read the test report “Microphones for Video Shooting.”
Clean up your screen! This may sound trivial, but it is important so that your participants can keep track. Close all programs and windows you do not need.
Turn off notifications on your device! How often has a “New Email” banner with a sound alert interrupted the screencast…
Slow down! Especially if you are already familiar with the process you want to demonstrate, you will likely click through quickly. Remember: Your participants need to listen, watch, understand, and possibly try things out or take notes simultaneously.
PRAXIS TIP: Imagine turning your own speed down to 50%. Accordingly, move your mouse slowly. This also applies to your speaking speed. Before you click the mouse, silently count to three in your head. This way, even slower participants see where you are.
If you keep these 5 tips in mind, you will 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 Easy & Quick Screencasts
Important note: The following recommendation is based on our personal experience: The blink.it team has been using this tool for several years. We do not want to judge tools we do not use ourselves 🙂 We do not receive any commission or similar for this recommendation; we speak from our own conviction!
We often create screencasts in the blink.it team. We particularly frequently 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 shooting 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 extensive functionality that requires some familiarization, and the price of about €250 (as of 11/10/2020), I recommend Camtasia if you want to create regularly extensive screencasts and 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, which we like to use in the team for “quick and dirty” screencasts: Quickly create a screencast in between instead of writing a long text. That doesn’t mean that the screencasts made with Screencastify are of poor quality; on the contrary: The image and sound quality of the recordings are very good!
Screencastify is a plugin, a small program that you can directly integrate into your browser. The standard version is free and is completely sufficient for simple short screencasts. In the free version, the video length is limited to 5 minutes. The paid version is also absolutely affordable at €49/year (as of 11/10/2020).
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: Recording and effects are created with Camtasia, as I cannot simultaneously record and show the operation with Screencastify. So, you have seen both tools in one video 😊
