Instructional+Media+Screencast

** //Screencast for creating a Homepage in my Virtral Classroom.// ** []

Description: ** //Screencast Instructional Project// For this project I needed to create a screencast instructing students in my virtual classroom how to do an activity. A screencast is a digital recording of the computer screen. For this project I will need to research and learn how to use Jing which is a free screencasting application that I will use to create my screencast.
 * 

**Process:** First I downloaded the Jing application to my computer. After the download was complete a symbol resembling a sun was embedded in the upper right corner of my computer screen. I decided that it would be beneficial for my students to know how to create a homepage in our virtual classroom. Once my instructional strategy was planned I used the create tool on the Jing symbol to copy my computer screen. I wanted to do a video recording, so that I could navigate around the screen as I was talking to the students. After, the Screencast was completed I pasted the web address into The class PBWiki for others to see. I will also include this screencast into my virtual classroom for the students to view as instruction on creating their own homepage.

I feel that this was a pretty easy assignment. It was very similar to the Voice Thread assignment, but much easier. For the Voice Thread I had to research a new application, prepare a powerpoint, and upload it to the Voice Thread. Speaking and using the drawing tool at the same time was somewhat difficult. However, when I created the Screencast it was simple becasue I already knew how to use Blackboard, and I had already created my own homepage for the 6020 class. Jing was very user friendly, and I was able to effortlessly use the video recording to demonstrate for my students how to navigate through the blackboard pages to create a homepage. Using a Screencast in the classroom would be beneficial for a teacher. You could create screencasts to show students how to use different web pages for doing research, creating projects, or playing (educational) games. The teacher could work with one group while another viewed the screencast. This would also be a good way for teachers to share with colleagues how they can use different websites in their instruction. For example at a staff meeting I could use Jing to introduce the new web 2.0 Story Jumper and show other teachers how it works and they could begin using it. I think in this situation that the Jing Screecncast would work better than the Voice Thread that I created for Story Jumper because I could actually create a book while using Jing. This is an application that I am sure to use again.
 * Reflection: **