Screen Cast Reflection

Overall, I think our team worked well together in designing the Microsoft screencast. We ended up dividing the work effectively to get it all done. I think we all learned varying technical tips from each other and by working together, we all supported each other as we learned how to use Jing. We did struggle at first when we were trying to assemble our plan - we had differing opinions on what we should cover as basic and as more advanced topics. But we worked through our differences respectfully. I personally really like Jing

We received both positive and negative feedback to our Microsoft Excel tutorial screencast on the Googleform. Overall, the feedback was positive. The content we was considered relevant, clear and informative, although some people thought the content we covered was too basic. People appreciated that we built the content for the basic tutorial and used it again for the advanced tutorial. We also received the advice to practice or script out our screencast to avoid making mistakes. The two important take-aways for me are 1) practicing and preparing your words makes the screencast all the more informative for the user and 2) when creating a tool like this, it is a good idea to get a better sense of the proficiency level of your audience. There is no sense creating a tutorial that covers content the audience already knows. And there is no sense creating a tutorial that is so far beyond the audiences zone of current understanding because they won't understand what the tutorial is trying to teach.

I thought both the Microsoft Windows and Powerpoint presentations were very well done and quite helpful. I think there were some really fantastic presentation tools covered in the powerpoint screencast that I could see myself using in a class where the students would be required to create a powerpoint to accompany their presentations. While I liked the tips covered in the Microsoft Office tutorial, for my purposes as a chemistry teacher, I would probably create one of my own that more specifically explain how I would like to see lab reports formatted, for example.

Screencasts are great tools for students who speak English as second language, who may have learning or hearing difficulties, who may need to miss out on class or who are struggling with keeping up with the pace of the classroom. Screencasts are great because these students will be able to absorb the material at their own pace, pause and re-watch the material as many times as needed. It is also a great supplemental tool for students to use at home to support homework, projects or as a reminder of the material covered in class.

I am definitely looking forward to using screencasts in my future classrooms because knowing how little time teachers have in the class room, the tutorials can serve as out of class instruction or they can be used as supplemental materials that students (and their parents) can refer to outside of class if needed. Also, as a student I think there is nothing more frustrating than not being able to complete an assignment due to confusion over the instructions. Screencasts are a great tool to overcome this hurdle and help students get into their assignments easier.