Screencasting - DIY Tools
Web-based screencasting tools make it easy to create short screencasts without resorting to expensive software on your computer. We highlight three services that allow you to quickly create a narrated screen recording, which can be shared via popular web channels. These services have time limits and require Java for the screen recorder and Flash for the playback and can be used to create brief website tutorials, image annotations, or any other demonstration that would be better conveyed audiovisually than via text.
Once your screencast has been created, it can easily be shared with others on Twitter, Facebook, or other social media sites. Several of the tools also allow you to embed the screencast into a website or wiki or to upload the movie to YouTube.
The services below will work on a PC or a Mac and are free to use:
Screenr: (from Articulate)
- Movie time limit: up to 5 minutes
- Choose the size of your recording frame (you can record a section of your screen rather than the whole thing)
- Screencasts can be shared on Twitter or Facebook, published to YouTube, or embedded on a website
- Screencasts to be viewed on iPhone/iPad
- Movie time limit: up to 3 minutes
- Full screen only
- Integrates with twitter and facebook, but no embed code or file exporting.
- A Screenjelly "record" button can be embedded on a website, allowing visitors to record their own screencasts from your site.
- Movie time limit: up to 15 minutes
- Choose the size of your recording frame
- View your screencast on the Screencast-o-matic site, upload it to YouTube HD, or export it as a movie file (MP4, AVI, or FLV).
- Screencast-o-matic also integrates webcam video into the screencast.
- "Pro" option ($9/yr) expands the recording limit to 60 minutes per screencast and adds extra features, including editing tools and removal of the watermark on exported files.
Faculty and instructors are also welcomed to test out more robust desktop-based solutions at the Faculty Support Lab in 204 Butler Library.
