Our workshop with Rich McCue really was an extravaganza! Our class with him was easily my favourite class so far because I started having some “ah ha” moments where I could actually picture I would use the technology in my own classroom. I also felt extremely accomplished at the end of our lesson because I was able to submit my two projects and earn my video editing badge (see my about me page)!
As a teacher candidate entering the education field, I know that technology is important and something I will have to use as a teacher. However, what has become crucial in teachers’ lives is the ability to produce instructional videos (thanks Covid). When the pandemic hit I was still in my final year of high school and in less than a day teachers had to figure out how to teach their students from their kitchen table. Fast forward to a year later and I’m doing my first year of university once again online. In the blink of an eye thousands of teachers had to add video editing/producing to their workload. Even now their are still many teachers producing video lessons and using interactive videos as part of their instructional method. My prediction is that instructional videos are going to become a regular part of education as we continue to evolve with technology. So I am thankful for our time with Rich because he not only gave us some tangible skills, but he also gave us direction for how we can continue learning about video editing. While course load is keeping me busy enough right now, I hope to be able to take sometime over the winter or next summer to keep improving my video and audio editing skills.
One of the programs Rich showed is called Screencastify. This program allows you to screen record your computer while talking and annotating. When I started playing around with Screencastify I got really excited because it was something I could 100% see myself using in the future. It will be a great tool to use with students if I’m demonstrating how to use a new tech tool or wanting them to complete a project online. I think it will also be great for parents if they are trying to use different online programs for their children. I will be able to post the videos on my class website and then parents will be able to access them whenever they need at home.
Another reason I latched on to this program so fast is because it’s user friendly. To do the actual recording you open the program and choose if you want to record a tab or whole desktop. You can turn the microphone on or off and you can use your webcam to include a video of yourself talking if you want.
Once recording an annotation bar appears so you can write on the screen you’re recording. You can also add stickers and shapes to the screen. The annotation feature would be really great if you’re completing a series of math problems in the video. You could also use the shapes to highlight important features on the screen you are recording. Once the recording is finished you can add interactive questions if you like and save it all to your google drive!
Check out my Screencastify below on how to add a GIF into a WordPress blog!
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