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Classroom Tips

7 Classroom Screencasting Activities

James Francis | November 13, 2017

7 Classroom Screencasting Activities

Back in January, our friend Eric Curts of Control Alt Achieve created a fantastic 1 hour training video in which he explained seven creative ways to use Screencastify in the classroom.

If you're a teacher who already uses Screencastify to create flipped learning videos and are looking for more ways to engage your students using screencast, Eric's video is the place to start.

We've posted the full video below. Eric also detailed each of the activities in writing in his original post, and we've summarized them after the video.

1. Instructional Videos

No surprises here. The most common way teachers use Screencastify in the classroom is to create instructional videos for their students. Good instructional videos enable students to learn at their own pace, whenever and wherever they prefer.

2. Narrating Slideshows

It's easy to use Screencastify with Google Slides to narrate over slideshows. Possible student activities range from standard presentations to creative storybooks, animations, or comic strips.

3. Explaining Student Understanding

Students can use Screencastify to explain what they know in their own words. Simply ask your students to record themselves working through a problem, summarizing a concept, or explaining the main points of a story.

4. Dubbing A Video

Arguably the most entertaining activity on this list is video dubbing. Have your students play a video with the volume muted and record their own narration. Video dubbing is quite a versatile educational activity, as it can be used for language practice, creative storytelling, and plot comprehension.

5. Giving a Speech or Performance

Research has shown that students practice a presentation an average of 7 times when they know they're being recorded. Therefore, asking your students to record themselves giving a speech or performance before they deliver it live in front of their class is a great way to encourage practice and reduce anxiety.

6. Practicing Fluency

Give your students a document or website and ask them to record themselves reading it. This is a great way for younger students learning to read or older students learning a different language. Plus, you'll be able to listen to their pronunciation as many times as you need and can send the recordings their parents to demonstrate progress.

7. Providing Feedback

Giving students feedback via screencast is more compassionate, personal, and detailed than written feedback. It's also a great time saver! Simply speak over a student's document and annotate any suggested changes as you speak. You can also ask students to provide each other feedback via screencast.