Podcast Spotlight: EdTech Heroes from Screencastify

I recently had the pleasure to be a guest on the "EdTech Heroes" podcast from Screencastify. 

As many of you may know, I am a huge fan of Screencastify and have shared many blog posts and training videos on how this awesome tool can be used by educators and students for teaching, learning, creativity, communication, and more!

Some of my earlier posts include:

• Screencastify Makes Video Quizzes Easier with Interactive Questions Feature
• Screencastify for Remote Teaching
• 7 Super Screencasting Activities for School

Well it turns out that Screencastify also does a podcast (which is another one of my favorite things!) The podcast is described as follows:

EdTech Heroes is a podcast for educators, administrators and those who are interested in how education will advance in the future. In each episode, a member of Screencastify’s team interviews those who are at the forefront of education. Each conversation helps uncover how educators are connecting with K-12 students by using innovative technology and techniques. Ultimately, EdTech Heroes helps education professionals understand how to overcome challenges in the “new classroom”, become a better teacher and influence the minds of a future generation.

I was so excited to be a guest on the show, where we discussed tools teachers need, being a life-long learner, innovating with technology, great online resources, and of course the power of video for teaching and learning. Check out the podcast below in video or audio format.

Screencastify Makes Video Quizzes Easier with Interactive Questions Feature

There are lots of screen recording tools available, but one of my favorites has always been Screencastify. 

It is super easy to use with options to record your screen or webcam or both, as well as annotate on your screen, edit the recording afterwards, and share the final video in many ways.

As useful as Screencastify has always been, it is now even better with two new free features: Interactive Questions for video quizzes and Viewer Analytics!

• The Interactive Questions feature makes it easy to add multiple choice questions to your video so you can assess student understanding while they watch your videos.
• The Viewer Analytics feature allows you to see who has viewed your videos, and how many times, so you can get a better measure of student engagement.

See below for a short video walkthrough of these new features, as well as written directions. And thanks to Screencastify for sponsoring this post and video! All reviews and opinions expressed are based on my personal view.

Screencastify for Remote Teaching

With the COVID-19 situation, many schools around the world are out of session, with students learning from home and educators teaching remotely. There are so many wonderful resources being shared for schools to use during this time.

As much as possible it would be wonderful to maintain as much continuity as we can with our students and their learning. One great way to do this is for teachers to record themselves teaching and share those videos with their students.

There are many excellent tools for making instructional videos, but one good example is Screencastify. This is a free Chrome web extension that records your screen, microphone, and/or webcam, saves the video to your Google Drive, and makes it easy to share the recording with others. I have shared about this tool many times on this blog, but thought it would be helpful to make a video specifically for the COVID-19 situation. Since we are all so overwhelmed at the moment, I made the video as short as I could, just about 12 minutes long, so educators can learn everything they need as quickly as possible.

See below for the video, as well as some additional resources and information about Screencastify. And as always, please feel free to share with others who may benefit!

Adding and Using Comments on Screencastify Videos

There are many excellent screen recording tools available, but one of my favorites is the Screencastify Chrome extension. It is simple to use, has lots of nice features, works on Chromebooks, and is free for videos up to 10 minutes long. (See my earlier post about "7 Super Screencasting Activities for School" for more details and ideas.)

Recently Screencastify updated the Chrome extension with a new convenient feature. When you record a video, you now have the option to add a comment (or comments) to the video, including text and links. When people view the video in Google Drive they will be able to see your comment, and leave their own if you have given permission. This can open up many opportunities to provide additional resources, get feedback, and spark a class discussion on your screen recordings.

See below for how to use this helpful new feature, as well as ideas on how this might be used in school.