About this Tool

Our favorite tool for making videos is Screencast-o-matic, a free webcam and screen recorder that is easy to use, has wide applications, and is reliable. It simultaneously captures your movements on the computer screen and your voice so you can provide narration. Screen recordings have the advantage of including visual materials in addition to the instructor's voice, which personalizes the experience for students. With a screen recorder, you can...

narrate a slide show created with PowerPoint or any other presentation software;
demonstrate how to use software applications, such as Google Docs, Photoshop, Excel, etc.
explain your navigation of a website, such as your Canvas course or a site that you want students to explore.

Quick Demo of Screencast-o-matic

Videos Created by SRJC Instructors

SRJC instructor Hannah Saffold created this video with Screencast-o-matic to narrate her PowerPoint slides. See our page PowerPoint: Slideshow lectures with narration for pointers.

Art instructor Claudia McCain created this video with Screencast-o-matic recording and editing tools. She used the recording tools to capture several elements simultaneously: her voice, a demonstration video (that she shot with a video camera and replayed on her computer), and her cursor movements to highlight areas of the screen. She used the Pro editing tools to overlay images of the still life and color chart onto the upper-left corner of the video.

Effective Practices

Borrow a USB microphone from Media Services or purchase one. Poor audio quality makes a video difficult to caption, which is a legal requirement. (Note: you may need to unplug the USB mic to hear playback.)

If recording a PowerPoint slide show, see our page PowerPoint: Slideshow lectures with narration for more pointers.

Skill Level

Beginner and beyond

Getting Started

Go to Screencast-o-matic.com and click the Start Recording button. For free, you can make as many 15-minute recordings as you want.

For $15/year, you can record for as long as you want and use built-in editing tools that make it really easy to make fixes and enhancements.

Tutorials

Screencast-o-matic has tutorials.

See our video tutorial series, Create a Video Slideshow using Screencast-o-matic.

Read our guide: How to Screencast.pdf

How to use in Canvas

Save your recording as an MP4 file.
Upload your video file and request captioning in 3CMedia: captioning, storage, and sharing service
Embed the video in Canvas for your students.

Mac users

Mac Users have the QuickTime Player screen recorder and built-in video editing tools that have all the capabilities of Screencast-o-matic. However, we find Screencast-o-matic editing tools easier to use and worth the $15/year.