Week 6: Fluency and Speaking
Screencast-O-Matic: It's fantastic!
What is Screencast-O-Matic?
Screencast-O-Matic is a digital tool that allows you to record, edit and share video online for free. With Screencast-O-Matic, you can choose to:
§ record a video of yourself using your webcam,
§ record your own computer/phone screen just like in a screencast,
§ or even do both simultaneously.
You can watch a video that I’ve made using Screencast-O-Matic in this blog below:
ATTENTION: Please be kind and promise not to laugh okay? 😆 I was a bit nervous whilst recording the video but I think it turned out quite well in the end. It was a fun and new learning experience for me!😊
How can language teachers use Screencast-O-Matic?
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| A screenshot of Screencast-O-Matic homepage |
As a language teacher, I think you can use Screencast-O-Matic for a lot of different purposes:
§ Virtual classroom (online teaching and learning)
You can record your lectures and share it online with your students. This is useful especially in the context of online-distant learning or teaching or learning in times of emergency such as in an outbreak of an infectious disease.
§ Online tutorial
Similar to most tutorial videos out there in the internet, you can create a tutorial video or ask your students to create their own tutorial videos for your lesson.
§ Presentation
You can give a topic to your learners and let them research and present their work using Screencast-O-Matic. This can be done individually or as a group activity.
§ Giving feedback
You can record your screen whilst giving feedback on your students works. For example, you can read their essays or blogs on your computer screen, record, and screencast the video of your recording as a feedback for your students. This is a nice and interesting change rather than just the usual written feedbacks that our students are used to get from us.
Strength:
1) It’s user-friendly and easy to use
You don’t have to be a technophile to learn how to use Screencast-O-Matic. The tools are very simple and intuitive. However, if you are feeling unsure, here is a tutorial video on how to get started with using Screencast as a beginner.
[Source: YouTube - 'Welcome to Screencast-O-Matic']
2) Engaging
As a user, I find the experience of watching a video presentation whilst listening to the audio as very engaging. I guess it’s kind of similar to listening to someone talking to you in a face-to-face conversation.
3) Play, pause, rewind or fast-forward!
Since it is a video, learners have the option to pause and rewind to watch parts of the video that they might think as important as well as skipping parts that they have understood or find uninteresting.
4) Easy to share
You can choose to download and keep the video that you have recorded, upload and share it in on YouTube or even save it as a link.
5) Opportunity for students to practice
Language learners have the opportunity to practise their speaking skills with Screecast-O-Matic. The best part is that they can record themselves as many times as they like, edit their own recording and finally choose the video that they wanted to showcase as their best work with the rest of the class.
6) Helps to reduce anxiety
Some language learners are anxious when it comes to speaking especially if they have to do it spontaneously and in front of a huge crowd like in a classroom. With video recording, learners have the option to record themselves talking in front of the camera in the privacy and comfort of their own room. This is an advantage for language learners who are introvert or find talking in front of a crowd as intrusive.
Limitations:
1) Unsuitable for low-resource context
Unfortunately, Screencast-O-Matic is not designed to be used for teaching in certain low-resource contexts.
2) Asynchronous feedback
Some students might prefer to have direct, spontaneous and face-to-face feedback rather than a delayed one.
3) Anxiety
Students who are technophobes might not be that motivated to learn how to use technology to record themselves talking.
Screencast-O-Matic: Love or loathe?
Overall, I personally think that Screencast-O-Matic is a wonderful tool to use in language learning and teaching. You can use it to not only teach and learn languages but also gain new and extra knowledge such as video-recording and video-editing in the process of using it (which are obviously useful and handy skills to have!). As a new user, I find it very simple and user-friendly and just like most things in life, you will get better at it the more you use and practise it.
My final verdict for this review on Screencast-O-Matic is definitely LOVE! Please leave your comments or opinions below and thank you for reading my blog. 😊
Best wishes,
Kamal
Comments
Today must be my lucky day because instead of ONE; I got TWO comments from you (and both are just equally wonderful and positive!). Thank you for being so supportive dear. It really made my day. 💖
Yes, it is a really fun and easy-to-use video recording and editing tool. I’m sure you would love it too. Give it a try and let me know how it goes. 😊
Great blog post~ I've used Screencast-O-Matic before for a tutorial video and I definitely enjoyed it. Btw, you can also use this apps on iOS and Android as well as it is available in App store. I've used it once on my phone (as I was in a hurry). But I have to say, it's more fun to use on desktop as you can utilize more features and also see the cursor wiggling around haha. And yeah, I definitely agree with you in terms of this tool being user-friendly and so easy to use. Anyway, I enjoyed your blog! Keep up the good work~
Thank you for your suggestion! I didn't know that we can use it on our iOS/android gadgets too - how convenient! Thank you so much for reading my blogs and I appreciate your comment. 😊
Also, I agree that we as teachers need to be if not on the cutting edge of technology but to have the sub-skills like recording or editing a video to make the most of our classes.
Thank you so much for your wonderful comment! I'm glad that my post and video have persuaded and convinced you to try using Screencast-o-matic in your teaching. Yes, I think screencast is brilliant for presentation and as teachers we have to dare ourselves to tryout these new technological tools in our lesson. Good luck and don't forget to share with me your first screencast once you've made it! 😊
I'm glad that you found my post interesting and that you liked the video that I've made. I think your idea in using screencast for online learning is a brilliant alternative especially in times like this when the world is fighting against the outbreak of contagious disease like the Coronavirus. It's a really fun and easy to use software and I hope you will give it a go soon! 😊