mm, the 'ease' of screencasting

So, Lisa was having some issues finding a straightforward way to incorporate audio technologies into her classroom. i suggested some ‘preparation-free’ activities such as :

  • recording the presentation live in class (audio only)
  • recording the screen demonstration live in class (screen and audio)

We thought this might work, and i’d had some fun using “jing” for making a screencast. Looked easy to me.

So i turn up at Lisa’s workplace, laptop at the ready. What could possibly go wrong?

  • my laptop can’t connect to the Moreland network, and Jing will not run unless you login to screencast dot com (!!)
  • installing Jing on Lisa’s machine takes a long time, because it needs the Dot Net framework (whatever that is)
  • after taking a test screen cast, the software will not upload to screencast
  • i have to admit that if her students would have trouble playing an mp3 file from their usb stick, then an SWF file will make them savage and wild with frustration.

Lucky we’re used to things not working out technically ..and we keep a good sense of humour. Also fortunately, Lisa remains undaunted, and decides she’ll have a proper go at making it work. Yay Lisa!

Looks like we’ll have to set up a wikispace for her class. The really good thing i discovered earlier, was that you can upload a Jing SWF video file into your wikispace directly. (for example, on the Can You Hear Us? site.)

image and photo credits: licensed under creative commons at flickr: Thanks very much: Mark Strozier

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