Over the shoulder 2.0: Options and
opportunities for screencast
production in learning & teaching
Simon Davis & Chris Millson
University of York
Outline
•
•
•
•
•
Overview and benefits of screencasts
Applications
Production approaches
Case studies – feedback and forward
Conclusions
Screencasting: Overview
• Established use in education (~2004 onwards)
• Record audio, onscreen activity, webcam
(optional)
• Potential for reusable, personalised, visual,
interactive learning resources
• Simple production workflows
Screencast @ York #1:
Software demos and Tutorials
• SPSS statistics package, videos and exercises
• ELDT support, videos and step by step guides
Screencast @ York #2:
Presentations
• Distance learning
• Realising Opportunities
• CAHR
• “Flipped classroom”
• Interest growing
Screencast @ York #3:
Worked handwritten examples
• Physics – Mathematics 101
• Economics – Introduction to Statistical Theory
Screencast @ York #4:
Feedforward / feedback
• Feedforward – exemplars
• CELT; grammar
• Chemistry; Transition (what to expect)
• Psychology; understanding your feedback
• Personalised feedback
• CELT
• Careers
• LFA
Production approaches #1: Camtasia
Cost: ~£120/user (5-99 users)
Storage: ~£7/mo (limited, online) or use own
Strengths: Control over editing/quality, can
operate entirely offline
Weaknesses: Requires desktop application
(PC/Mac) - less portable, reported to slow system
down (recording intensive software e.g. SPSS),
time for post production, complexity
Camtasia (playback)
Production approaches #2: Screenr
Cost: ~£12-180/mo (unlimited users)
Storage: online, 250-7,500 recordings
Strengths: easy to use, fully online, branding &
integration control, analytics
Weaknesses: recurring subscription required
(although can download files)
Notes: Free version (screenr.com) with 5-minute
limit
Production approaches #3: vGuidance
Using screencast-o-matic.com and our own
'vGuidance' interface
Cost: Free (unlimited) - ~ £1/month (per account),
plus interface development (not essential)
Storage: unlimited
Strengths: branding/login control, statistics, fully
online, no reliance on one system
Weaknesses: SOM could disappear (estd. 2006)
Use case:
Sample:
Production approaches #4: Echo360
Cost: Upwards of ~£10k/year plus set-up
(Much bigger, hardware-supported system)
Strengths: Powerful automated lecture capture for
including personal capture, Blackboard
integration, account control, local hosting
Weaknesses: Only worth the investment if you are
considering lecture capture
Use case: Institution with a strong commitment to
lecture capture - with interest in personal
capture
Echo360 - playback
Comparing production approaches
Software Features
Ease
Reliability
of use
Quality
When to use
Camtasia
Good for editing
Offline,
OK
Good
Full
control
Creating multi-user
guides or where
quality is important.
Small-medium scale.
Screenr
Brandable,
supported, off-theshelf
Online,
simple
'Enterprise' product
Good
Mid/long-term
investment in
personal capture.
vGuidance
Brandable
Online,
simple
Good (but no
guarantee),
requires in-house
support
Good
Ongoing exploration/
development, short
trials, small-scale
usage.
Echo360
Good for editing,
brandable,
supported, VLE
embedding
Online,
OK
'Enterprise' product
Good
Large long-term
investment in
lecture/personal
capture.
Personalised feedback; production
approaches
• CELT / Careers / LFA
• University starts large review/trials of lecture
and personal capture tools
• Several Camtasia licenses purchased centrally
- some staff used these to try screencasting
• Screenr, Screencast-o-matic and other online
services tested by Careers for CV reviews
• Careers develops generic 'vGuidance'
frontend, currently using Screencast-o-matic
• University buys Echo360 - now in wide use
Personalised feedback; production
approaches
Camtasia
vGuidance
Echo 360
• Production
time
• Access control
• Online,
integrated
workflow
• Stability
concerns
• Workflow
• Stable
• Supported
Personalised feedback; evaluating
written FB vs Screencast FB
Bill Soden – Centre for English Language
Teaching
Students read wfb three times+ 9/15
Students viewed sfb three times+ 12/ 15
Q:If you were only able to receive one form of
feedback, either written feedback comments
or screen cast feedback, which of these two
forms of feedback would you choose?
9 chose sfb
4 chose wfb
(Kerr & McLaughlin study- three quarters chose sfb)
Personalised feedback; SFB strengths
• “I think the most obvious advantage is that students
can feel engaged as if their tutor is talking to them
face to face”
• “More straightforward and personal. It's like the
tutor is talking to you in person. And the comments
are directed to the parts of your article clearly.”
• “More memorable because it’s like the teacher is
talking to you and giving instructions to you.
Sometimes I can't recognize teachers' writing in the
written feedback.”
Personalised feedback; WFB strengths
• Strengths of written feedback
•
“I think the written feedback is more clear and specific about
some small mistakes that I made (like some printing mistakes)
while the screen cast tends to be focused mainly on the structure
or some other macro aspects.
• “You can read it anywhere you like (3) and it's easy to go back to
check whereas the screen cast can only be read on your computer.
Also, the information is more memorable to visual learners.”
• Meeting this with screencast feedback
• Ask students to respond to feedback with action points
• Provide bullet pointed scripts along with the video
Screencast feedback - student
responses (year 2 / 4)
• Feedback is detailed, easy to follow, more explanatory at
various levels (grammar, style, structure, argumentation).
• Students feel more confident about how to improve.
• Easier to process as you see it happening on screen and hear
comments at the same time.
• Combination of tools (voice, highlighter, retyping) makes it
more memorable.
• Grade is justified.
• More personal, both from a technical and emotional point of
view.
• It forces students to pay attention and be more active.
• It remains a one way discussion.
Screencast feedback - student
responses (year 2 / 4)
“Most people with a bad mark usually never
look at their essay again but the feedback given
encourages you to see why your grammar was
wrong”
“…seeing where I’d gone wrong… meant I
actually had to process the feedback, more
useful in the long run!”
“Best feedback method ever”
Screencast feedback – tutor
perspective
• More enjoyable because it is easier to put your points across.
• You can demonstrate the complexity of the reading process.
• Students become aware of the time and effort put into giving
feedback.
• You can talk though a number of aspects at the same time
and show how they are related (language, content, structure).
• It helps to focus your mind and gain a better awareness of
the general quality of students’ work.
• It makes you aware of the complexity and potential of
effective feedback.
• It introduces an emotional dimension.
Q&A