How many times have you had to explain to a job seeker about how to use a job board or fill out an online application? Wouldn't it be easier if you could point them to a video that showed them exactly what to do? With a new generation of free, lightweight screencasting tools you can.
A screencast is a recording of your computer screen. It usually includes audio narration, although with some programs you can insert text instructions. A screencast is an excellent way to teach someone how to perform a particular computer task. You can also use screencasts to record PPT presentations on virtually any topic.
Once you've created your screencast, you can embed/upload it to a website, blog, wiki, etc. where your job seekers can easily access it.
Screencasting Basics
To get you started with screencasting, here are some great resources.
- Beth Kanter's Screencasting Primer--Be sure to check out all the links on this great site. Beth includes examples, tools and resources for putting together a great screencast.
Screencasting Tools (via ZaidLearn)
- Flowgram
A new communications platform that lets anyone package and share anything on the internet. A flowgram combines the advantages of slide presentations and screencasts with an interactive user experience that fully exploits the fact that almost all the information we might ever need is already on the web. Using the zero download Flowgram Maker, creators can assemble and annotate web pages, photographs, videos etc on any topic, and add a voice narrative which provides context, emotion and consistency.
- FreeScreencast
RECORD your screen, UPLOAD, and SHARE online with ease!
- Jing
Snap a picture of anything on your desktop. Record a video of what you do, or what you see, Instantly uploaded. Share in email, IM, or blogs.
- Webinaria
Create and share software demos online with their screen recording/ screencast software. - ScreenToaster
Is a free online screen recorder, enabling you to record your screen activity, publish the video on the Internet, and stream the recorded video in Flash.
- WebKut
Is an AIR application that allows you to capture web pages, or parts of them in a very simple way. It provides you 3 capture options: the entire page, the current view, or only a selection.
- CamStudio
Enables you to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs) .
- Wink
A Tutorial and Presentation creation software, primarily aimed at creating tutorials on how to use software (like a tutor for MS-Word/Excel etc).
- Screenjelly
Records your screen activity with your voice so you can spread it as a video via Twitter or email. Use it to quickly share cool apps or software tips, report a bug, or just show stuff you like.
- Screencast-O-Matic
Is a Java-based application that anyone can use to create screencasts of their screen with no additional software to download. Without even registering to the site, you can record anything that happens on your screen just by setting the capture size, choose if you want audio included, and click go. When done, you can publish the screencast online or download it in .mov format. Free to use.
- uTIPu
Record and share your screen in a video. You get unlimited public video sharing, 250MB private video sharing, and you can upload directly from TipCam.
- Capture Fox - Firefox Add-on
You can capture your screen and record your voice to make screencasts (tutorials, e-lessons, etc.).
- oRipa Screen Recorder
Is a handy tool to record your Windows desktop activities in real time and save it as a video file. oRipa Screen Recorder also captures anything you can hear on your PC, such as, music and talking through the PC's microphone.
- ISU (I Show You)
Is a free software for Windows platforms that enables you to easily record a sequence of operations in real-time as you perform them on your screen. After the screencasting session ends, you can edit your recording by drawing on it, adding notes, or recording a voice over narration. When done, you can send it to your friends via email, messenger or any other application.
- Debut
Is a free screen capturing software for Windows that anyone can use to capture video or still images from any device. The setup comes in just 400kb and, after you install it, you can capture any part of your screen, or even capture videos from a webcam. You can export the video in any format and save the screenshots in JPG format. Debut is completely free to download and use.
- AviScreen
Is an application for capturing screen activity (ScreenCast) in the form of AVI video or images. Beside the usual options defining the capture area, AviScreen has a unique feature called “follow the cursor”. Using this mode you can produce a video or image of relatively small dimensions while covering all mouse activity over the whole screen area.
Comments