LE7

Welcome to Learning Event 7 🎯

Show as Opposed to Tell 🌟

Learning Event 7 focuses on using screencaptures, screencasts, and instructional animated GIFs to enhance instruction by showing instead of telling.

Why It Matters

Our learners often engage with digital and social spaces for both personal and professional purposes. As educators, balancing traditional pedagogical methods with effective uses of technology is critical for fostering learning.

Assuming students will intuitively navigate new technologies is problematic. By explicitly showing them how to use digital tools, you reduce confusion and ensure alignment with course goals. Creating multimodal resources—such as screencaptures and screencasts—provides a reusable and effective way to train and support students.

Focus

Digital texts enable the creation of instructional materials that supplement course content. Two primary methods include:

1. Screencaptures:
   Static images of your screen that can be annotated and shared.
   Examples:

   • Step-by-step tutorials for software or equipment.
   • Annotated clarifications of course concepts.
   • Essential questions to prime discussions.

2. Screencasts:
   Video walkthroughs of content on your screen.
   Examples:

   • Providing feedback on assignments via narrated walkthroughs.
   • Recording and sharing lectures.
   • Breaking lectures into smaller, focused segments.

READ 📖

1. Ways to Use Screencasting in Your Teaching – Bonni Stachowiak
   “Answer a question, record a lecture, give feedback on student work, demo applications, or build a course trailer.”

2. Using Screen Recording Platforms to Increase Instructor Presence – Seanan Kelly, Charles Banaszewski
   “Screen recording tools enhance instructor presence by providing effective feedback for meaningful learning.”

3. Screencasting to Engage Learning – Michael Ruffini
   “Screencasts enable teachers to create digital recordings of instructional activities as learning resources and tasks.”

WATCH 🎥

1. Simple Screencasting – 10 Minute Webinars (12:37)
2. Favorite Tools for Creating Screencast Videos – Richard Byrne (4:58)
3. 10 Great Ways to Utilize Screen Capture Technology (20:01)

DISCUSS 💬

How can you use screencaptures and screencasts to support student learning in your course(s)?

DO ✍️

Create Multimodal Content

Develop and share screencaptures, screencasts, or instructional GIFs to guide students as they engage with course content and tools.

Self-Check:

Creating screencaptures and screencasts is simple. Follow these steps to get started:

1. Choose a Tool:
   Tools like Nimbus Capture, Loom, Screencast-o-matic, or Screencastify are excellent starting points.

2. Prepare Your Screen:
   Clean up your desktop and organize your workspace before recording.

3. Start Small:
   Focus on creating brief, targeted screencasts or chunk complex information into manageable segments.

4. Adjust as Needed:
   Experiment with your recordings, and don’t hesitate to re-record if necessary.

5. Share Your Work:
   Save and organize your content for future use. Embed or link materials within course resources.

Share Your Work!

We’d love to hear about the content you created. Email us at hello@digitallyliterate.net to share your experiences!