How to create screencasts on the ipad

On my previous post, I talked about how I managed to create some tutorials on my iPad. I took screenshots of the app and with these images I created the tutorials. However, I wanted to see if it was possible to create screencasts using an iPad app.

After searching the web, I couldn't find any iPad app which could do that but came across some other alternatives such as mirroring your iPad to a laptop and then record your laptop screen with a screencast tool.

The post I found most useful was this one
http://www.labnol.org/software/record-screencasts-on-ipad-iphone/20958/

Today, I decided to try the last option described by Amit Agarwal.
1. I bought REFLECTOR Airplay Receiver ($12.99) and installed it to my Mac.
2. I activated the Airplay and Mirroring on my Ipad.
3. I used the Quicktime from Mac to record the screencast (other screencast tools I suggest are http://screencast-o-matic.com/ and http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html).

Tiny steps: flipping part of my class

There are several things I like about the FLIPPED CLASSROOM model:

- First, you save a lot of time for really practising the language if students have access to the theoretical part of the explanation beforehand (at home).
- Second, if a student is absent, he can always catch up.
- Third, if a student needs more explanation he can watch it as many times as he feels is necessary for his comprehension.
- Fourth, before tests, students can always watch the videos again to help refresh their memories. 

This is how I've been TRYING to flip part of my class.

I'm aware there are various ways people have been flipping their classes but it's always important to think of each reality. I work at a Language Institute in Brazil and have to follow a course book for my classes. A moment which I've been finding useful to flip is the grammar explanation part of the lesson during which I would probably deal with the grammar focus. There are various videos available online, however, I sometimes prefer the ones I make myself as I try to make them more personal and as short as possible.

My most successful "flips", in my opinion, have been recording screencasts of myself explaining the grammar focus with examples. In addition, I assign a quiz to my students using Edmodo after a few classes of practice.

The instructions

The Quiz

I normally create a multiple choice quiz with 10 questions. They have 5 mins to answer the quiz which is corrected by Edmodo automatically.





The following class after the quiz, we go over each question and answers as I have access to the question most students had problems with.

This week, I wanted to try something different so I started to look for different tools I could use to make flip videos. The result of my search is a board I've created at http://learni.st/category/featured

My board: Tools for Flipping Classes
http://learni.st/users/anamariacult/boards/35935-tools-for-flipping-classes

Then, it was time to try some of them out.

Oh, the first step was to create the video screencast I wanted to use. Therefore, I used the EDUCREATIONS app on my ipad.
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/past-and-present-habits/10063195/?ref=appemail

The first flipping tool I tried was https://grockit.com/answers. Nik Peachey has created a very helpful post about it http://quickshout.blogspot.com.br/2011/10/create-online-social-interaction-around.html

My trial: https://grockit.com/r/hu9

Then, I decided to try http://www.metta.io/create

I had watched one  of Tamas Szakal's metta videos and just loved it. Unfortunately, I had no idea I would find it so hard to figure out how it works. I tried to find a tutorial, but to no avail,  I had to rely on my trials and errors to manage to make this first trial video.

SUPER EASY presentation tool - Zipcast

ZIPCAST is the easiest presentation tool I've seen so far. You don't need to learn about complicated controls, no download required, participants can join you with the click of a button. It takes no more than 60 seconds to set up a session!

Zipcast Activity Stream via kwout

This is a tutorial to show you how to create your first ZIPCAST

Zipcast Activity Stream via kwout

SCREENCASTS + Grammar explanations

I've recently discovered I could create screencasts to offer grammar explanation recordings to my students. After sharing the idea  in a workshop, a colleague of mine (Angela Gonçalves), has made some really good recordings I wish to share with other teachers. The first three were created by Angela and the last one is mine.

• Making Deductions (must , can't , might)

• Obligations (have to , must, don't have to)

• First and Second Conditional

• Narrative Tenses (S. Past , Past Cont., Past Perfect)

Revising GRAMMAR with screencast

Inspired by Russell Stannard's suggestion in the video shared previously in this blog, today I created a little screencast for my Intermediate students after having worked with Past Tenses. The aim is to give my students the chance to hear the explanation as many times they see fit.

What's wrong? Can you help me?

If someone asks you for help, and you keep on giving them instructions but still that doesn't help, sometimes you wish you could see their screen in order to spot what's wrong , right?

Well, some weeks ago , I bookmarked a site I found in Orli's great  GO2WEB20  blog and was saving it for the right moment, which happened today. A friend of mine was trying to explain to me how to update a blog by clicKing on a button and I couldn't find the "so-called" button. I remembered I had the right tool to help me, "Showmewhat'swrong" .

I found the link, send it to my friend, Camila Sousa, she recorded her screen showing me how to do it and I was e-mailed 5 minutes later with her screencast. No subscription needed, no log ins, nothing. GREAT!!!! Solved my problem.

This is a DEMO of SHOWMEWHATSWRONG. Hope you can make use of it some day, like I did.

SCREENR - screencasts for Twitter

It's never been easier to create tutorials like now with SCREENR.

This is how to do it. Sign in with your TWITTER account, then click on RECORD. Resize the shooting screen to focus on the area you would like to record on your screen. Click RECORD and start speaking. It records everything you say and do with your mouse. When you're done, click DONE , write a text to go with your tweet and wait a while (about 2 minutes). After it's been tweeted, you can also grab an embed code to publish it in your blog, have a URL address, publish it in youtube (if you have a youtube account) or download it as an mp4 file. The quality of the image is superb.

It couldn't be easier!

This is a screencast I made to show two colleagues how to remove a student from an edmodo group you've created.



This is my screencast in twitter

anamariacult (anamariacult) on Twitter via kwout

UTIPU - screencasting

This was my second attempt to use UTIPU and fortunately a successful one. It wasn´t very easy though. After I downloaded the Tipcam from http://utipu.com I tried to record my screencast. Then, I clicked on the upload button, which I thought would save my video either to the utipu site or to youtube, but I got a message saying I was unable to do it. I clicked on the button play file and the video browsing window kept loading but nothing happened. So I thought my screencast hadn´t been recorded.

After watching a tutorial in utipu I saw that I could upload my video to the utipu site from my browser. So, I went to http://utipu.com , clicked on the UPLOAD button, selected the video file and MAGIC, my screencast was there. The feature I was really interested in was the possibility of making a screencast with good quality and being able to place it in my youtube account. So what I did was: I went to my youtube account, clicked on the UPLOAD button, selected the video file saved in my computer and voilá, after some hours, my screencast coulb be seen in YOUTUBE.

Suggestion: If you´re a beginner at screencasting, I guess the easiest site to use would be http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/
But once you have the time, it´s worth giving UTIPU a try. At least for me, things didn´t work out so smoothly.

This is the tutorial I made using UTIPU to show my students how to make an online book.

Tutorial1: Promethean e-board

This is a tutorial I´ve made using DIMDIM to help teachers start using the Promethean e-board. We´re giving a face 2 face training but I wanted to have a tutorial so that teachers could refer to later on.



TUTORIAL 1 - Using basic tools
TUTORIAL 2 - How to make flipcharts

Screentoaster

After reading a tweet, I decided to try out http://screentoaster.com for making screencasts. I used it to talk about the sidebar of the blog but I don´t know why the sound disappeared in the middle of the recording.

Advantages
- you don´t have to download any program
- it shows the movement of the mouse, audio and webcam image
- easy to upload to screentoaster site w/ a simple click ( took 10 min) and provides you with the URL and the embed code.
- you can also publish it in youtube.
- you can maximize the screencast and see it in full screen.