Learn. Show. Repeat.

Tag: screencasting

  • Looking Back at 2016

    tools for building

    Another year is almost over and it’s time to look back on the year that was. At the beginning of 2016 I chose a word for the year which was ‘Build’. Specifically, my aim was to build my skills in some different areas which I’ve listed here as well as some reflections on what I did and didn’t quite do:

    Coding

    I stared an online HTML 5 coding course via Code Academy which I began in earnest. There we small lesson that started with some simple programming and gradually built from there. Unfortunately, I didn’t keep up with it and it fell by the wayside but it’s still on my list of this to learn about for next year.

    Webinar Delivery

    My role at work changed and as a result I didn’t deliver as many webinars as I thought but before this happened I bought a copy of Donald Taylor’s ‘Webinar Master’ eBook. It’s got lots of practical tips and advice from someone who has delivered many webinars himself. It’ll be my go to resource when I start presenting more webinars.

    Screencasting

    Earlier this year, David Anderson ran a few screencasting challenges via E-Learning Heroes and the timing was just perfect as it gave me a chance to build some skills in this area. I wrote some initial reflections in a post Learning About Screencasting. I’ve also found that a good way to build skills in screencasting is to watch others do it and make notes – what works well, things to avoid etc.

    Since the challenges ended I’ve continued to record screencasts on using Storyline and I also discovered that if you have a Google account, you also have a YouTube channel which is where I upload all my recordings. You can take a look at what I’ve created at my YouTube Channel. I plan to record more next year but include other topic areas such as learning theory and design tips.

    Learning Theory

    This will continue to be an area to explore for me and I came across a presentation by Donald Clark called ‘2,500 Years of Learning Theory’ which has given me some avenues to pursue.

    Curation

    I keep seeing curation being mentioned as an L&D skill but at the time of writing this not being able to find many examples of curated content. I started to think about curation in this post: Getting Started with Content Curation.

    In a follow-up post Continuing with Content Curation I curated some posts on content curation.

    I’ve also curated some content via topic area in this case accessibility in eLearning for Everyone.

    I have been experimenting with some curation apps – Anders Pink, Pocket and Flipboard – they’re ok but I find that they filter the content they show so will keep playing with them because maybe I’m not using them properly?

    Build Connections

    This is something that I always want to do and while the number of my connections has grown I’d like to deepen those relationships by more face-to-face meet ups. I didn’t do much of this in 2016.

    Fitness

    My goal was to complete the City2Surf run in Sydney and while I didn’t train as hard as I should have I still completed the 14km run!

     

    So a mixed bag in terms of building in all areas but I’m happy with the progress I’ve made and having a focus does help. I already have a word in mind for next year.

    This year, I didn’t complete as many ELH challenges as I wanted to focus on other areas but here’s a couple of posts about ones that I did participate in:

    4 Ideas for Combining Text and Images in eLearning

    Sliding Along with the Force

    Looking Closer at Images

    How I created a custom Quiz style Interaction (not a challenge but Storyline related)

    I also started the year with a post called Happy Same Year!? and I wonder if much has really changed at all in the world of L&D…

    Thanks to everyone who has read or commented or liked or shared something from this site, I really appreciate it and I hope it was helpful. I’d like to wish you all the best for the festive season and I’ll catch you in 2017 🙂

  • Learning About Screencasting

    A few months ago David Anderson started a new type of E-Learning Hero Challenge – creating screencasts (which are short ‘how-to’ video clips). I mentioned in an earlier blog post that one of the areas I wanted to build knowledge and skills in was screencasting so these new challenges would be a great opportunity to get started.

    Another reason why these challenges appealed to me is that most of my role at B Online Learning is about teaching others – how to use Storyline 2 and the process of creating an eLearning module – so the challenges also seemed like a good fit in that regard just a different way of teaching and sharing what I know and a way to help develop my communication skills.

    Creating these short how-to videos is something new for me so these early ones were a bit rough but I figure they’ll get better over time. Anyway, here’s a few of things I’ve learned so far when creating my screencasts:

    Planning

    I’ve found that the recording works better if you plan what you’re going to record and have a run through to make sure that things work the way you want them to and you know where you want to click. I don’t have a word for word script but I like to think through what I’m going to say as I do the practice. I tried off-the-cuff but it didn’t work for me.

    Sound quality

    I record my screencasts in my office at home and I shut the door and window to reduce any background noise. Initially I found the audio still wasn’t that great but I was using an old headset with a mic. I do have a USB microphone (Audio Technica) but when I tried it, it seemed to pick up ambient noise. So, I went to JB Hi-Fi and I found a Skype Headset (it has a USB connection and a noise cancelling microphone) and I’m much happier with the quality.

    Recording Window Size

    I use Articulate Replay to record my screencasts as it came with my SL2 licence and meant that I didn’t have to buy another program. It’s easy to use and I’m happy with the output. When you open up Replay you can set the size of the recording window to whatever size you need and initially I was recording at about 1000 x 700 but I found that when I looked at the recording on a larger monitor that it became a bit blurry and I think it was because the recording was being enlarged to fit on a bigger screen? Anyway, I asked my friend Veronica (another regular screencaster) what size she used and she said was using around 1430 x 860. Hers looked cleaner so I increased the recording size and it seems to have helped in the latest recording – ‘Using Master Slides’. So I’ll keep experimenting.

    Click on the image below to see my most recent screencast and you can see all the recording that I’ve created in the Videos section of this site. Let me know what you think.

    Screencasting

    If you’re wondering about the circle animation that you see in my recordings, it’s a setting on your computer. Go to the Control Panel > Mouse > Pointer Options tab > select Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key > Ok. That’s it!

    To see all of the screencast challenge topics, click here.

    If you’ve done any screen recording before please share any tips you have in the comments below.