Web 2.0 and Emerging Learning Technologies/ScreenToaster

ScreenToaster is a free web-based screen recorder. It is an easy way to share and also create tutorials, demos, training lectures and more by making screencasts.

A screencast is a digital recording of computer screen output, also known as a video screen capture, often containing audio narration. It is useful for those people who are learning, step-by-step, to use a computer. Or for educators who want to teach certain topics through this innovative tool.

Screen Toaster applies cutting edge technologies in order to make recorded screencasts look exactly like your screen.

Users can capture and save their screen activity, for example webcam images, in real-time. They only have to click on Start Recording, which is in the middle of the page, and they can save it and look at it the following day. Then they are able to share your (their) captures in a website, too. Users can also simply watch them (videos) by just clicking on a video (them) to launch the player.

One advantage of this software is that it doesn’t need any download to work and that it works in all browsers, so you can use it wherever you want. Additionally you can add audio, embed your video in a post, add subtitles, choose your thumbnail, describe and tag your video so other users can easily find your screencasts. It can be used with either Windows XP or Vista, Linux and Mac OS X.

Screen Toaster is currently in invite-only mode which allows you to watch and comment all the public videos but you can get (create and publish) one of those videos (not those, your own videos) quickly by supplying your email address.

Teaching and learning possibilities

Screen Toaster is also a good choice when we plan an activity for our classroom. It's very useful when we need to teach "instructions". We can ask our students to divide the class into two groups. Each grupo (group) has to record a sequence of different steps by which you will get to some place. The other group has to look at your capture. They have to explain what you did by giving intructions (which they should have studied before).
 * Giving Instructions:

Screen Toaster can also take webcam images. It can be useful when we need to teach the "verb to be" and "has/have got". We ask the students to divide themselves into two groups. One of them has to take a picture of someone. The other group has to say who the person is by asking question such as: "Is it a woman?" "Is it a man?" "Has she got brown hair?" Good now and more complete!
 * Who is Who?

Example Links

Screen Toaster is an excellent tool for educators and students. It is an easy and dynamic way of including technology (through screencasts, visual aids, etc) in your subject. It encourages the use of computers and Internet in the Teaching and Learning process. It makes students see technology not only as an entertainment but also as an educative tool.

The following screencasts are used for education in class:

The first link is about the web page My English Images and it is a tutorial. This page has very useful classroom activities for teachers (concerning grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary) and this (these) screencasts helps (help) them to know how to use the activities and how to take the most of that page.

My English Images, resources for teachers

http://www.screentoaster.com/watch/stUEhXQ0RIR1xeRFpUX1ldVFJU/myenglishimages_tour

The next link is for students who are learning Spanish, specially (especially) those who are just starting to write in that language. It shows a picture and its name in English, and the student has to complete a gap with the name in Spanish. If the teacher wants to work with that activity, she/he could send this (these) screencasts to their (her/his) students as an example of the exercises they have to make (do). Teachers could use this (these) screencasts for practising new vocabulary.

Hablemos español!

http://www.screentoaster.com/watch/stVUJcQ0JIR1xfQlpeWlJdV1ZQ/spanish_vocab_interactive_whiteboard_activity_by_aartpack

The last example of screencasts in education shows an interactive and graphic way of teaching hundreds, tens and ones. It shows a chart in which you classify these three new concepts and then students sum up and write the result.

Artpack Interactive

http://www.screentoaster.com/watch/stVUJcQ0JIR1xfQlpdWF5eXldW/math_activity_interactine_whiteboard_by_aartpack