About this Tool

One favorite tool for making videos is Screencast-o-matic, a free webcam and screen recorder that is easy to use, has wide applications, and is reliable. It simultaneously captures your movements on the computer screen and your voice so you can provide narration. Screen recordings have the advantage of including visual materials in addition to the instructor's voice, which personalizes the experience for students. With a screen recorder, you can...

narrate a slide show created with PowerPoint or any other presentation software;
demonstrate how to use software applications, such as Google Docs, Photoshop, Excel, etc.
explain your navigation of a website, such as your Canvas course or a site that you want students to explore.

Quick Demo of Screencast-o-matic

Effective Practices

Borrow a USB microphone from Media Services or purchase one. Poor audio quality makes a video difficult to caption, which is a legal requirement. (Note: you may need to unplug the USB mic to hear playback.)

Getting Started

Go to Screencast-o-matic.com and click the Start Recording button. For free, you can make as many 15-minute recordings as you want.

For a fee you can record for as long as you want and use built-in editing tools that make it really easy to make fixes and enhancements.

Tutorials

Screencast-o-matic has tutorials.

How to use in Canvas

Save your recording as an MP4 file.
Upload your video file.
Embed the video in Canvas for your students.

Mac users

Mac Users have the QuickTime Player screen recorder and built-in video editing tools that have all the capabilities of Screencast-o-matic.