Screencastify - A Great Way To Make Your Thinking Visible

There are times when I think it is wicked hard to understand what people are thinking. Wouldn't it be awesome if there was a way they could explain things visually? Think if you could see something and hear the person explain their thinking behind whatever you were looking at? If this is something you dream of, keep reading!

What is Screencastify?
Screencastify is a tool that allows you to capture, edit and share whatever is on your screen wicked fast.

Getting Started

Signing up and Signing in.

Install the Screencastify extension to Chrome.

Click Add extension.

You should see the extension appear somewhere in the upper right corner of your Chrome browser once it installs.

Click on the extension then select Setup Camera Access.

Click Allow. If you block you will be unable to create screencasts.

Save your recordings to Google Drive, click Next.

Sign into your Google account.

This makes the whole process a million times easier to use and way more efficient.

Make sure you click Allow when it asks for Google access.

This is followed by a few screens asking you who you are and what type of school you work in or attend.

Recording

1. Click the Screencastify icon in the upper right corner.

This drop-down will appear.

2. Click Record Desktop. You could also click Embed webcam so anyone who watched the recording could also see your face. I'm not really sure why someone would want to see me but that option exists.

This tiny red dot is the only thing that shows you are actively recording your screen.

Click the Screencastify icon to display the above toolbar when you are ready to stop recording.

Click Stop to end your recording.

Once I hit Stop my video uploaded to Drive.

I opened Drive and found my recording quickly by clicking Recent.
Now share the recording!

Comments

Like your ELMO but with an iPad (elementary classroom teachers)

I used AirServer to create the infinity mirror effect. We were in a meeting today and Dominic told us about this fantastic idea. As we discussed all things technology he explained one method of using the iPad as a portable ELMO. It was too cool not to share. Step 1 Make sure you have AirServer running on your laptop. 1. Click the Windows key on your keyboard or click the icon in the lower left of your screen. 2. Just start typing AirServer. 3. Click AirServer. Don't see it? Contact technology or your building tech person. Step 2 Connect your teacher iPad to your laptop. 1. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen. Start by swiping in the bezel, the black plastic part surrounding the screen. 2. Click AirPlay Mirroring. 3. Click your name. Step 3 Open the camera app and instant portable ELMO! Anything you see in the camera's len will be broadcast to the big screen. I just used this method to take a picture of my notebook as a demonstration of how co

Who is emailing me? The Blue Man Group??? (Add an image to your Google account.)

WHY It is always nice to put a face with a name. Sometimes we need a tiny little reminder of what someone looks like because we don't see them very often. Follow these steps to add/change the image associated with your Google account. HOW Open your email. Click your image. It might just be a blue circle if you have not added something already. Click Change . Find an image you like. Your amazing new image will appear. From now on everyone can put a name to a face!

Annotate PDF? How might I do that?

So I have a PDF and I need to edit it. Here is one method that works pretty well for me. Open Word. Click File . 1. Click Open . 2. Click Browse . 3. Find the PDF you want to annotate. 4. Click Open . Click OK when you see this box. Bam! Your PDF now opens in Word. Note: you maybe have to click Enable Editing at the top of the screen. Finished editing and want to turn it back into a PDF? Click File . 1. Click Save As . 2. Click This PC . 3. Pick a location. I usually save things to my desktop. 4. Click Save as type - and choose PDF. 5. Click Save .

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