InterPro - Online Learning - Teaching Resources for Instructors - Recorded Presentations: Tools & Software
This document gives an overview of tools and software for recorded presentations
Below is a brief list of tools and software that can be used to create various types of recorded presentations (i.e. podcasting, screen casting, video screen capture, recorded PowerPoint, etc.). This is not an exhaustive list of tools, but rather is meant to help our instructors to begin to understand what is available. It is important to remember that software/tool selection will depend greatly on various factors, such as the learning goals and context. Therefore, we strongly recommended contacting the InterPro Learning Design and Technologies team for a consultation to help with instruction analysis, proper tools selection, and training.
Screencasting (Video Screen Capture):
Screencasts can be a particularly useful instructional tool for:
- presenting PowerPoint slides along with recorded narration
- visually demonstrating how a certain task is performed using specific software
- effectively demonstrating a specific task or procedure on a computer
- providing student visual and narrated feedback on assignments or projects (a useful and effective method of feedback for online courses)
Screencast Tools & Software Options:
- Camtasia - Camtasia is available for both Mac and Windows PC. It provides the ability to create screen recordings from the computer desktop or through a MS PowerPoint plugin. It has basic video editing capabilities and full integration with MS PowerPoint. Regardless of the type of screencast that is being created, this tool essentially just records the activity on the computer screen and saves it as a video file for editing. If familiar with basic video editing software such as iMovie or Windows MovieMaker, then the editing features in Camtasia will be familiar. Visit their website for more details.
- ScreenFlow - ScreenFlow is available on Mac only and provides the ability to create simple screen recordings from the computer's desktop. It has basic video editing capabilities and a user-friendly interface. This tool essentially records the activity on the computer screen and saves it as a video file for editing. If familiar with basic video editing software such as iMovie or Windows MoviewMaker, the editing features in ScreenFlow will be familiar. Visit their website for more details.
- Adobe Captivate - Adobe Captivate provides the ability to create interactive presentations with multiple recording options for both recording narrated PowerPoint presentations and screen recording. It has powerful editing capabilities and full integration with other Adobe suite products, as well as a PowerPoint plug-in that allows for interaction and editing of slides during post-production. According to Adobe, this product "is not a quick and dirty screencasting program, its intention is to create best-in-class multimedia video and e-learning experiences". Visit their websitefor more details.
- Explain Everything - Explain Everything is available as an iOS app on the Apple iPad. It is an easy-to-use tool that allows for annotation and narration of explanations and presentations using images, MS PowerPoint slides, or Apple Keynote. Explain Everything records on-screen drawing, annotation, object movement, and captures audio via the iPad microphone. It provides the ability to import images, PDF< PPT, XLS, RTF, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote from Dropbox, Evernote, Email, iPad photo roll and iPad 2 camera. The ability to save the project file for later editing, and export as MP4 movie files, PNG image files, PDFs, and share the .XPL project file with others for collaboration. Visit their website for more details.
- Apple QuickTime - QuickTime is a media utility that has many little know features including basic audio, video, and screen recording, and it is included with every Mac running OS X 10.6 or higher. Visit this website for an excellent tutorial on audio and screen recording with QuickTime.
- Screencast-O-Matic - Screencast-O-Matic is a free web-based screen recording tool that allows for the creation of screencasts of the computer desktop. There is the ability to record audio and add notes to the screencast at different times. It is cross-platform compatible (Mac, Windows, Linux), and can run in Firefox and Safari. A benefit of this approach is that there is no need to install any software. It is important to note that the screencast recordings are limited to a maximum of 15 minutes. Final recordings can be uploaded directly to YouTube or exported to Flash, QuickTime, or Windows Media. One of the nicer features about this product is that it also allows the screencast to be exported an an MP4 to iMovie or as AVI to Windows Movie Maker for later editing. If a longer recording needs to be created, there is the option to upgrade to a Pro account for a small fee to record up to 1 hour of recording. Visit their website for more details.
Podcasting (Audio Recordings):
Podcasts are a particularly useful instruction tool for:
- delivering a recorded narration preview or summary of course content
- providing students with narrated audio feedback on assignments or projects (a useful and effective method of feedback for online courses)
- students to create and deliver a recorded report, summary, or reflection
- providing case study description and discussion through audio rather than text
Podcast Tools & Software Options:
- Audacity - Audacity is a free and open source software that provides basic audio recording and editing capabilities. It is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
- Apple Garageband - Garageband is a simple, yet powerful audio recording software application available on all Mac computers as part of the iLife application suite. It is deeply integrated with other Apple iLife applications (i.e. iMovie, iTunes, etc) and allows users to create and edit audio podcasts, and enhanced podcasts (audio + visual still images).
- Apple QuickTime - QuickTime is a media utility that has little known features including basic audio, video, and screen recording, and it is included with every Mac running OS X 10.6 or higher. Visit this website for an excellent tutorial on audio and screen recording with QuickTime.
Editing & Conversion:
Most tools above have editing and exporting capabilities integrated in them. Editing tools support handling the post-production audio/video editing of digital sequences. Conversion tools allow users to encode and customize the output formats from a variety of choices to serve their needs.
Editing & Conversion Tools Options:
- Apple iMovie - iMovie has been an OS X-only application included in the iLife suite of Mac applications. Users can edit the photos and video clips and add titles, music, and effects, including basic color correction and video enhancement tools and transitions such as fades and slides. See Mac Support for more information.
- Adobe Media Encoder - Media Encoder has an intuitive interface, background encoding, and convenient presets to help users quickly output for virtually any screen. See this tutorial video.
- Handbrake - Handbrake is a tool for converting video from nearly any format to a selection of modern, widely supported codecs. It is a free and open source and serves multiple platforms (Windows, Mac, and Linux).