There are lots of screen recording tools available, but one of my favorites has always been Screencastify.
It is super easy to use with options to record your screen or webcam or both, as well as annotate on your screen, edit the recording afterwards, and share the final video in many ways.
As useful as Screencastify has always been, it is now even better with two new free features: Interactive Questions for video quizzes and Viewer Analytics!
- The Interactive Questions feature makes it easy to add multiple choice questions to your video so you can assess student understanding while they watch your videos.
- The Viewer Analytics feature allows you to see who has viewed your videos, and how many times, so you can get a better measure of student engagement.
See below for a short video walkthrough of these new features, as well as written directions. And thanks to Screencastify for sponsoring this post and video! All reviews and opinions expressed are based on my personal view.
Instructional Video (11 minutes)
You can also view this video on YouTube at:
Or you can listen to the audio-only podcast version here (Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast tool.)
Install and Setup the Screencastify Extension
If you already have it installed, you can skip down to the next section, but if not
You can install Screencastify from the Chrome Web Store using the link below:
- Screencastify extension - Chrome Web Store link
One quick note to be aware of… during the setup process, Screencastify will ask you what your role is. To be able to use the new Interactive Questions feature and Viewer Analytics you will need to identify yourself as either a "Teacher" or a "K-12 administrator".
If you have already set up Screencastify and need to go back to change your role, you can always get back to these settings by going to https://app.screencastify.com/survey
Recording with Screencastify
Once we have the Screencastify extension installed we can start recording.
Nothing has changed with Screencastify as far as recording goes, so if you are familiar with that process, then again feel free to jump down to the next section. For a quick review for those who need it, here is how you record:
- First open the content that you wish to record, such as a website, presentation, document, or such.
- Next click on the Screencastify extension in the top right corner of your Chrome browser.
- From the drop-down menu choose if you want to record just a "Browser Tab" or your entire "Desktop" or your "Webcam Only".
- You can also make other choices such as which mic to use, embedding your webcam, using the drawing tools, and more.
- Click "Record" when ready to begin.
- Now Screencastify will record what is on our screen, as well as our webcam and our voice.
- While recording you can use the "Drawing Tools" to annotate, draw shapes, add stickers, highlight your mouse, and more.
- When done, click the Screencastify extension again and choose the stop button, or click the stop button on the drawing toolbar.
New Video Management Page
Once you are done recording, you will now be taken to the new Video Management Page, where you will see the new updates to Screencastify.
- You can still do all of the same things as before including renaming the video, trimming the beginning or end, opening in the edit tool for more advanced editing, and of course download the video, share it from your Google Drive, and share it through other methods.
- What is new are the two options in the top right corner, including a new watch page link and the interactive questions tool.
New Watch Page
Although you can still share your video in all the old ways, you now have a new option to share your video through the new Screencastify Watch Page.
- The Watch Page has helpful viewing features for your students, and also collects viewer analytics so you can see how your students are engaging with your content.
- To use the new Watch Page we first need to set the viewing permissions for our video.
- To do that click the "Private" option in the top right corner of the screen.
- This will open the "Video Watch Page Settings" window.
- Here you can choose "Who can access this video?" by choosing either "Anyone with this link" or just "Anyone in my organization".
- Next you can select "How do you want to track views?"
- If you choose "Anonymously" then there will be no sign in required for someone to view your video. Screencastify will simply keep track of the number of views, but not who the people are.
- If you choose "By Nickname" then viewers will be required to type in their name to watch the video. Screencastify will track the views by the names entered, but of course keep in mind that people can type in whatever name they wish.
- The third option is to choose "By Email Address" in which viewers will be required to sign in with a Google account to watch the video. This is the most accurate way to track who is watching the video, but does require that the viewers have Google accounts.
- When done click "Save".
- You can now click the button for "Copy Watch Page Link" to get a copy of the link.
- This is the link you will give to your students or whoever is viewing your video.
- Alternatively, you can just click the "Copy Watch Page Link" without setting the permissions and it will default to "Anyone with this link" and tracking viewers anonymously.
- This link to the new Watch Page is also used when you go to the "Share" menu and choose the options "Send in email" or "Generate QR code" or "Share to Classroom".
- In all of these cases the viewers will be taken to the new Watch Page instead of the Google Drive link as in the past.
- When your students use the link they will be taken to the new Screencastify Watch Page to see the video.
- Controls on the bottom include options for full-screen viewing, changing the playback speed, and popping the video out into its own picture-in-picture window.
- The picture-in-picture option can be very helpful so the students can watch your video while working on their assignment.
New Viewer Analytics
As students watch your video on the new Watch Page, Screencastify will keep track of the views.
You can see the viewing analytics for your video by clicking on the "Viewers" button at the top of the Video Management Page.
- This will open a window where you can see who has watched the video, when they watched it, and how many times.
- Note: You may need to refresh the Video Management Page to see the most recent statistics for your video.
You can always get back to this page in the future by:
- Clicking on the Screencastify extension
- Clicking the menu button in the top left
- Choosing "My Recordings" from the menu
- And then clicking on the video recording you wish to access
New Interactive Questions
The other big update to Screencastify is the option to add questions to a video.
- As the students watch the video these questions will pop up for them to answer.
- The results will be collected for you so you can evaluate the students' engagement as well as their understanding of the content.
- To add questions to your video, begin by clicking the "Interactive Questions" button in the top right corner of the share page.
- This will open the "Interactive Questions" screen.
- Here you can watch your video and then click the "Add Question" button at the bottom when you get to a spot in the video where you want a question.
This will open a pop-up window where you can:
- Add the question
- Add the possible answers (between 2 and 4 options)
- Select the answer which is correct
- Save the question to return to the video
- Continue adding questions to the video using the "Add Question" button.
- A gray circle marker will appear on the video timeline to indicate where each of your questions will appear.
- At any point you can view all the questions and edit any as needed by clicking on the list view in the top right corner of the screen.
- Now when you give students the link to the new Watch Page, the questions will pop up while the students view the video.
- Screencastify will let the student know if they got the answer correct:
- Or if they got it wrong, what the correct answer should have been.
- You can view the results from your students by going back to the "Interactive Questions" page and clicking the "Responses" button at the top.
- Here you will see a list of your students, along with their grades, how they did on each question, and the percent correct from all the students for each question.
Conclusion
These new updates for Screencastify are great for both teachers and students.
- For teachers you will now be able to track which students have watched your videos, as well as see who needs extra help and which topics may need additional instruction.
- For students this breaks up the video for them into smaller bites and provides periodic self checks throughout the video. Students also get the benefit of the helpful picture-in-picture mode.
- And best of all, these new updates are free!
These new features will be widely available in mid-September. Sign up here to be notified of the launch: https://screencastify.ac-page.com/something-big-is-coming
Post by Eric Curts. Bring me to your school, organization, or conference with over 50 PD sessions to choose from. Connect with me on Twitter at twitter.com/ericcurts
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