Screencasting

Welcome to the Wikiversity Screencasting Project.

Screencasting involves recording computer output that normally seen on a computer display. The recorded video can be combined with an audio description, often to produce a tutorial, demonstration of software or a guided tour of internet resources. The Screencasting Project allows participants to learn how to make screencasts.

Learning Tasks

Select a method that is suitable for your computer hardware or an OpenSource software that is available on all operating systems Linux, MacOSX and Windows. Software that is available on all operating systems makes is easier to swap between operating systems without the need to learn about the user interface of new software.
Learn about the main steps of screencasting to identify the main steps in the software you are planning to use. The general understanding of the concept makes you more flexible to change software for a specific purpose.
(AudioSlides4Web) Compare a screencast with AudioSlides4Web as a tool that is able to add an audio comment to a sequence of images or to sequence of slides from a presentation. The result of AudioSlides4Web is webbased presentation. What are the PROs and CONs of each method and under which requirements would you prefer one these methods.
(Wiki2Reveal) Compare a screencast with Wiki2Reveal as a tool that is able to add an audio comment to a Wikiversity learning resource and convert the learning resouce on the fly in a webbased presentation. The slides can be annotated. What are the PROs and CONs of each method and under which requirements would you prefer one these methods.

Main Steps for Screencasting

Cursor:. After you launch a Screencast software, you might want the mouse cursor to be shown in your recorded video and you activate the options to show the mouse. Some screencast software allows add a colored focus that support users to follow the interaction on the screen and click much better.
Frame Rate: If screencast software allows to select the frame rate, then is important an important option to control the size of the generated screencast-based tutorials. In most cases it is sufficient to limit the frames per second (fps) to a value near 10. If you show rapid movements on the screen, then the frame rate might not be sufficient. Standard frame rates of videos are 25fps or 30fps.
Recording Area:. It depends on the requirements of the video, which part of the screen you want to record in the video.
- Most of time you select an area on the screen (e.g. a window of the software) or
- you select your entire display's output for recording.

The content is recorded in both cases in a designated rectangular region. An area with dimensions 640 pixels by 480 pixels is suitable for many purposes if you use the ratio 4:3. Other options are 16:9.

Audio: You might decide to record the audio simultaneously with screencast recording. An other option would be to add the audio comments afterwards with a video editing software.
Recording: After defining frame rate and size audio settings it is recommended to record a small sample screencast. An check audio and video quality together with size of file output. You click in general on a "Start Recording" button and stop the video after finishing e.g. the tutorial. Pause video makes sense, when a longer processing time of the software is coming and you don't what the viewers not to waste their time for waiting for the output. Other causes for pausing the recording are some opening and closing a new window and move the new window in the recorded area. Avoid sequences in video that are not helpful for the demonstration from the very beginning (if possible) by pausing the recording. This approach reduces the post processing workload for the screencast.
Video Converter: Especially for using videos in Wikiversity learning resources, it is recommended that the videos are comprehensive, short and small in size to used in as learning content, so that the server load will be minimal. Use video converter e.g. into WEBM format to have an efficient video format to be used in learning resources (see )

Operating System

All Operating Systems

OBS Studio - Open Source - https://obsproject.com/download
VLC - Video LAN Client - Open Source - https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

Linux

VokoScreen - install from Software repository
Screenkey

MacOSX

QuickTime-Player integrated in Operating System
Display Eater - MacOSX - commercial license (part of learning resource from 2011)

Windows

CamStudio (OpenSource) https://sourceforge.net/projects/camstudio/

External links

Screencast article at Wikipedia