Review of Screencast-O-Matic

Screencast-O-Matic is a free screen recorder for instant screen capture and sharing on Screencast-O-matic, YouTube, or save to a video file. Because it is completely web-based, you can use it right in your browser without an install at Screencast-O-Matic.com or download to run anytime. Screencast can be a useful recording tool for creating things like product demos, explaining features of a website, etc.   How to use? It is very simple to explore and be a master of Screecans-O-matic. Step 1. Go to Screencast-O-Matic. You'll find it at: http://www.screencast-o-matic.com. Step 2. Insert a microphone. Step 3. Press the "Start Recording" button. Step 4. A box with a dotted border will pop up. Step 5. From the dropdown menu at the bottom of the box, select "Fullscreen". Step 6. Press the record button to start recording. The screencast will record your voice, too. Step 7. Press Alt + D to stop recording. Step 8. To the right of the video, you can choose where you want to publish your video; Screencaster-O-matic, Youtube or to Video File.   Just like each software has it’s pros and cons, there are some considerable pros and cons of Screencast-O-matic. Pros: It's free! No login/ No account can record an entire screen or only a portion It's very useful to teach/explain things because you can also record audio It’s super easy to use It places a yellow circle around the mouse so you don’t lose track of it It places a target over every mouse click can save it to your computer as an mp4, flv or avi can easily upload to YouTube or the Screencast-o-matic website for sharing Cons: Doesn't offer as many attractive features/functions as some of the recording software You do not have the ability to edit your screencasts once they are published However the audio quality is quite good, the image(video) quality is notedly different from the original one Provide only 15 minutes of free recording time (You have to upgrade to Pro account to create longer videos, get much more) I believe that Screencasting has tons of uses in education, and I thought this Screencast-O-Matic will be very useful recording tool, especially for teachers! For example, if you are a math instructor and have to teach complicated math problems. Then, you can use a tablet to write out the complicated formulas and problems on the computer and record the screen with your voice as you explain how to work the problems. This allows your students to review the problems outside of class with your expert instruction. I believe that anything that you want the students to view over and over again outside of class is a great candidate for a screencast. I'm in love with Screencast-O-matic after I realized that we can always do quick little screencast videos for people/learners to demonstrate how to do one thing or another on the computer. Whatever the topic you want to share, the instruction is too simple that you just need to think of the steps, record and present!