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How to use Screen-O-Matic to create educational videos.

Screen-O-Matic takes the best of screencast technology and puts it in the hands of educators and teachers to improve the elearning experience

What is Screen-O-Matic?

Screen-O-Matic is a technology and platform that allow the user to capture images, graphs, video and audio online from their desktop or laptop and incorporate those different mediums into a comprehensive educational nodule. On top of that you get to narrate through voice-over. For online or elearning professionals and students alike, this technology is a godsend. Gone are the days of flat presentations with no pictures or videos, now you can create a multidimensional and interesting educational video that holds your student's attention and enhances their learning. 

Easy to learn, easy to use.

Screen-O-Matic is very easy to learn, and practicing is encouraged. Once you have downloaded the software on your system, you are presented with a thorough tutorial that encourages you to get going. It may take a few stops and starts, but that's the point. Once you feel comfortable using the software, do some practice runs. Make a tutorial on a subject you care about, using sources you found online. 

Putting it all together with voice.

You have your topic, your online resources and information, now you cobble it all together. Following the Screen-O-Matic tutorial, carefully place segments of captured video or images in the chronology you want, and then review that. If you need to move snippets of information around, it's easy. Once you have all the online resources lined up and in order, you need to do the voice-over or narration. Again, practice makes perfect. Keep your tone engaging and professional at the same time

Now it's time to create your educational videos.

When you are ready to create videos for your students, here are some tips for maintaining interest:

1) Keep it short please.

Keep your material and your presentations short. Each Screen-O-Matic presentation should cover one topic and stay in the 6-8 minute range. No matter what the age range of your students, 6-8 minute videos are the “sweet-spot' for attention span in an educational atmosphere. If you are teaching a class about the history of ancient Greece, for example, use one 8 minute video to discuss the development of the Athenian League.

2) Keep things simple.

Along with keeping your videos short, you need to keep them simple. Do not overwhelm your students with too much information crammed into one video. Depending on your topic, you need to break it down into bite-sized, manageable nodes of video. So when discussing the development of mass work force politics in the Industrial age, you can do multiple different presentations on that historical movement.

3) Making mistakes is part of the learning process

When creating a Screen-O-Matic video, do not be concerned about making mistakes. The software and the platform are so easy to use and forgiving you can easily correct mistakes and move on quickly. When you stress out too much about inserting an incorrect picture or garbling the voice-over, you lose time and energy. Familiarize yourself with the technology through the online tutorials and correct mistakes as you go.

4) Be Diverse!

The more diverse materials you use in your presentations, the better you maintain interest. If you are giving a lecture on the impact of improper footwear for a hard concrete floor, use images, graphs, power-point presentations and snippets of video. The more pertinent images you use, the better you solidify the topic in the student mind. 

5) Libraries are cool.

Don't hesitate to create a Screen-O-Matic library your students can access in order to learn further about given topics. This type of video library is readily accessible to them, even if you aren't. It furthers their level of knowledge about the topic and satiates interest.

6) Don't be a bore.

When you narrate your Screen-O-Matic videos, make sure you maintain a conversational and “light' tone. Not light in the sense of joking, more along the lines if imparting information and knowledge in an engaged and friendly manner. Quickest way to turn off your students is to narrate your videos in a flat and boring tone.

For the elearning professional or newbie alike, Screen-O-Matic is the perfect tool.