Thursday, December 3, 2009

Free Screencast and Streaming Server Solution





Screencasts are increasingly becoming popular as web-based demos for learning (chiefly) software applications and other UI-based tools. These applications/software can be anything from a photo editing tool like Photoshop, e-learning authoring tools like Articulate Engage and Captivate, office productivity tools like Powerpoint and Excel, or simply anything that has a user interface that a learner needs to be familiar with to get started.



Why more and more learners and instructional designers are leaning towards screencasts is pretty simple to figure out. Running a face-to-face demo for a huge or distributed set of learners is very cost-intensive and iterative. Further, a face-to-face demo isn't able to cater to a learner who needs more time than his peers to get familiar with the interface and learn the ropes quickly. In such situations, screencasts are being very effectively used as standalone teaching/training objects or as a part of blended learning involving live instructor-led demos.


However, often instructional designers/trainers are faced with at least three hurdles that they have to overcome before they can include screencasts into their learning strategy: 


a. Screencasting tools like Adobe Captivate are very, very expensive and can push training budgets up by a lot in one go. Of course, they are excellent tools and come with their package and frills but you can't deny the cost factor.


b. Once you create a screencast and want learners to access it from the comfort of their desks (probably situated across the country/globe/organizations) you need a streaming server where you can host the necessary files that the learner can access over the Internet/intranet. And, streaming servers are neither inexpensive nor environment-friendly.


c. Especially in case of UI-based applications, instructional designers/trainers have to depend on SMEs(subject matter experts) to create effective content. Now, your SME might be the best power user of the tool you want to teach, but how do you make your resources (authoring software) accessible to them and collaborate with them for creating your learning content?


The ideal solution would be a 'free' tool that doesn't require downloads or installation, therefore, doesn't sit on any single machine and is accessible to all over the Internet. Wait! Did I say that's all? This screencast created by this tool should also be similarly 'free' in terms of streaming server requirements and learners should be able to access it from anywhere, anytime!


Screenr is a web-based screencast solution. Now, you can create your screencasts the easy way! Not only can you or your SME create a screencast on the web, with a single click, you can post it on to Twitter for all your followers to see.


Don't want to post on Twitter? Cool. It'll be available on the Screener site and you can use the link to post the video on your blog or site, or simply share it over email/IM or post the link as a resource in your LMS.


A couple words of caution. Make sure the screens you use don't have any sensitive data that might put you or your organization into trouble. Also, realize that we do create too much hue and cry over corporate security. If somebody else gets to see and learn to use what you have to share what's the harm? So, just be judicious and follow the link below to get started!


Don't forget to check out their 1-minute tour!