CaptureCast

What is CaptureCast?

Cattura CaptureCast is another great screencasting tool that is available in the Chrome Web Store. You can create a video recording of your screen or even from a webcam/document camera. Want students to record audio only? The user can select just the microphone without the display or webcam to only record the audio portion. All captures are able to be uploaded straight from the Chrome extension. Files that you want to be stored in the cloud (Google Drive, One Drive, Dropbox, etc.) can be downloaded to your device and uploaded by visiting your destinations site. 

Video Editing

The video format for CaptureCast is the .webm format. This is significant for those that want to edit their videos. The format is not always friendly to video editors (Camtasia). To edit your videos, you'll have to convert the video file to another version. If you want to do this for free, uploading your videos to Youtube and downloading them will put them in the .MP4 format. 

Why CaptureCast?

What differentiates CaptureCast from other similar tools like Snagit or Screencastify? One benefit over Screencastify is that it does not have a watermark or a limit on record time. Essentially, you are only limited by the amount of space you have available on your device. The advantage of CaptureCast over SnagIt is the ability to record offline. The video saves directly within the app. The user then decides if they want to upload it to Vimeo or Youtube. Another option is to download the video and upload it to the cloud service of your choice or to an external storage device.

Want to know how to get started?

Below I have a playlist of three videos. It covers how to get started (grant access), the basics of using CaptureCast, and how to download and upload your videos to Google Drive. 

Student Application

CaptureCast provides a great option for students that need to make a recording with the offline capabilities. They can record over a presentation or a document they wrote. How creative you want to them to be is up to you as the teacher. Matt Miller has an awesome top-ten list on ways you can use Google Slides on his Ditch That Textbook blog.

With the students in my district utilizing Chromebooks, Sheets, Slides, Docs, and Drawings are automatically available offline. If students are making a book from Google Slides or a comic in Google Drawings, they can add a recording regardless of their Internet access. This is especially handy for when the Internet goes down at school or students participate in a virtual learning day from home where Internet access might be questionable.