Today we had the opportunity to download and explore two applications with very useful functions! As we are furthering our journey in teacher educaiton, it is great to develop new skills for new programs that will help us in future classrooms and practicums!

The first program I was able to play around with is called Screencastify. This application allows you to record your screen with use of microphone audio and webcam and screen recording. The screen recording is something I hadn’t used before and I thought that was the most handy and exciting tool to get to know! With this, you could record many different lessons and info segments, as well as use as a tool to catch students up if they have been away or had to miss classes. This would definitely be something I would use in my classrooms. There is also the added factor of having your tabs and ads being recorded, which could be distracting for students. Screencastify would be a great tool for grades 6-12 to record projects, as well as update said grades on missed work. This app could also be used to give parents tutorials on any tech apps that they are using such as FreshGrade.

As for grade K-5’s I think that this could be used to explain different areas of reserach and would inhibit inquiry based learning! I wonder if students would be able to put together a project with Screencastify and properly construct something for class material. It would  be an effective way for students to present in from of the class that would potentially ease stress and nervousness of public spekaing, to ease students in to speaking in front of the class.

Additionally, I was unable to get my microphones paired to this software (despite my efforts and troubleshooting) as you can tell in my video below! I found it moderately user-friendly, but everytime I went to connect it took me to a dead end link. All-in-all, I think this is a great tool as long as it is cooperating properly!