Using Screenr

I've been using Screenr this week to make screencasts of key databases for a group of students in Malaysia. I'd seen someone use it at LILAC 2011 for their presentation and thought it might be an alternative to Adobe Captivate. I don't like airplanes so there's no way I'm going to meet these students in person but I can still do some user education with them using this tool. It was easy to set up and fairly intuitive - thankfully I didn't need to download any software and could log in using my Twitter account. I had to think carefully about what aspects of the database I wanted to show as Screenr only gives you 5 minutes in which to do your screencast - I think this is good because it concentrates the mind and stops you waffling on and on. I also wrote myself a mini script for the audio to make sure I used plain language that they could all understand. The course tutor is going to let me know how they are received by the students and I've made sure that the students can add comments to the Screenr page.

It was excruciating listening to myself talk over the slides - I understand why actors don't like to watch their own films - but I'm now comfortable with it and wouldn't hestitate to use it again.  I've got some plans to use it with other courses - not necessarily distance learning courses - in order to back up some of the search hints and tips I talk about in my library lectures (I should say 'talks' really but the academics advertise them as lectures and it makes me sound more important!).