Screencast-O-Matic is a software that can be used to record your screen. This is useful in a variety of scenarios, from tutorial videos to narrated presentations. The free version of this software is available for both Mac and Windows and will allow you to record videos up to 15 minutes in length with a watermark in the corner. Advanced features are available for a monthly fee, but are usually unneeded in most cases.

To install Screencast-O-Matic, navigate to their website here. Follow the download links for the free version and follow the default recommendations. You will also need to log in; we recommend doing so with your Champlain Google account (choose the “log in with Google” option) so you can easily upload to Google Drive. Once you have the recorder installed, you are ready to start recording your screen.

Recording your Screen

To learn how to record your screen, go to your Screencast-O-Matic content page (you will be prompted to log in if you have not already), and choose the “Show me how” option under “Make a recording” to watch a tutorial video.

Before recording

  1. Open the content that you wish to record on your computer. You’ll be recording your monitor as if it were a projector screen in a classroom, so adjust your chosen content accordingly.
  2. Set up your microphone and, if you are including video of yourself, your webcam. We recommend that for the best quality, you use an external microphone (a USB or headset mic) rather than the one built into your laptop.
  3. Click “Make a recording” on the Screencast-O-Matic content page.
  4. You will now see an overlay on your screen with a dashed-line rectangle. This rectangle can be adjusted to encapsulate a specific part of your screen that you would like to record. If you prefer to capture your entire screen, you can adjust the Size preference to Fullscreen. Active Window will record the window that you are currently working in through your presentation, such as an open web browser window or PowerPoint window. You can also opt to record from your webcam into an inset box so you can appear on screen with your content.
  5.  In the menu, be sure to select your microphone that you wish to use. You can test to see if this device is picking up your voice beforehand with the audio level bars next to the narration tab in the Screencast-O-Matic menu. If you are using your webcam, make sure the right camera is selected in the video inset.

Recording

Once you have adjusted these various settings, you are ready to start your screen recording.

  • Click the red “Rec” button to start recording. Once you are finished, click the pause button and then “Done” to save your video.
  • You will be prompted to save/upload, share, or edit your video. Unless you wish to edit, choose “Save/Upload”. Your screen capture will appear on your screen in a new window.
  • Click “Save As Video File” to save the file to your computer, or “Upload to Google Drive” to save it in Drive. Select a folder and filename to save to, and then click the green “Publish” button. 

Sharing a Screen Recording

Your video can be shared with a simple link that you can email to students or add to your page in Canvas, or you can embed it in a Canvas item.

  1. First, find your video in Google Drive, right-click on it and select Share.
  2. On the new popup panel, click “Get link”. This will copy the link to your video. From here, you can paste the link into any Canvas page or email message of your choice.

Advanced: Share Recording by Embedding an iframe

Embedding a video in Canvas using an iframe creates a video player with your video directly in the page. If you have saved your recording in Google Drive, you will need to follow the procedure for embedding a Google Drive video.

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