Updated for 2018 - Simple Video Presentations with Google Slides and Screencastify

This is an updated post about a process I've been promoting for years. It uses Google Slides and Screencastify. Since they recently updated the app, I remade the main tutorial, which you can find below.

The idea of these projects is that students make a slideshow presentation, then they record the screen and their voice as they present it.

Teachers can also use this process to make simple, quick videos for lessons to post in Classroom.

Here are two examples of how the final video might look.The first is best to show students, but keep in mind it actually was made with SnagIt instead of Screencastify. SnagIt is no longer available. The second one was designed for teachers and refers specifically to their activity.

  

Screencastify is a great Chrome extension for this process. It makes it very easy to record the presentation on a Chromebook or laptop. It also links directly to Google Drive, so students don't have extra steps of uploading video files to Drive.

You will need to install Screencastify from the Chrome Web Store or, if your school uses a managed Google domain, you can have your administrator force install the app for you and your students.

As referred to in the video below, the first time you run it, it will take you through a simple setup process. Just allow all the permissions it asks for and sign into your Google account when it prompts you.

The tutorial below shows how to actually record the presentation. As it says in the video, there are three things students should do before recording:

• Install and setup the extension. This is not shown in the tutorial, but it's very easy.
• Make the slideshow. I suggest doing this in Google Slides, but you can use any slideshow app.
• Practice! It's very important to rehearse the presentation because these have to be done in one take.

As you can see from the tutorial, the resulting video ends up in Google Drive. From there it's easy to share or turn it in through Google Classroom.

Keep in mind that the free version of Screencastify puts a watermark on the screen. It also limits you to a 10 minute recording and 50 recordings per month. There is a paid version which removes those limitations and watermark. It also allows for some basic editing. I haven't paid to upgrade yet, but that option to edit is very promising. 

If you have any questions about this process, please let me know. I'd like to improve these resources so they benefit many students!