How do you teach students something on the computer? I usually demonstrate the process and think aloud for students as I show them what to do. This year, the team on which I'm working has set a goal for teachers to keep assignment calendars on Google. Most of us have set up Google Calendars and since I am the AVID Research teacher, responsible for supporting students in all of their classes, it was up to me to teach students how to access, sign up for and print their Google Assignment calendars. Is one lesson ever enough? Not in my world, so I make handouts (Accessing Google) and screen casts. A screen cast is like a digital movie, but instead of showing me, it captures my voice/explanation and what is happening on my computer screen. My favorite screen caster maker is Screencast-O-Matic. There is just something in the "o-matic" that makes the whole process sound easy to me. Here's the lesson I made and posted to our virtual classroom. It's not perfect, but I'm hoping it's an explanation that makes sense. What do you think?
I love the screencasting - makes things very clear and they can use it at home as well as in the computer lab at school.
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