I need to try more screencasting

January 3rd, 2006 | by Tim Wilson |

I used a traditional CGI approach and MySQL to build my recent idea sharing Web application. After listening to the last episode of Inside the Net which discussed, in part, the Ruby on Rails Web development framework, I decided to check out some alternatives for future development work. Ruby on Rails is getting all kinds of well-deserved buzz these days, but being a Python programmer I looked around and found Django and TurboGears, two Rails-like frameworks for Python.

That leads to the real message of this post which is to point out how prevalent the “screencast” has become as a tool for promoting and teaching about these tools. Both the Ruby on Rails screencasts and the TurboGears Devcasts are great ways to get a feel for how these tools work in real life. I should be using tools like Snapz Pro more often to help spread the word in my district about creative uses of technology. (I certainly have the gear for recording.) My district has been an Atomic Learning customer for years, but I’m thinking of a longer form screencast. Possible screencasts:

Maybe we should just buy all of our teachers new iPods and subscribe them to screencast podcasts. (I’m only half joking. What great professional development potential!)

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  1. 3 Responses to “I need to try more screencasting”

  2. By John Pederson on Jan 3, 2006 | Reply

    I just downloaded Snapz Pro with intentions of testing out a screencast about Creative Commons. (I’m playing around with some stuff over http://pedersondesigns.com/moodle) with a Creative Commons tutorial for educators.)

    My wife would kick me if I “invested” in the recording equipment. :O)

    The kicker…I never though of screencast podcasts. Brilliant. So many ideas just under the surface. I’m still stuck in my thinking that podcasts are about audio.

    I just bumped your adsense revenue a few cents.

  3. By Dan McCreary on Jan 3, 2006 | Reply

    How about setting up a Wiki that uses the FreeMind mind map editor? MindMaps are an interesting way to do idea mapping and there is at least one wiki that supports FreeMind mindmaps. Checkout the Freemind web site on SourceForge: http://freemind.sourceforge.net

    For you real techiou can also see an example of a freemind map of a data dictionary at:

    http://app.education.state.mn.us/datadictionary/Maps/DataDictionary.mm

    I used FreeMind to display concepts an properties at the MN Department of Education and it worked very well.

  4. By Meredith on Jan 13, 2006 | Reply

    Tim — I talked with a multimedia designer who is creating “courses” for a sales force who is designing courses to be delivered via iPods! It’s not that far fetched!

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