Instagram, Vine, and Screencasts

Instagram, Vine, and Screencasts

As technology becomes one of the primary ways to make learning more engaging for students, new apps such as Instagram and Vine that are considered social media may also be helpful in the classroom. 

Instagram 

Previously, I never thought about using Instagram, but thanks to We Are Teachers and their creative lists of ways to use Instagram in the classroom, I'm now thinking of ways to use Instagram in the library. 

I've created an Instagram page for the new school I'll be at for the 2016-17 school year. It's fairly new, but you have to start somewhere! Follow us now @GranthamLMC 

A photo posted by Grantham Academy Library (@granthamlmc) on Jul 5, 2016 at 9:50pm PDT

The perfect bag to carry all your awesome books in! 🎒📚

A photo posted by Grantham Academy Library (@granthamlmc) on Jul 5, 2016 at 11:04pm PDT

Vine

Vine is an app that allows you to share six second videos. Similar to Twitter with it's sharing constraints, it forces you to use the time you have creatively in order to get your point across. Reading Horizons has created a list for 8 Ways You Can Use Vine To Teach Reading Comprehension. 

 Here's my school's official Vine page

 @GranthamLMC and an example of a few Vine videos. 

1. After playing around with Instagram and Vine. These are a few ideas of how you could use these two apps in the library. Keep in mind, Instagram does have a video option that allows you to record for 60 seconds. 

1. Take pictures/videos of events going on in the library. (Book fair, author visits, book club, makerspaces, etc.)
2. Take pictures/videos of new books available, or short excerpts.
3. Take pictures/videos of students using the library. 
4. Post competitions and announcements.
5. Get students involved using a hashtag challenge to promote literacy. 

Screencasts

Screencast allow you to record or take picture images of your computer screen. In the past, I've used Screencast-O-Matic and I love it! This time around, I decided to download Jing to see which one I enjoyed using more. Watch the following two videos that I recorded using two different programs.

Screencast-o-matic

Jing

Click on the following link to watch the video, or scroll to the very bottom of the page.

JING VIDEO

Cons

Screencast-O-Matic

1. Doesn't allow you to capture only a picture.

2. Has preset recording screen dimensions. 

Jing

1. Doesn't allow you to automatically save to YouTube.

2. Doesn't allow you to record the screen and webcam simultaneously.

3. Five minute recording time maximum.

I began with the cons because most of the time that's where the deal breakers outshine the pros.  With Screencast-O-Matic, I like that I can post the videos directly to my YouTube channel, and when I pause I can also go back to specific spots in my recording. While using Jing, I felt rushed to meet the five minute time limit, and I had a lot of trouble accessing the video when saved to my computer. The only features I found more appealing in Jing were the recording screen options and the sun icon to access the program.  Overall, I still prefer to use Screencast-o-matic. I felt like I could do more using the program in comparison to Jing.