A new tool for Executive and Admin Assistants: Screencasting
Articulate, the company that developed the platform that we used to build our e-learning module (you can see part 1 of our module right here) has recently released a web based screencasting software… that’s FREE!
It’s called Screenr.
First things first: what is screencasting? Screencasting is when you record anything you do on a portion of or your whole computer screen while you narrate (or not) your actions. This type of technology is great for tutorials and training but since before Screenr you had to buy the software to do this, I never really thought of it as a tool for executive assistants or admin assistants… but now I do!
Free tends to do that to you, doesn’t it?
Given that this is free (record up to five minutes), there are a number of different scenarios where an executive assistant, administrative assistant or any kind of assistant might find this technology useful. One situation might be creating a couple screencasts for a temp that comes into the office to fill in while you’re out on vacation. After watching a few screencasts of you work through and narrate your daily tasks and showing them where different important information is located on your computer, you’ll give them a fighting chance in dealing with your boss while you’re out.
Another way to use this software is when you’re doing research for your boss… let’s say they want you to find some real estate listings in Florida for a potential purchase. You can do all of your searching, open up various properties in different tabs in your browser and then screencast your findings that they could then watch via a link from an email along with the links of the pages you highlight in the presentation.
The possibilities are endless.
And since this web based software is VERY easy to use, you’ll find it’s quicker to do a screencast than to write out directions for any number of computer tasks that other peers or subordinates might need to know how to do.
Below is a screencast of someone teaching how to “save” a document in MS Word; we know, simple stuff, but it’s just an example of what screenr can do:
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I think this tool is great. I wish I had it before I left my last position. Thank you for offering this to your members for free! I appreiciate all the tips and tools I have received from ProAssisting. I would love to hear more ideas for using Screenr. Members? Please submit. Thank you!
It’s actually free for anyone, not just ProAssisting members… and yeah, it’s a great tool delivered by a great company.
I used screencasting, for the first time today while working on a “how-to” for a class project. This is simply an amazing and easy to use application. I was trying to remember the name of the app, had a duh moment when I realized Ethan told us about it a few months ago.
Attention to detail is a work in progress.
Thanks Ethan!
ps…Ethan my internship ends on Wednesday. It became a very successful six week assignment once I applied the lessons you and Stephanie made available in the beta-testing.
Batini- So glad to hear that things went well for you at your internship… that is exactly the type of reaction we were hoping for when we were developing our training! And yeah, this little free program for screencasting is a great tool to help explain any process on a computer… glad it worked for you.
Maybe some interesting additions to this post are the checklist of criteria for selecting a screencasting tool at http://www.indoition.com/screencasting-tool-choosing.htm, as well as the list of screencasting tools at http://www.indoition.com/screencasting-tools-survey.htm.
These are great links Marc… thanks for sharing.