Screencasting: Creating Mini Multimedia Lessons for Teaching and Learning

Have you ever had the feeling that using text to express yourself through online conversation is too cumbersome yet not enough? Do you wish sometimes that instead of typing at people you could show them what you are talking about? Now there is an easy way to do this. There are both free and commercial screencasting software programs which enable you to record everything happening on your screen; point, click, scroll, navigate and such an application can follow your every action. Your screen captures or brief narrated presentations can be saved as movie files and shared instantly with your audience.