A screencast is a video recording of a computer screen, usually with a voice-over narration. Although one could use a digital video recordor to literally "tape" the action on a computer display, the better approach is to use software that captures both the screen and the narration directly on the computer that is the source of the screen image.
The screencasts on this page are my first experiments with the genre. The goal is to provide students with an opportunity to watch computer tutorials relevant to the course. Unlike an in-class demonstration, a screencast can be watched several times, and the action can be paused and rewound. Unlike an in-class demonstration, there is no opportunity for direct interaction with the instructor.
If you have the flash plug-in installed on your computer a screencast should start soon after you click on the link to that screencast. I will look into providing screencast in alternative formats.
Wikipedia has a good overview of screencasting including a list of screen recording software and a short list of articles on how to begin screen casting.
During the first week of lab, students recorded the output of a pressure transducer near the bottom of a cylindrical tank of water. This screencast shows how the transducer data can be analyzed with Excel.
You can also
download a zip archive
of the screencast so you can watch it later when you do not have
a connection to the internet. Download the zip archive,
unpack it, and click on the .html file to start the screencast.
As with the on-line version of the screencast, you will need the
flash plug-in
for your browser.