Moodle My Media - How to create a screencast (using CaptureSpace)

Topics covered in this article

Introduction

A screencast is a recording of what is on your computer screen, often containing audio narration. Another name for a screencast is video screen capture or screen recording. Screencasts are useful for how-to-guides, narrated demonstrations, course tours, tutorials, slideshows, etc.

You can record screencasts directly from your My Media page. To do this, you will need to install the My Media application called CaptureSpace. Once you have made your recording, you can upload to your My Media library and embed it anywhere the Moodle text editor is available.

To learn how to make a screencast, watch this video or read step-by-step instructions (below).

How to create a screencast

1. Open CaptureSpace

From Moodle, click on the User menu in the top right and click My Media.

From the My Media window, click on Add New and then CaptureSpace.

If you’ve already installed CaptureSpace, it will launch automatically. Otherwise, please refer to Moodle My Media - Installing CaptureSpace.

2. Select SCREEN in the CaptureSpace recorder

The CaptureSpace Desktop recorder (pictured below) will open. With the CaptureSpace Desktop Recorder window open, select Screen to record a screencast. If you would like to include your webcam in the corner of your recording you may select Screen & Webcam.

3. Click RECORD to start recording

You may need to select which screen to record from and whether to record full screen or a selected area of one screen. If you've selected Full Screen click the Record button. If you've selected Select Area click the Select Area button, which will prompt you to click and drag the rectangle of the screen that will be recorded.
A five-second countdown timer will indicate when recording will begin. To ensure that nothing is cut off from the beginning, it is a good idea to wait an extra second before you begin speaking.
You may pause and resume the recording by pressing Alt + P.
You may also draw on your screen by using Alt + D, and this drawing will appear in the recorded video.

4. Click DONE to finish recording

It's recommended that you pause your video with Alt + P and then stop it to avoid the screen capture controls from appearing in the video.
Use the Recording Screen Capture controls to stop your video. If you know you want to delete your recording and start again you may click Cancel. Click Done to move on to reviewing your video.
If you'd like to edit your CaptureSpace recording please refer to Moodle My Media - How to edit media recordings (CaptureSpace).
If you do not wish to edit your recording, click Done.

5. Name & save your recording

Give your recording a title in the Title field.
Optionally, you may add a description and tags.
Clicking UPLOAD will upload the recording to My Media and save it in the CaptureSpace library.
Clicking PREVIEW will take you back to the editing window.
Clicking SAVE will save it in the CaptureSpace library where you can upload it to My Media later.

After uploading the recording to My Media, if you don't see the recording in your My Media library right away, try clicking the refresh button:

How to embed video

To embed a video in Moodle, please see Moodle My Media - How to upload and share video & audio

How to access the MP4 video files

You can access the local MP4 video recording files, and here's how:
Open CaptureSpace and click on the Settings tab. Copy the location of the 'Local Media Files Storage' and paste it into the Windows Explorer address bar. From there you'll need to find the correct sub folder with the MP4 file you're looking for.

Troubleshooting

For information on troubleshooting, please see Moodle My Media - CaptureSpace troubleshooting.