I teach primarily master’s-level students, with some doctoral supervision. I use ScreenPal mainly for four tasks that I used to handle in writing. First, I record responses to threaded discussions in my classes. Instead of posting written replies to individual posts or threads, I record myself responding to all the posts. This lets me focus much more clearly on a specific part of a post, so it’s obvious what I’m responding to. Students overwhelmingly prefer verbal feedback to written feedback, and I find I’m often more precise when speaking, which helps them as well.
Second, when I’m evaluating drafts of theses and dissertations (or other single-student work in my classes), I don’t rely on marginal text boxes. Instead, I highlight the areas that need a response and record myself giving that feedback. Sometimes it takes more than one video per chapter. Again, students find this a more effective form of feedback. I don’t have hard data, but it seems to me that students “get” what I’m trying to convey better in verbal form than if I write it out.
Third, I record my final evaluations in classes rather than writing them. My school places a strong emphasis on mentoring, and this approach allows me to evaluate the student while also speaking to their faculty mentor (advisor) about areas of particular strength or deficit.
Fourth, I sometimes receive very long emails from colleagues or students. Especially when I’m pressed for time, I’ll record an answer instead of writing it. It saves time for me and for my colleague or student. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
My one real dislike is the highlighting tool. As I mentioned, I use ScreenPal to respond to threaded discussions in my classes, and I often want to highlight parts of different posts to show connections between ideas. However, once I highlight something, I can’t scroll up or down to capture other sections. Then, when I close the tool, the highlight disappears. It would be really helpful if the highlight could remain visible in the video while still allowing me to scroll. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
