A screencast is a video that shows a recording of anything shown on-screen and normally makes use of a voice-over, typically explaining what is happening on screen.
A screencast can have additional supporting materials such as overlaid video (often the speaker), graphics, images and sound effects.
The creator of the screencast uses screencast software to record the on-screen activity and then uses either the same software to edit and prepare the final video, or will import the screencast recording into third-party editing software for further work.
Because screencasts can have many different uses, they are quite popular and the basics can be learned in minutes.
Example uses include:
- Demonstrating how-to do an activity on a computer
- Providing student feedback
- Introducing a software or web product for marketing purposes