Zencastr, Sentences, Numbers (oh my!)

Hello everyone! This week’s blog post will be a little different, as I am reviewing a tech resource called Zencastr. I will include a bunch of screenshots below in a gallery for you to look through as well. 

So what is Zencastr? From the Zencastr blog, they wrote “Zencastr is a tool for quality, conscious podcasters. It records each guest locally from their own computer in studio quality audio and video. The host then receives separate high quality tracks for each quest! No more dropouts due to a bad connection. Nothing but crystal clear audio and video.”

So Zencastr offers a free version upon sign up, as well as a premium version for those who decide they really enjoy using it. The free version allows you to host up to 4 guests, unlimited audio recordings, and high quality MP3 files. If you want to go the professional route, you can start a 14 day free trial before paying $20 a month for up to 5 guests, unlimited audio recordings, unlimited 1080p, so full HD, recordings, audio/video mixing, transcriptions, and some other features. 

So despite all of these buzzwords and options, I found the Zencastr interface to be really user friendly! When I load up my dashboard, it isn’t too cluttered. I have an option right in the middle of the screen to start a new episode, and then a list of my previously recorded episodes below that. On the right, I can also connect my Zencastr account with a Google Drive or Dropbox account to automatically back up my episodes to that. 

To start an episode, I just need to decide on a name (For today, it is “Zencastr, Sentences, Numbers, oh my!”, the title for my blog post. You can decide what language to record in, and then also decide whether you want to do audio and video, or just one of them. I hit create, and then I get to a screen that shows me and my guests via video, and then I just hit “Start recording”! There is also a chat feed on the right hand side for people who want to use it throughout the podcast. 

After I’m done, I hit stop, and that’s it! Zencastr automatically converts the file to video and audio file formats for you to download and use. 

I found that because of how easy it was to use that I would definitely include Zencastr as an in-class resource. In my pre-internship, students had the option of completing some larger projects in the form of a podcast, and this would be something at the top of my list to recommend to them as well. 

Within the SAMR model, I think that using Zencastr could fall in the augmentation or modification categories. I think that group work could be significantly enhanced through this technology and bring some more interest and life into sometimes a dull activity. I think that collaboration would be more fun and more entertaining while also teaching students how to use new technology in educational ways.

And finally! I’ve recorded a progress video through Zencastr on my ASL journey, where I finger spell some sentences and show my number skills I’ve learned! Enjoy!

 

Sentences:

My name is Benton.

I am a student.

I want to be a teacher.

ASL is very hard!

Here are some numbers.