Creative Communicator
ISTE Standard for Students 6
Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats, and digital media appropriate to their goals.
6a: Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or communication.
6b: Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.
6c: Students communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models, or simulations.
6d: Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended audiences.
Tool demonstrated: Screenflow by Telestream
What is Screenflow? I’m not running out of witty one-liners for this section—you are!
Screenflow by Telestream is a stripped down and simplified video editing software suite, particularly focused at generating Screencasts: recordings of a computer screen for educational or business purposes. Because Screencasting—not film editing—is its primary purpose, the software is focused more to a consumer who may not need all the bells and whistles of a more professional video editing software suite like Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere. This makes it perfect for people just getting started with video editing, like students! Students can familiarize themselves with the concept of “layers,” video transitions, effects, audio mixing, text and caption making, and even directly publishing their content to YouTube and similar sites—all from within the program.
I have been using Screenflow for over ten years now and only three or four times have used it for its intended Screencasting purpose. This illustrates just how far this software can be bent to the user’s needs. I had an entire lyric animation career in my teens with every single video being generated out of thousands upon thousands of layers of shapes in Screenflow files, and have gotten films into film festivals that were edited within this program. It truly is a versatile bunch of pixels, one that is very easy to get started with and seemingly endless in its mutation.
Want to see a video illustrating my vision for technology in education—edited using Screenflow? Click the embedded player below to check it out! Want to read my process reflection instead? Just keep scrolling!
Reflection:
In a nutshell: Screenflow by Telestream is a remarkably easy to use program with endless possibilities for use inside and outside of the classroom. Unfortunately, it is proprietary software, and a license runs upwards of $200.
I was eleven years old when I posted my first videos to YouTube. They were nothing special—little recordings of me playing a video game called Paradise Paintball, a couple videos showcasing some light game development I was doing (a very basic top-down racing game—you could bounce off the walls and everything!). I treasure these relics of my past because they show an evolution: little by little you can see video transitions, better editing, even on-screen text, each one coming up as I explored the limitations and abilities of my video editing software: Screenflow. I never learned how to use the program from a pro, I never sought out anyone’s assistance other than a few basic YouTube tutorials, and yet my skills were improving purely thanks to Screenflow’s incredibly easy to use and self-explanatory interface. Eventually I grew out of gaming videos and into flashy lyrical animations created out of thousands upon thousands of content layers. This melted away into filmmaking and video editing, using the program’s built in color correction and splicing tools.
Screenflow was built for exploration and interaction. It’s a blank slate for anyone who has a dream and a direction to point a camera, making it perfect for students not yet used to video editing software. Looking at the ISTE Standard for this page, it’s relatively easy to see how Screenflow fulfills quite literally every single subcategory of the standard. It can be used to generate many different types of content (even as a primitive DAW to make podcasts—I’ve done it!), can only be used to make original content which can be simulations, visualizations, or descriptions, and students can even publish content to the internet directly from within the program itself. It may not be built for the majority of things you can do with it, but it doesn’t mean you can’t do it and learn a heck of a lot from it!
Introducing students to new forms of content generation is easiest when students feel at home using a piece of software as soon as possible. Screenflow by Telestream gives that sense of home and agency in spades, and fulfills ISTE Standard for Students 6 in every single possible category. If you have the budget, this program can be used in some remarkable ways.
