Example Case Study

Example Case Study

Changing your Display Name or the name of a folder, playlist, or piece of content will cause all URLs associated with that name or folder/playlist to break. This is why it’s worthwhile to take some time to create a visual roadmap of how you would like to manage, secure, and share your content before you begin to upload and share. As a general rule, it's easier to be more organized up front than to go back and make changes after content has already been shared. The following example case study will help you understand how to get organized and give a general overview on how to use Screencast.com

 

Example Use Case: The Community College Professor

To get a general idea of what is involved in managing, securing, and sharing content, let’s look at the following example use case.

A community college mathematics Professor teaches several levels of Algebra and wants his students to access his digital content for their individual classes – things like a course syllabus, example and lecture videos, sample quizzes, solutions to problems, etc.

This Professor also has college and course information that he would like to have online – course descriptions, text book information, grading scales, test/quiz masters, solution keys, and student contact information including email addresses.

There is other content that he would put into a personal category: a curriculum vitae, biography photos, research documentation, etc.

Content Categories

If he arranges his videos, images, and PDF documents into general categories, it might look like this:

Who sees the Professor’s content and how it is viewed is very important. These are his requirements:

  • Allow students to only access their own class materials.
  • Allow students to download the videos, PDFs, images, etc.
  • Attach downloadable PowerPoint slides and other information to his content.
  • Password protect content for current students. Then, when the course ends, change the password for a new group of students.
  • Automatically alert students when content is updated.
  • Completely hide from view any college / course information and student information.
  • Verify that the person viewing my personal content is the person he wants to see it.
  • Have the flexibility to allow some content to be viewed by everyone.

 

How can Screencast.com help?

Public versus Private Content

There are four levels of privacy or security that may be applied to folders: Public, Hidden, Password, and Authenticated. These four levels are intended to give flexible sharing options while making sure that content is not seen by prying eyes.

The Library page and individual content files in the library are always public information. This means, anyone who can find your library can view your Library page and any content files that are not in folders. Folders or playlists that have been assigned to the Public privacy level may also be viewed.

To assign a more secure level of privacy, content must be put into a folder or playlist.

  • The Hidden privacy level ensures the content will not be seen when others view your library – it is completely hidden from view.
  • The Password level of privacy requires viewers to enter the password in order to view the content. The actual folder or playlist in the library will not be seen when others view your library.
  • The Authenticated account is the highest level of privacy. In order to view the content, the recipient receives an email containing a link to the content. To view the content, the recipient must have a Screencast.com account (they can create one for free). The email address used to create an account must match the email address on the invitation. Additionally, an invitation can be revoked at any time rendering the link in that email invalid.

Playlists

Playlists provide a convenient way to share your content – you can group together files from your library or folders to share and they are all available in one place. The playlist is displayed to the viewer in an attractive scrolling list that contains thumbnail images of all the content.

RSS Feeds

Add an RSS feed to your playlist or folder and every time you add content to the folder or playlist your viewers are notified. RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines, and podcasts. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with changes to your content on Screencast.com. Screencast.com can generate feeds for any of your public folders and public or hidden playlists.

Attachments

Attachments are exactly what they sound like: additional files that accompany a piece of content. They could include presentation slides that accompany a screencast, a text document with a transcript of the audio, or an MP3 file for a podcast. An attachment can be any kind of file. They are not embedded on the view page; they are only available for download.

 

The Screencast.com Solution

Once the professor took a look at all of the different ways to manage and share his content, he was able to reorganize his content into a very simple but structured folder system that was easy to maintain and manage:

  • Content that he wanted everyone to see he kept public.
  • Coursework materials were assigned passwords which he shared with his students via a link in an email message. At the beginning of each new semester, he simply changes the password and emails it to his new students.
  • He used an RSS feed to automatically alert students when there was a new instructional video or sample test to review.
  • The Authenticated privacy level kept his personal information completely private and secure.
  • Hidden and password protected folders keep his tests, solutions, and student information secure and totally out of view.
  • The Attachments option allowed him to add downloadable PDFs, images, MP3’s and PowerPoint slides to his videos.

To help him stay organized, the Professor created this table that shows all his folders and playlists along with their newly assigned Screencat.com properties.



A Look at the Final Results

The Professor's library:

The email students see when invited to view content:

A playlist from the student's view:

Attachments are available for download