One of the services that we’ve provided to teachers and students since the inception of our 1:1 Chromebook program in 2017 is Screencastify, a cloud-based screen recording and video editing platform that has proven to be popular with ICCSD students and staff. The relative ease of use of the platform, along with Google Drive integration, has made it a go-to for teachers recording blended lessons and for students recording work submissions, among many other use cases. Click here for a brief overview of Screencastify.
Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, Screencastify is changing licensing terms for both their paid and free licenses. Free licenses – which currently have a time limit for video recordings – will no longer have a per-video time limit, but will be restricted to creating a maximum of 10 videos within the platform. Paid licenses will now be licensed by individual teacher – student licenses for ICCSD will continue to be unlimited – and the per-license fee is increasing, which we’re seeing across a number of services this year.
We want to continue to make this service available for teachers and staff who rely upon it – we have teachers who created hundreds of videos during the 2021-2022 school year, for example – while also making sure that we’re not over-licensing the service by purchasing licenses for individuals whose usage wouldn’t require it.
In order to accomplish this, teachers and staff whose 2021-2022 usage would have required a paid account will receive an email in the coming week notifying them of these changes, with a link to a form to request a license for the 2022-2023 school year.
Of course, that list won’t include new teachers and staff members who may want to use Screencastify, and we don’t want to exclude any current teachers and staff members who decide that Screencastify is a tool that they would like to utilize for the coming year. In order to indicate interest in a Screencastify license for the 2022-2023 school year, staff members should fill out this form prior to May 27th, if possible. Requests will be accepted after that date, but an accurate count before the end of May will allow us to get as close as we can to a complete count prior to the beginning of our new licensing year on July 1st.