Touchcast is a new app for the iPad that lets you create interactive video presentations to share online.
The app lets users record a short video and then overlay widget-like elements (called vApps) on top. These vApps can hold live web pages, maps, live Twitter streams and more. Anyone watching the video via the TouchCast app (or website) can click on these multimedia elements and interact with them while the video continues to play. You can even add quiz questions.
It also lets you view presentations produced by others. These can also be viewed on the web, without using the Touchcast app.
To get started, prepare the vApps you want to use in advance. These will wait along the bottom of the screen for you to choose from as you speak. You can pick from several different themes for different styles of video, such as a news report. Then you record the video – using either front or back cameras on the iPad.
The app also supports green screening, so if you want you can replace the background of the video with another image by standing in front of a green background. There’s also a whiteboard feature which lets you annotate over the top of your video with some basic pen tools.
Here’s a short demonstration video that I recorded just now that shows a couple of the vApps. It’s also worth clicking on the link to the interactive version, it’s more than just a video you sit and watch. Quite an interesting tool.
You could use this in class with children creating news reports on different subjects for example. It’s another tool to add to the list of useful Digital Storytelling apps.
The sharing options might deter some teachers from using it, especially with younger children – but presentations could be setup in such a way that children do not actually appear on-screen. They could use the back-facing camera and film a drawing or some other image, then overlay the vApps onto that. They could also just be stored locally and viewed on the iPads.
It’s a very interesting app, and well worth investigating.
Take a look at Touchcast here, and let me know what you think in the comments.
