Need to make a two- to five-minute how-to video for students, faculty, or colleagues? You do not need a full production workflow. In most cases, you can record your screen, make a few quick edits, and share the link in minutes. Below are four practical options—Screencastify, Zoom, Clipchamp, and Google Vids—with step-by-step directions, strengths and tradeoffs, and recommendations for when each tool works best.
Zoom:
Zoom widely used on campus as the teleconferencing tool. It is also the easier way to record a quick video. Cloud recording is available for Siena users and highly recommended; cloud recordings can be streamed, shared, downloaded, and trimmed in the Zoom web portal. Closed captions are also available.
License: Available to Siena students, faculty, staff and administratives.
Step-by-step instructions
- Open Zoom and start a new meeting by yourself.
- Share the screen, window, or app you want to demonstrate.
- Click Record.
- Choose Record on this computer if you want a local file, or Record to the Cloud.
- Present the tutorial as if you were teaching a live session. Annotation tools are available.
- Stop the recording and end the meeting.
- For local recordings, find the file in Zoom’s recording folder on your device. Zoom shows the storage location in the desktop app settings.
- For cloud recordings, sign in to the Zoom web portal, open the recording, and trim the beginning and end if needed.
- Share the cloud link, or upload the local MP4 to Google Drive, OneDrive, or another platform for distribution.
Clipchamp
Microsoft Clipchamp combines recording and editing in a more complete video-editor workflow. It supports screen, camera, and audio recording, allows unlimited retakes, and exports to MP4 in resolutions up to 1080p. It is a stronger choice when you want a short tutorial to look more polished without using professional editing software. Use Clipchamp when you need stronger editing than Zoom or Screencastify, such as combining clips, cleaning up timing, adding titles, or producing a more presentation-ready result.
Availability: Available to Siena students, faculty, staff and administratives.
Step-by-step instructions
- Open Clipchamp in the browser (cloud version via Microsoft Office 365) or desktop app (Windows 11).
- Start a new video project.
- Use the built-in recorder to capture your screen, webcam, or audio, or import an existing recording.
- Drag your recorded clip onto the timeline.
- Trim the beginning and end.
- Split the clip if you need to remove a middle section or rearrange segments.
- Add title slides, captions, callouts, or transitions as needed.
- Review playback to make sure the tutorial is concise.
- Click Export and choose the resolution. Clipchamp exports MP4 and offers options such as 480p, 720p, or 1080p.
- Save or upload the finished file where your audience can access it.
Google Vids
Google Vids is designed for creating, editing, collaborating on, and sharing videos inside the Google Workspace ecosystem. It supports direct recording, transcript-based trimming, collaboration similar to Docs/Slides, and export to MP4 in Drive. Google states that videos can be up to 10 minutes long, though you can insert portions of longer Drive videos into scenes and trim them. Generative AI features powered by Gemini give you many more creative options.
Availability: Available to Siena students, faculty, staff and administratives.
Step-by-step instructions
- Open Google Vids on your computer.
- Start a new video.
- Choose Record and choose from “camera”, “camera & screen”, “screen”, and “audio”.
- Click Start recording and walk through the process you want to teach. You can enable script and use it as a teleprompter.
- Pause when done, preview the result, and insert it into a scene.
- Use Vids editing tools to trim content. For speech-based video and audio, you can edit through the transcript and remove silences or filler words.
- Add supporting scenes, text, visuals, or narration if needed.
- Share the video with collaborators using Viewer, Commenter, or Editor permissions.
- Export the final video as an MP4 to Drive when you are ready to distribute it.
Screencastify
Screencastify is built for quick screen recording in Chrome and includes browser-based editing. It can record your desktop, browser tab, or webcam, and its editor supports trimming, transcript-based cuts, and lightweight enhancements such as text and simple annotations. It also lets you choose whether recordings are stored in Google Drive or locally.
Availability: Limited number of Pro licenses available to Siena users. Free-plan limits have existed, including a 10-minute recording cap and library/export limits.
Step-by-step instructions
- Open Chrome and launch the Screencastify extension. (Install the Screencastify Chrome extension)
- Choose what you want to record: browser tab, desktop, or webcam.
- Check your microphone and camera settings if you want narration or webcam video. Check permission settings if necessary.
- Start recording and walk through the task you want to demonstrate. Annotation tools are available.
- Stop the recording when finished.
- Open the video in the editor.
- Trim the start and end, or use transcript-based editing to remove sections more quickly.
- Add text, crop, or other quick edits if needed.
- Save and share the video from Drive or export it, depending on your account permissions and workflow. Screencastify can store recordings in Google Drive by default or locally.
Web Accessibility
One more consideration: accessibility. Even a two-minute how-to video should include closed captions. Auto-captions are a useful starting point, but they should be checked for mistakes, punctuation, speaker changes, and key sounds that affect meaning. This is especially important for tutorial videos, where one missed word can make a step confusing. If you are recording live, live captions matter too; if you are posting a prerecorded tutorial, accurate closed captions should be treated as standard practice, not an optional extra.