Cassandra Gorton | Monash Health

Tech Showdown is a regular feature of JoHILA. Novel products, software, and technologies will be compared against each other to determine who is the winner, based on available features, ease of use, and price. If you have an idea for Tech Showdown or would like to see a comparison of two particular technologies, please email Cass.  

Incorporating screen recording and video editing tools within a health librarian’s kit can significantly enhance the delivery of educational content and improve the overall learning experience for library users. Screen recording allows librarians to capture step-by-step demonstrations of various software applications, online resources, or interactive tools relevant to health research and information retrieval for patient care. These recordings can be invaluable for creating tutorials on database navigation, literature searching, or address frequently asked questions. Video editing tools then come into play to refine and customise the content, ensuring clarity and conciseness. Librarians can seamlessly integrate additional visual elements, overlay annotations, and incorporate graphics and branding to augment the educational material.  

This dynamic approach facilitates accessible learning opportunities for time conscious health library users but can be time consuming on the end of the librarian. In the blue corner we have Clipchamp, an Australian developed tool for video editing and recording acquired by Microsoft. In the red corner we have Screencastify, a browser extension for Chrome that boasts of being the leading screen recorder on Chrome. Let’s compare the two in detail before you sign up for an account.  

Round 1: Features  

Clipchamp: 

• Screen and camera recording. 
• Editing tools such as trim, crop, resize, and audio removal. Includes the ability to edit screen recordings and associated camera recordings separately. 
• Enhancement options such as branding and captions. 
• Integrations with OneDrive, Google Drive, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn. 

Screencastify: 

• Screen and camera recording. 
• Editing tools such as cropping, zooming, and audio adjustment. 
• Enhancement options such as title cards and blurring of sensitive information. 
• Integration with Google Drive. 

Winner – Tie. Both tools offer similar features. Clipchamp offers slightly more integrations, but they may not be of use. For example, while Clipchamp integrates with OneDrive, which is commonly offered across health services with Microsoft 365, it may require administrator approval to be offered as an app within an organisation’s Microsoft suite. 

Round 2: Ease of Use 

Clipchamp: 

• Designed for novice video editors, or users that need to create large amounts of content. 
• Provides pre-designed templates for convenience. 
• The layout and navigation are simple and similar to Canva. 
• Clipchamp offers the ability to upload videos from a mobile device via an easy-to-use QR Code, which is a lot less clunky than emailing it to yourself, downloading it to your PC, then uploading it to the tool. 

Screencastify: 

• Screen recording via the Chrome browser extension is very simple – click start and wait for the countdown timer to reach 0!  
• Sharing videos from Screencastify is simple, making it a great tool for capturing issues with an online resource and sending it to a vendor. 
• Screencastify will only record what is shown in your Google Chrome browser, so if you’re wanting to record something in another program, this is not the tool for you. 
• Screencastify requires a Google account to access, so if your organisation has blocked Google services, bad luck! 

Winner – Clipchamp. Screencastify has too many caveats to be an effective, long-term solution for libraries. 

Round 3: Price 

Clipchamp: 

• The free version of Clipchamp allows for an unlimited number of high-definition videos lasting 30 minutes each. 

• Videos that include premium features under the free plan can still be created and exported, but will include a Clipchamp watermark. 

• The single license premium version of Clipchamp is available for $17 AUD a month. The premium account includes additional stock material, filters, a brand kit, and content back up. 

Screencastify: 

• In a recent change, the free version of Screencastify only allows for 10 videos lasting 30 minutes each. The 10-video limit includes deleted videos. You cannot delete videos to make room for more recordings. 
• The single license premium version of Screencastify is available for $7 USD a month. The premium version has no restrictions on the number or length of videos. 

Winner – Clipchamp, hands down. Screencastify’s decision to limit videos and include deleted videos within that limit is baffling.  

Winner 

Clipchamp! Clipchamp’s free version will meet the needs of most libraries, while still being user friendly. Users can leverage the suite of available templates, in a similar way to Canva, eliminating the need to start from scratch with a video.