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Published
Mar 13, 2020

Our Response to COVID-19

James Francis
CEO

Since mid-January, the Screencastify team has been working with schools around the world impacted by coronavirus. We could have never predicted the scale of the disruption it has introduced to the world’s economy, schools, and way of life.

Despite the challenges we all face, I have never felt more inspired. We have witnessed educators come together to share ideas, resources, and encouragement in a way that will be remembered for decades - perhaps centuries - to come.

I cannot imagine what it would be like to be an educator right now. I know you are overwhelmed with more questions than answers and are under immense pressure to adapt in an impossibly short time. Please know that we are here to support you in every way we can. Our small team - now stationed from our homes in Chicago, IL - is working around the clock to make sure that everything continues to run smoothly. Learn more about how Screencastify empowers teachers in our episode of EdTech Heroes below.

The role of Screencastify

Over the past few weeks, hundreds of thousands of educators have turned to Screencastify to digitize their curriculum and communication in preparation for (or in response to) school closures. As educators rush to react as quickly as they can, we are seeing an unbelievable surge in usage.

Here's a closer look at what's happened to the total number of videos created with Screencastify over the past few months:

Videos recorded with Screencastify

To be specific, in the last week we've seen:

  • a 497% increase in videos made per day
  • a 340% increase in daily users
  • more than 1 million minutes recorded

In response, we have created a number of free e-learning resources to help both new and experienced Screencastify users get more comfortable using video for this purpose.

Please bear with us as we work through all of your questions and feedback over the next couple weeks. It might take us a little longer than usual, but we will respond to everyone.

How we are helping

To make the transition to distance learning a little easier, we are granting all impacted educators free access to our suite of products through June 30, 2020. This includes:

  1. Recorder. Unlimited access, no restrictions.
  2. Video Editor. Full access. Edit, merge, and polish all videos, not just Screencastify recordings.
  3. Submit (phased release). We have accelerated the development and launch of Submit, a new product specifically designed for distance learning. With Submit, teachers can easily collect recordings from their students, no extension required.

Please ask your technology administrator to email sales@screencastify.com and request more information about how to redeem this offer for your school or district.

To help flatten the curve in our hometown of Chicago, we have also donated $10,000 to Advocate Health Care’s COVID-19 efforts. They were the first in the Chicagoland area to set up free drive-thru coronavirus testing, and we hope this helps accelerate their initiative.

Join us

Lastly, we will need help to properly support our rapidly growing community of users. If you love helping teachers, check out our careers page. Don't worry if you don't see the perfect posting -- please drop us a line anyway.

To all the educators going to never-before-seen lengths to support their students: thank you.

James Francis, CEO

James Francis
CEO

As CEO, James leads Screencastify towards its mission of giving every teacher superpowers.