A few times over the years I’ve written about and had a guest blogger write about using screencasts to clarify instructions to students and staff. In almost all of those posts the free screencasting tool Screenr has been mentioned. I just used Screenr a few minutes ago and learned that Screenr recently made some changes that make it easier to use.

Until last month Screenr required users to sign into the service by using a Twitter account. This was a turn-off for folks who don’t use Twitter. Now Screenr allows you to use your Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Windows Live, or LinkedIn account to create recordings. Keeping with the theme of not using Twitter, Screenr now allows you to comment on your videos without having to post those comments to Twitter.

If you’re in the habit of creating screencasts and embedding them into your blog or website for others to see, Screenr has created a new universal player that you can embed. This universal player will automatically display the right kind of video for the device it’s being viewed on. So if people view your site on their phones they will be shown a video that plays correctly on their screens.

Learn more about Screenr in the short video below.