As the new semester begins, and I find myself teaching online classes again...I find the need to explain to students and peers how to do something on the computer. I frequently have to post things online, or present directions for PD sessions, or classes. Thanks to the Intel Teach to the Future program, I learned long ago that you need to keep your hands off the person's mouse. It may seem easier than it sounds. But, when instructing someone on the computer, it's very difficult to make them follow a string of commands without just grabbing the mouse and starting the program/copy & paste/resize the graphic or whatever.
One way to combat this and send directions to others in an easy to follow format is screen sharing or even better...a video of the screen capture. You have the ability to showcase a program, or give an assignment to a student.
While watching Merlin Mann's Desktop Tour, I was alerted that I needed to put together a quick snapshot of one of the tools that I frequently use...Jing.
Jing is a great little program, that used to be completely free...you can pay extra for premium features. Up until this point, I've been able to survive on the basic Jing. The program will run on PC or Mac. You also get 2 GB of storage on Screencast.com with your copy of Jing. This allows you to seamlessly create screen tutorials and upload them to your blog, webpage...or email them to peers or students. I'm frequently told that maybe I can do that "Jing Thing" when working in online spaces. This is my attempt to share the knowledge...and lighten my workload. Fingers crossed.
I attached the capture I created for my class, and the Maine Professional Development Collaborative that I'm working with (more on that later). The video is not as fancy as I'd like...but it does the job. I need to work on my podcasting set-up and voice (I want a mic as fancy as Merlin's).
Jing from Ian O'Byrne on Vimeo.
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