Jing
“Simple is beautiful.” That is the catch phrase TechSmith uses to describe their free software Jing. And that is an accurate description!
Jing, available for Mac and Windows operating systems, is a free software program that allows you to capture what you see on your computer screen as a still screenshot or a short video (captured short video segments are called screencasts). If there is anything that you would demonstrate in class on your computer, you can capture it with Jing. Then, students can access the information outside of class, thus freeing up class time for other learning activities.
Possible uses of Jing:
- Label parts of a picture (e.g. different parts of a cell, the proper placement of the feet in a ballet position, specific architectural features in a building).
- Create quick tutorials on how to solve mathematical equations or how to use software such as GIS, SPSS, or Maya.
- Demonstrate how to contribute to a class blog/wiki.
- Explain how to navigate around your Blackboard course.
- Show how to format works cited in a research paper.
- Give audio feedback to a student’s research paper or project.
There are two caveats in using Jing. First, your screencasts are limited to 5 minutes. You will have to plan carefully so you can complete your screencast within that time frame (or, break it up into several screencasts).
Second, if you have a lot of people viewing a lot of content, you might reach your bandwidth limit for the free version of Jing. Every Jing user gets 2GB of free space and 2GB of free monthly bandwidth on Screencast.com. For a small monthly fee, you can purchase more storage and bandwidth. Click here to see a three-minute video from Screencast.com that explains bandwidth.
How professors are using Jing:
Mike Griffiths, Instructional Psychology and Technology
I use Jing to create very short video tutorials for software that students need to use for my class.
For example, my students are required to create virtual tours in Google Earth. Google Earth is quite simple to use, but the creation of a virtual tour can be difficult to learn at first. In the past, I would spend an hour in class showing students what needed to be done. Many students would still have problems and need additional support.
Using Jing, I created three five-minute clips for students to watch online. Using the video tutorials instead of a class session virtually eliminated all problems and students were able to create virtual tours with almost no need for extra support. (To create the three tutorials took approximately one hour.)
An example of one of my videos can be viewed here.