Jing
From Eduwiki
What is Jing?
Jing is a free video and screen capture software. This software is free to download on both Mac's and PC's. Jing was created to quickly record and share screen shots and videos from a computer with other people. There are numerous options how Jing lets you share screen shots and videos:
- screencast.com
- a local folder
- a network drive
- copy to your clipboard (image files only)
- a FTP server
- flickr
The quickest and easiest way to share your screen shots and videos from you computer is through screencast. Jing's software is directly linked to this website where they offer 2GB of free storage space or can purchase more space if necessary. Screencast allows you to create folders and playlists of all you videos and images created. Screencast also allows you to embed a link to you playlists, folders, or individual files. This feature is extremely quick and easy. After you are done creating a file there is a "share" button that links you to screencast and puts it in your account. All you need for an account with screen cast is an email address. Screencast is just one of many options to share your videos. After each video or screen capture you can simply save the file to you harddrive and go from there. The videos are saved a SWF files so in order to view them you will need Adobe Flash Player. The screen caputures are JPEG's. With the screen captures you can instantly edit the file with text and arrows, great for demonstrations.
How can Jing be used for educational purposes?
Jing can be extremely useful for teaching various computer programs. Teachers can record there in class demonstrations and post the video tutorial to screencast so that students who were absent or did not understand can go back and play the tutorial over again. The videos allow you to pause and start as need making this a useful tool for classes that work at varying paces. The screen captures allows teachers to pinpoint specific detail on the computer screen by adding a text on top of the JPEG.
Students using Jing The great thing about Jing besides it being fast and efficient is that it is also free. Any student with an email account can use Jing. I for see Jing being used by students in computer classes. Students having a harding learning a part of a program can simply create a video and post it, while another student can respond to that video with a video answering the other student's question. This can be used to create a collaborative learning environment that promotes student participation and empowering those students willing to help, thus making the class less dependent on the teacher for all the answers.
How we use Jing I teach 3D Computer Animation with Animation Master. This class if made up of 7th and 8th graders, recently one of my students fell ill with and unknown medical condition. The student had to be pulled from school and put on independant studies. He really wanted to learn Animation Master, so what I have do is created a simple website using google pages. One of the webpages on the site is a video tutorial page where I now record video tutorials from class and simply upload it to screencast.com. Now the student can follow along with the class from home. Woo hoo for distance learning!
I teach programming that requires students to install compilers on their computer. This process can be a pain, as certain libraries of code must be installed in a specific area. The Jing Project has enabled me to make quick videos of the entire installation process. Students are able to pause the video and follow each step of the installation. Jing can also be used for a number of tutorials, learning resources, and any other demonstration that is computer related. It then gives allows a learner to watch material at their convenience with the ability to pause and rewind for understanding. A couple of examples can be found video install page
Jing Blog What freeware/shareware tool would be complete without it's own blog. There is a wealth of information here from what Jing is about to comments to new "stuff". Jing Blog
It also sounds really cool to say Jing. Try it. Right Now. Go ahead. Don't be shy. Try it.
