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This is the 18th post in the “30 days to using the best of the web’s free tools for educators” series. Be sure to subscribe to the Teacher Challenge blog by RSS, like us on facebook, and follow us on twitter to keep up with future challenge posts as they are published.

In this activity you will explore:

• possible uses of Jing in education.
• how to capture, annotate, save, and share an image on your computer screen.
• how to create a narrated video of anything on your computer screen and share it.

Overview

Jing is a screen sharing tool. It allows you to capture anything on your computer screen either as a still image or as a video up to 5 minutes long. It is an excellent tool for narrating and sharing what is on your screen. Watch this video for an overview of Jing.

There is a free version, but there is also a paid pro version. Click here to see the differences.

Possible Uses in Education

Here are three examples of ways I use Jing:

1. Self Introduction Using Jing Combined with Prezi

2. Elementary Student Storytelling Example Using Jing Combined with Kerpoof

3. Feedback to Papers

There are many more possible uses of Jing for both the teacher and the students.

• Take an image of part of a site and annotate it.
• Pronounce and define key vocabulary.
• Provide directions to explain and/or demonstrate how to do something.
• Narrate an Internet path, a site, or a series of pictures.
• Create an online book or comic strip and then narrate it.
• Use in math or science to show and describe the steps in an equation or process.
• Here are some additional suggestions for using Jing. I highly recommend viewing Russell Stannard’s videos and examples for uses here. He also demonstrates how he gives student feedback in these videos.

Tasks

• Download the free version of Jing here. (In order to use the video capacities, you need a microphone.)
• Try the interactive hands on walk through here.
• Explore the Jing Learning Center and refer to it later as needed.
• The Getting Started section includes this video on Taking Your First Capture.
• The Sharing Jing Captures section Explains Screencast.com where Jing hosts content for free.  It includes a video that explains how to Share to Screencast.com, how to Embed Jing Content Using Screencast.com, and other output options such as how to Customize Jing Buttons, Save and share to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, etc.
• The Manager section contains useful information on understanding Jing Capture History and more.
• The Tips, Tricks, and Advanced section includes FAQs, Audio Device FAQs, How to Quit or Restart Jing, and more.
• If you want additional tutorials, watch Russell Stannard’s videos here.

Challenge

1. Capture a screen image, annotate and save it.
2. Create a video using Jing that demonstrates how you may use it in your class. Share a link to it in the comment box below.
3. Embed or link your Jing image or video to a blog.

Discussion Questions

How can you use Jing as an educator?
How can students use Jing?

Help and Support

In addition to support in the Tasks section above, help and support can also be found on the Jing blog.

About the Author

I teach courses for the ESOL and Bilingual Education endorsement in the College of Education and ESOL to adult English language learners at a local university. I blog with another teacher at when-tech-met-ed.blogspot.com where I explore technology as a tool for instructional purposes and for professional development. Feel free to visit to see other ways I continue to learn and incorporate Jing and other web 2.0 tools into the classroom.