Jing is a free screen capture and screen casting program.
Download and install was quick and easy. Jing requires the .Net Framework 3.0 which I had to download. It comes with a clever user interface complete with sunburst and popping rays. It was easy to capture the screen and resize the image. Both share and embed features worked equally well when I tried them. All the cool round buttons come with self-explanatory fly-over labels. Jing is still being developed by its creators who maintain a chatty blog instead of a help screen. Pointers usually come as Jing screen casts and are good examples of how to use Jing for teaching.
The potential for Jing in the classroom is tremendous. Every quarter, I explain at length how to navigate Angel and other websites. The NIH, WHO and, last but not least, the LWTC websites bury information remorselessly. Jing would allow me to capture screen images or screen casts, post them online and not waste precious class time.
Screen images can be edited later, but videos are not editable. With no voice over capability, sound and images are recorded simultaneously. I wrote a script to avoid painful pauses. All my embarrassing typos are on record. The screen casts do not look professional and there is no way to fix them. For short tutorials, though, they are perfectly adequate. As one creator points out, think of them as clever voice mails.
Remember that Jing is still freeware. Enjoy it while you can.
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