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How to use Jing in your classroom

Written by Elizabeth 25 February 2010 20 Comments

I’ve only really mentioned Jing with one or two sentences in previous posts, but I wanted to take the time to elaborate a little more and talk about the different types of things you can actually do with this product.

So what is Jing?

Jing is free image and video capturing software that you can share instantly over the web, IM, email, or even just save to your desktop. You simply download Jing to your desktop and it will sit at the top of your desktop.

If you want to use Jing for video capture, you simply take your mouse, click and drag the area of the screen you want to capture and click. Then select to “Capture Video.” You can either record with narration or not – that’s up to you! Once you’re done recording, it will automatically upload your video to Screencast – where you can store up to 2 GB of storage, and access direct links and embedding code for your videos.

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If you want to use Jing for image capture, you simply take your mouse, click and drag the area of the screen you want tot capture and click. Now, instead of click “Capture Video,” you’ll click “Capture Image.” Jing allows you to add text, arrows, boxes, and even highlighting areas to your image. You can save it, copy it to the clipboard, or send it to screencast!

So, how can you use Jing (or other capturing alternatives) in your classroom? Here are some quick ideas for you:

  • You can create training videos for quick and easy access for students, or even yourself for refreshers, etc…
  • Have your students record themselves solving math problems and then post on your classroom blog!
  • Have your students record their presentations
  • Have your students record themselves researching and presenting their findings
  • Don’t stick to the norm! Have your students get creative – create a timeline of an explorer’s life and then present it via Jing!

There are a few things to remember while using Jing:

  1. You don’t have to click and drag for the video capture – Jing will also automatically register the size of the browser (if you’re using a browser)
  2. Jing does not resize videos like YouTube or Vimeo would do. Keep that in mind when selecting the size of your video.
  3. Save time by editing the “hot” keys so you have easy shortcuts for start, stop, etc.
  4. Use Jing instead of Print Screen! That way you don’t have to do all that cropping – you can just select what you want. You can also spice up your image capture with the text, arrows, highlighting, etc…
  5. Consider changing your screen resolution to 600 x 800 when doing your screen capture – that is standard for most computers and will present the best quality for your videos.
  6. Remember that on the free version of Jing, each video can be a maximum of 5 minutes.

Do you have any classroom ideas you could add to this? Or how you’ve used Jing in the past? Please share!

20 Comments »

  • » Capture screenshots and make videos - free and easy with JING School-Networking: …if we don’t grab the future, the future will grab us… said:

    [...] SimpleK12 » Blog Archive » How to use Jing in your classroom via kwout [...]

    26 February 2010 at 11:00 am
  • tsmileygal said:

    I really like Jing! If a staff member has a question…I just shoot a quick how to and send it via email. This saves us both time. If I’m giving multi step directions, for example….creating a Power Point….with the younger kiddos, it’s nice to record the few steps I want them to accomplish and then replay it. As I replay it I can walk around the classroom and help while they watch again and try to repeat what I did.

    Elizabeth Reply:
    February 26th, 2010 at 2:27 pm

    That’s what I love about Jing and other screen/video capture programs – there are SO many different ways to use it. I loved your example! How many times do you find yourself repeating the same thing again and again!? Now you can just streamline it with videos. Such a time saver! Thanks for sharing :)

    26 February 2010 at 1:18 pm
  • Alice said:

    I just learned about jing on Wednesday from your newsletter and I love it. On Thursday I introduced it to my middle school students and they love it. One students demonstrated it to the class by making a tutorial for “making a signature” in gmail. Another student made a newscast about their upcoming field trip to DC.

    I used it to edit reports the class had gmailed me. Our school is trying to “go green” so I opened their attachment and used “track changes” in Word and talked about their report as I made the changes. Then I replied back with the link to screencast. Now they can edit their papers. One 6th grader commented about how neat it was and also how it saves a lot of classroom time. Granted I could not take that much time with every paper they write but several times a semester would be great.

    Thanks for all the ideas you share.

    Elizabeth Reply:
    March 1st, 2010 at 8:25 am

    That’s really awesome, Alice! I’m so glad to hear you’ve found ways to incorporate video capture in your classroom! I love how it can range from something so simple as making a signature to making a newscast! So much fun! Thanks for sharing, Alice! :)

    27 February 2010 at 3:00 pm
  • Carol Teitelman said:

    Have been using Jing ever since I found it a few years ago – my favorite screen capture tool. Have been sharing it with specialists ar the Ed. Service Center and they create online tutorials for the teachers, administrators and office staff in the area school districts. Is a great tool for “how to fill out a form” tutorials that are not exciting but always necessary. Will be doing a three hour workshop at the ISTE conference on the basics and then have time to build some tools…am looking for examples of using it for concept development, too.

    Elizabeth Reply:
    March 2nd, 2010 at 2:55 pm

    Oh awesome! You’re presenting at ISTE? We’ll be attending and would love to stop by and say hello! I know a lot of educators have been discussing Jing and video capture in general, and these are some great additional ways to use them. Thank you for sharing, Carol!

    1 March 2010 at 11:35 am
  • links for 2010-03-01 « NV Tek Lib said:

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  • Jing | Kims Kaleidoscope said:

    [...] came up on Twitter this morning. SimpleK12 Tweet about Jing If you follow that tiny URL or this link you will get to someone else’s blog about Jing, a free downloadable screen capture tool, and [...]

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  • » How to use Jing in your classroom School-Networking: …if we don’t grab the future, the future will grab us… said:

    [...] has published a nice blog entry on the free screencasting software Jing. It is short and precise and as Jing is one of my favourite apps, I would like to recommend it here. [...]

    18 March 2010 at 2:44 pm
  • miranda said:

    I’m still having a hardtime figuring out how to edit the Stop “hot” key. Any suggestions?

    Elizabeth Reply:
    March 23rd, 2010 at 2:25 pm

    Hi Miranda –

    Thanks for your question! I found a quick tutorial from Jing about defining the Hot Keys – http://help.jingproject.com/manage/capture-hotkey/ Hope that helps!

    23 March 2010 at 2:03 pm
  • Aaron said:

    Hi Elizabeth.. wow.. just what I was looking for. I needed something that I can use both in the classroom and with clients for business meetings. Jing looks perfect so thank you for sharing.
    Aaron recently posted..Free BlogsMy Profile

    28 June 2010 at 4:12 pm
  • Dakota said:

    I am having my students create a history project using FaceBook. Since FB is blocked in school, I record and review the student sites at home and then show them in class the next day. Less frustrating than trying to bypass the filters and automatic saving spares the the trouble of carrying a flash drive.

    16 March 2011 at 7:57 pm
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  • Kathy said:

    Is 600 x 800 really the best resolution? Somebody told me to use 1024 x 768. I have a wide-screen monitor, and everthing is so big with that resolution. Is there a recommended size for the capture window?

    Thanks!

    Kathy

    10 January 2012 at 1:19 am
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