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| News You Can Use |
August 2008 | Issue 56 |
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Here at TechSmith, we have a team of employees who are involved with our education customers, myself included. We have been talking lately about what we can do to better serve you.
Would you want a blog on our site that has ideas on how to use TechSmith products, and other technology, in the classroom? Do you prefer video, written or audio tutorials? Instead of speculating on the answers to these questions, we thought we should ask you.
We have a short survey, just 10 questions, that we would love for you to participate in. I know we did another survey not that long ago, but that one was about this newsletter, in particular. This one is broader, we want to know how you communicate online and how we can make the TechSmith website useful for you.
Please, tell us what you want!
Enjoy!
Katie Birmingham
Newsletter Editor
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On July 22nd, our little Jing Project celebrated its first birthday. Here at TechSmith, we joined the party by announcing that Jing is now an official product offering.
Don't worry, it's still free and we even increased the complimentary Screencast.com account that is included with Jing. How does 2GB of transfer bandwidth and 2GB of storage sound?
If you have not tried Jing, you are missing out. Visual communication in a matter of seconds. Pretty cool.
Like SnagIt, there are a million different ways to use Jing. Read this month's User Story to find out how Jing has become an integral part of one 7th grade classroom.
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Shauna Hedgepeth,
Math Teacher |
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Jing was the most amazing addition to my classroom last year. Teaching 7th grade math has always been very fun for me - kids at this age are usually terrified of math and getting up in front of the classroom.
I have a Promethean board (similar to a SMART board) provided by Cisco Technologies through a grant for our school due to Hurricane Katrina. I'd been looking for an easier way to upload my teaching videos, where I record myself working a problem on the Promethean board in front of the class and put it on my web page, and one of the Cisco guys mentioned the Jing Project. I downloaded it that night and came to school the next day SO EXCITED!!
I was having trouble because I wanted to upload my videos to YouTube, but it was blocked by the district. So, I tried TeacherTube. This was working pretty well except it was taking 5-10 minutes to upload one video using the school's wireless network. With Jing, I was able to automatically upload the videos to Screencast.com at the touch of a button.
I showed Jing to my students and they wanted to use it. My class was transformed into a new atmosphere where EVERY student wanted to work math problems on the board. Students come to the board and record themselves working on problems in front of the class and these videos are also posted on my web page.
We turned "The Jing Project" into a verb (similar to how people turned Google into a verb). Students began to say, "Can I Jing the next example on the board?" I found myself saying, "Who wants to Jing one of the homework problems?" Hands went up like crazy. I had to make a list at the beginning of class of kids who wanted to come to the board because they would all want to do it - kids were bargaining with each other to jump ahead on the list to use Jing.
Some of my students decided they wanted to download Jing to their own computers at home. They started making videos of them working math problems (using Paint and their mouse) that they found challenging to help other kids. I thought that was cool. I mentioned it in classes and kids started bombarding me with homework videos - so much so that I had to put a group of students in charge of keeping up with it and cataloging them... it was AMAZING. Students recorded themselves working problems at home and would email them to me or to each other. Some would even upload the videos to their own student-created web pages.
I know that this is a great resource for computer technicians who always have to explain how to do things to non-tech employees. But this has TRANSFORMED the way I teach forever.
Have a user story, tip or idea you would like to share? Send it to us, and you could be featured in the newsletter!
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Back in the June issue, we talked about blogging and I received some great feedback from you on which blogs you find helpful. Some are related to technology, others are not. Some are acutally written by subscribers to this newsletter, others are read by newsletter subscribers. Some are dedicated to classroom teaching, others more geared toward corporate education and training. Here is the list, I hope you find these useful.
Education Blogs
Discovery Educator Network - A collection of blogs divided by state and a few by subject.
ECS Academic Technology - Links to a variety of teaching resources. On the lower right of the page, there is a list of blogs you may find helpful.
Potter's Wheel Academy - A blog where they "...share some thoughts on education, some of the choices available to students and parents, and other related subjects".
Corporate Training
Pageflakes - A collection of blogs dedicated to corporate training.
Profitable Hostpitality - Training and related info for the hotel industry.
So Who Needs a Web Guy Anyway? - Tips on creating a web presence.
Learning: I thought these would be useful for education and corporate training.
Learning Town - Another collection of blogs, check out the groups on the right side of the page. (You have to give them your email address to read just about anything.)
e-Clippings (Learning as art) - A blog focusing on "how culture and technology come together over the space we call 'learning.' "
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Matt Pierce, Training Manager |
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Looking for a good way to share the content you have hosted on Screencast.com?
How about creating a MediaRoll, which displays all of the content in one Screencast.com folder? When you add something to the folder, it is automatically added to the MediaRoll.
Screencast.com does the hard work by creating the embed code for you. Just copy and paste it, and your MediaRoll is now on your webpage or blog. It looks just like this sample, only with your content and the title of your folder on top, where is says Zoo Pictures.
Find out more of the specifics in this video.
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MediaRoll made using Screencast.com |
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Kelly Mullins, Information Developer |
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SnagIt is a powerful tool that can do more things than you might imagine. This creative series is compiled of 12 tutorials that will show you how to create interesting and unusual image effects. From mirrored images to 3D art, SnagIt has some of the capabilities you would only expect from a more expensive software suite.
sample of what you can do with mirrored images
If you can't get through all the tutorials right now, no worries. We realize there's a lot here, so we'll be featuring more in future months.
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SnagIt
Screen Capture and Sharing
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Screencast.com
Media Hosting
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Camtasia Studio
Recording and Presentation
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TechSmith Lapel Microphone
High Quality Sound
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Morae
Usability Testing
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UserVue
Remote User Research
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