Jing

I can't get enough Jing. Let me nutshell what it does:
1. Take screenshot - video (swf) or still (png)
2. Instantly uploads the image or video
to website.
3. Copies the URL to the new upload to your clipboard so you can immediately share it in an email or message.

Here's what I love about it (click the link to see me using it)... it's ridiculously simple, flash video format, F'IN FREE. Check it out, it taps the mic in the computer to record myself talking. OMG! What am I gonna do with this...?

Other than pure sweetness, why is it useful? From the perspective of an educator, the idea of making short recordings of instructions is pretty sweet. I already made a How-To video for logging into the TIES Moodle server. Easy as pie. I like the collaborative nature of it,
that it's designed for people to be working on their systems at the same time and communicating and can demo what's on one screen and send it to another quick as a snap.

Think of applying classic Bloom's taxonomy, the second highest level of understanding is evaluate, the highest is creation. Having students create demonstrations as a class project and evaluating each other's instructional technique is a fantastic way of learning. They learn the content as well as how to best communicate the message to others.

Yes, it's a project that could be done in a multitude of ways. Technology integration in education is the application of technology not to learn the technology, but to make the lesson/learning easier, faster, or more comprehensive. Jing can make the content the focus, not trying to figure out how to record, how to save, where to send, how do I get it to my teacher... all the garbage that makes integrating technology difficult for teachers. Jing fits this definition perfectly.

Jing me.