Greetings!
       I have recently discovered a great (new to me) free technology tool called Jing. Jing allows you to create a screen cast by capturing anything you see on your computer screen as an image that you can share instantly. You can use it as an image or you can make a short video up to 5 minutes long. I used Jing in a previous course and it was a great help for enhancing a course that I was creating as an assignment for my class.
       I wanted to create a slideshow that offered something more than a simple PowerPoint presentation, something I could narrate with my voice. There might be an easier way of doing it, but the best way I found was to first gather up all of the images I wanted to use and then put them into a PowerPoint slideshow. One of the good things about Jing is that you can pause your video at anytime. This was especially handy for changing from one slide to the next.
       I captured my first image just as I would when capturing a screenshot, but I was able to manipulate the capture tool to capture all that was on my monitor or just a portion of it, if I so desired. Naturally, I didn't want to include my task bar and everything else that's on my monitor. After doing so, there is an option to either to capture an image, capture a video, redo my selection, or cancel. For my purpose, I used the "capture a video" option. The video began with the first slide that I had saved in my PowerPoint presentation. I was able to narrate the slide and then pause the video. Then I took a screenshot of my second slide and hit the pause button to continue my narration. Many of my slides were scanned images that I took from a book that I was discussing, and so it took a little extra work while using my printer/scanner.
Of course, I was able to embed videos and links to websites into my PowerPoint presentation. These all show up when I captured the images for my video.
       After I had finished the video, I got to see my work before publishing it. I was surprised that the quality was as good as it was. I didn't hear any clicks or anything when I went from slide to slide, and the audio was so good that you would never know that it had been paused so often. The only downside is that you only have 5 minutes per video. In my first attempt, I ran out of space and so I had to shorten my narration and do it over. Once satisfied with the video, I submitted it to be put into a screen cast. Once the screen cast was uploaded it gave me the URL to copy and share.
       I was very pleased with the work I had created and my instructor was impressed with my efforts. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, I got an A for the course. Jing can be used for all sorts of things. In the tutorial, a man is communicating with his friend who is driving and is trying to locate a restaurant that was recommended to him. From his computer, he made a short screen cast with the image of a map and instantly shared it with his friend. Jing can be used for a myriad of purposes and is a great tool that can be used in or for the classroom. Try Jing; it's free!