Audio+Visual


 * Screencast URL **

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjraLT01APA Jing is a free screen casting program that most people are probably using for this class. In fact, after extensive searching on help forums and the internet in general I discovered that Jing works well for most people, but, unfortunately, there is no fix at all for those it doesn’t work well for. Ideally, one can download Jing and simply click the capture video button, select the portion of their screen they want to record, and begin. Jing then allows the user to upload their screen cast to the Jing website and gives the user a URL that can be shared with friends over the screencast. In addition to screencasting, it does simple screenshots the user can save.
 * Jing **

When I tried to use Jing, the film bars on the side of the screen would roll to indicate that Jing was recording; however, the time bar would stay stagnant and not record anything more than one second. My PC uses Vista (which is a downright horrible operating system!). Vista often freezes when asked to do anything taxing, and, in this case, simply refused to run Jing. Due to this, I had to beg permission to use my husband’s mighty computer that can do anything. He is a programmer and works from home, so Jing did work on his computer as he also refused to have Vista on it. However, yet another problem was encountered. Most of the threads on Jing’s help forum dealt with audio, so I was not surprised when I discovered that the audio didn’t work on my husband’s computer. We went into options on Jing and followed the suggested help. It didn’t work. At this point, I gave up and asked my husband to take a look and see if he could fix it. After an hour the answer we (he) found was that there is no fix at all. Jing is free and as such the help seemed minimal. What we did discover is that Jing recognizes only the first audio device on the computer you are using. In the case of my laptop that was no problem, but Vista was. In the case of my husband’s computer, it was an HD microphone that we don’t use and don’t even have. After more searching, the answer Jing provided is that there is no fox at all to this issue. The programming on Jing is basic and only recognizes the first audio device in the computer you are using and there is no way to change the audio device or fix the program to recognize a different one.

If Jing works on the computers at school, if those computers don’t run Vista, and if they use the primary microphone, Jing seems to be a straightforward program complete with a happy sun that appears at the start up of your computer. Like Camtasia (discussed next) and TipCam (see screencast), Jing can be used in a variety of ways in education. Screencasts seem to be the easiest way to get information to kids that they won’t need until they go home, like how to use the library databases or search for books in the library catalogue. It can also be used by classroom teachers to tell kids how to set their essays in Word, how to convert files to .rtf (a battle I’m constantly battling), or be used to make a dynamic research project that can be uploaded to the school website for parents to view (good PR, for sure).

This program is far more advanced than Jing or TipCam or any other programs I have looked at. In fact, it appears to be a professional level screencasting program. Unlike other programs I looked at, Camtasia allows you to edit any part of your screencast, has cursor effects, a library of images you can add to your screencast, offers transitions, flash quizzes to make sure your audience is paying attention, graphics, and it’s a program that works flawlessly as much as I was allowed to use it.
 * Camtasia **

Which brings me to the downside of it. Camtasia offers a 30 day free trial. After that, it’s $299 for a single license and it’s $1345.00 for a 5-user license. Not cheap! Camtasia is run by TechSmith, which also runs Jing, but Jing seems to be the red-headed step-child of TechSmith. While Jing is free, it doesn’t run smoothly and it seems that TechSmith naturally put all their energy into Camtasia and to get this flawless program you have to shell out some serious cash. For individuals, $299 is doable but surely a bummer. For schools, $1400 is a lot of money and in the end that’s for only five computers. If many teachers jumped on the screencast bandwagon, this would be nowhere near enough licenses and budgets are tight as it is. Another downside to Camtasia is, in part, the same thing that makes it worth $1400. It’s complex. Very complex. In fact, it’s so complex that in my 30 day trial I didn’t even scratch the surface of how to use it. In editing, you can even go so far as to edit different layers of sound, like taking out the neighbor’s dog barking or kids making noise in the hall, in addition to simply editing out all the “um”s and “like”s that inevitably appear in American speech. This is a valuable resource since it’s frustrating to make the same screencast twenty times and still have the occasional “um” in it.

Like Jing, Camtasia offers all the same educational benefits. Moreover, it would be perfect for a school looking for a program to do student news show, but it is far too expensive and complicated for the general student to use for a basic screencast homework project.

Audacity is a basic podcasting program. It is free, though their website covers a variety of ways that “free” doesn’t mean “free” so much as needing donations and voluntary testers for new software updates. Audacity has come up in several of my previous classes as a main platform for podcasting. It will convert files so that they can be listened to in iPods since iPods will only take a specific file, and it can be used on all other devices, none of which are as picky as anything Apple puts out. Audacity offers basic effects such as removing static, echo, and reverse. It also allows you to edit your podcast at individual points and fade volume in and out.
 * Audacity **

I have been toying with the idea of using podcasts in the library, when I have one, and in my current situation as a classroom English teacher. In the library, podcasts can be used to review books, interview local authors, interview kids and teachers about their favorite books and recommendations, and create general interest about the library and upcoming events. As a classroom teacher, I teach a fiction class in the fall where the same sort of ideas could be used. Students could be featured guests and review their favorite books and make suggestions to other kids, other teachers could be interviewed with the same purpose, and cool programs that relate to school could be covered (like Shelfari and MLA citation generators). Moreover, podcasts could cover basic parts of class, like how to research effectively, how to organize an essay, etc. These would then be mini-lessons that kids could get at home while they are working on homework. This is a great way to interest kids in English, and, the more I write about it, I think I will try to make one or two podcasts to put on my eLearning page and see how that goes.