Snagit Mac- Beta

One of my favorite PC applications has got to be Snagit from TechSmith. I have been using it for years on Windows and it is by far one of the most versatile screen capturing applications on the market. I have used it for just about all my screen capturing for my blog and it has always performed and delivered when I needed it to. So I was very excited to learn that Snagit Mac is now in beta and available for those that are interested in testing it out. Here is the scoop from the TechSmith website:

Snagit Screen Capture Software

Creating an image of all or part of what you see on your computer monitor PLUS:

• Flexible options that let you capture only what you want.
• Annotation varieties like arrows, speech bubbles, and more make it easy to customize your capture.
• Versatility in what you do with your capture. Send it to your favorite app, share it online, or save it for later.

So if you have the chance download Snagit for Mac beta and give it a test drive

Jing Pro Released

If you have been a Jing User you will be happy to learn that TechSmith has released Jing Pro today for only $14.95 a year. So what do you get with the release of Jing Pro:

So, what's new with Jing Pro? Betsy Weber, TechSmith's Chief Evangelist sums it up

• YouTube support. You can upload a video to YouTube directly from Jing. Jing also gives you the link to your video.

• For screencasts, in addition to the SWF file format, Jing Pro now offers a H.264/MPEG-4 AVC format video option. Without getting too technical, this format excels at capturing video with a lot of motion, is much more suited for editing, and is supported on YouTube. And, for those of you who have been wanting to tweak your Jing videos, you can now import them into Camtasia Studio 6 or iMovie to edit, merge or anything you want.

• Branding removal. At the end of a Jing Pro-produced video, there is no Jing logo and branding.

You can upgrade to Jing Pro for $14.95 a year. And, we're not forcing you to upgrade to Jing Pro. The free version of Jing is still available complete with complimentary hosting on Screencast.com (2 GB of storage and 2 GB of transfer bandwidth per month). And, we also have free tech support for both Jing and Jing Pro. There is a great Help Center for Jing that is full of tips and tricks.

Where did the Summer Go?

As I write this post, I am reflecting on the past several days as my wife and I got my daughter situated and moved into her college dorm. If you have never moved a child into a a dorm or an apartment it sure is a lot of work! Once again another transition, as all of us move into our respective lines of work. Tomorrow I am back at the College of St. Elizabeth to start the Fall 2008 semester. It is hard to believe just how fast the summer went! I am eagerly awaiting to see my graduate students and look forward to sharing with them the trends and the new and exciting products that will soon be released. There is no escaping the impact that Web 2.0 has had on the field of educational and assistive technology as more and more mainstream tools on the web find their way into the work that we do. With free text to speech applications and the range of applications like Google Docs, Buzzword, Jing, and Jott- just to name a few, the combinations are endless as we craft our recommendations for the students we work with. As more and more teachers become aware of the power of wiki's- they can really begin to help students make their curriculum more accessible for those students that need it. All this summer I have been working with teachers on a math grant applying the principles of Universal Design for Learning into their math lesson plans. It has been exciting for me to watch how the teachers have embraced the UDL theory and have been able to plan accessible lessons which have been scaffolded with technology.

Reflecting on my trip to NECC 2008- this year will go down as the year of the netbook. If you haven't had a chance to look at these ultra small notebooks now is the time to do so. The netbooks will be seen as just one more vehicle for students to have a rather inexpensive tool to access the internet with. Weighing in at about 2.2 pounds these devices will will run Window XP and in many cases a variant of Linux. Asus, Acer, and HP have jumped into the bandwagon and soon Dell will announce their new netbook which will probably be released later this month. Schools will begin to look at these devices more seriously because of the cost and their functionality for the money. Many of the netbooks start at around $300 dollars and up. It should be interesting to watch as schools begin to adopt these tools.

Teaching at the college gives me another perspective from the vantage point of higher education as to how technology is being applied for instruction. At the college all students have access to Blackboard which is used as a portal for instruction. I have created some very rich courses using Blackboard that provide my students with a multitude of resources. Over the years I have developed many learning resources for my students using Camtasia Studio, a wonderful application for creating screencasts and video tutorials. At NECC 2008, I was introduced to Adobe Captivate 3 which I will add to my einstruction toolkit. Adobe Captivate 3 not only allows you to create video demonstrations, but also allows you to quickly develop compelling interactive media which you can output to Flash. I will be posting some more information about Adobe Captivate 3 in some later posts in September.

Certainly, collaboration is the buzzword and I'm sure going forward you will be hearing more and more about this as developers add these features into their existing applications. But you only have to look to Web 2.0 technologies to see that the foundation is already there for example in Google Docs and Buzzword, just to name a few. For this reason it will become even more important when we are educating our students and preparing them for the world or work that they have opportunities to work in teams and to collaborate with others outside the context of their school. Do what you can to seek out the exciting projects like the Flat Classroom Project that are taking place on the web to give your students these invaluable opportunities and experiences. I have learned that, yes the world is flat and having tools like Skype, Oovoo, CrossLoop, Yuuguu, Adobe ConnectNow and Dimdim, have allowed me to conduct the work that I do effortlessly without the need to leave my office. So reach out beyond your school and district and challenge your students to use these rich sets of tools to make learning more meaningful and rewarding.

I trust that this will be an exciting start to the school year and I look forward to sharing my ideas and experiences with you as I continue to explore and use new tools. Please feel free to email me with your comments and suggestions.

SnagIt 9 and MindManager 7

Sometime ago, I did a screencast showing you how I use SnagIt with MindManager to add images to your mind maps. Since TechSmith recently released SnagIt 9 along with the MindManager Plug-in, I thought that it would be a good idea to show you just how you can effortlessly add images to your mind maps. In this screencast you can see just how easy it is to capture images and send them directly to MindManager 7. You can click on this link or on the image to see the screencast. Enjoy

Jing Turns One!

Happy Birthday to Jing Project which celebrated its first year in production. I have used Jing in my courses and continue to use it for quick video tutorials. Techsmith in honor of its first year birthday has double the amount of storage and bandwidth on Screencast. So now you automatically get 2 GB of storage space to store all of your Jing screencasts. What a great deal! It looks as if there will be some premium services built around Jing in the coming months based on the email that I received. So go enjoy your new found freedom to create more Jing projects!

MindManager Tip: Using the Paint Formatting Tool

I read today's Mindjet MindManager's blog post about using the Paint Formatting Tool and decided to create a screencast using Camtasia Studio 5.1 to show you how it is done. This tip was shared by Roger Parker noted author and mind mapping expert-who has done a great deal of work with MindManager in the course of writing and consulting. Click on this link to view the screencast.

Jing Project Update

In July, I shared with you information about a free screen casting application called Jing from TechSmith. If you haven't taken a look at it you really should. It has been indispensable to me in the training that I do. Now instead of making handouts, I create some screen casts which I store on Screencast which teachers can review any time they like. I will be doing a training on how to use Adobe Acrobat to make tests and worksheets accessible and I have put together a series of screen casts which the teachers can access anytime they like. Jing has been updated several times since July and just keeps getting better and better. The folks at TechSmith should be applauded for making this handy tool available and for their constant attention to small details that makes the current release even more polished. Now when you do a video recording you get a 3 second countdown on your screen with a message that your microphone is on. The ease of use is second to none with the Screencast integration. If you plan on using Jing on a regular basis it really pays to become a subscriber and purchase a plan that works for you.

You can click here to preview the Jing screencast using Adobe Acrobat.

Got Jing?

I had the opportunity to get a preview of new application called Jing, from the makers of Camtasia Studio and it is really awesome. Think about all of the times that you want to grab a picture of something on your screen and send it to someone that you may be IMing. Or say you want to quickly show someone how to use a feature in a software application and want to do a quick screencast. If you have ever been in this situation then you need to take a look at Jing. Jing is a software and sharing tool that is available for Mac and Windows which lets you share pictures and videos very quickly. The Jing application is always available and with a user defined hot key you can get it started. Once you have grabbed a screen image or recorded a video you are immediately given a URL that is copied to the clipboard to use. The images and videos are stored on your Screencast account that you will be prompted to create the first time you use Jing. This is a very handy utility and one that I know I will be using often in the work that I do. It is a great tool for Just in Time training. Here is an example of what you can do with Jing.