Jing is the second free resource from my list of favorites for 2008 to announce improvements today. (Earlier today Animoto announced a couple of improvements). Until today, screencast videos created using Jing couldn’t, unless you’re a super tech guru, be resized without losing part of the video. Beginning today, Jing screencast videos can be resized by following the directions given in the new help center. Jing is still free to use, but now you have the option of upgrading to a pro account for $14.95/ year. A pro account offers the benefits of HD quality video, direct output to YouTube, and the removal of Jing advertising from your videos. Pro account users can also export videos directly to Camtasia or iMovie.

For those of you that are not familiar with Jing, Jing is a free screencasting tool available as a Mac or Windows download. Using Jing you can record videos of your computer screen to visually demonstrate and orally explain to viewers how to perform a task on their own computers. You can also use Jing to take screenshots on which you can then draw and label. Below you can see a screenshot, with drawing and writing, that I just created using Jing.

Applications for Education
Jing is a very useful tool to have installed on your computer. Jing makes it easy for teachers to create short screencasts and screenshots to explain to students how to use a new piece of software or a new website. Screencast can be particularly useful if you’re students are going to be doing work online away from your classroom. Post your screencasts online and your students can watch them when you’re not available to answer their “how-to” questions.