Jing - Capture EVERYTHING!

Hello everyone!  I want to share a tool that I have been using and LOVING.  When I showed it to Michelle, she and I agreed that it was a "game changer."  It is a screen capture tool.  Watch this 1 minute introductory video by clicking here.  I even used Jing and a free Screencast.com account to capture it!

Unlike your screen capture tools on your PC or Mac, Jing allows you to just copy and paste an image without having to download it.  You could grab and image from the Internet, paste it onto SmartNotebook, and label it. So many possibilities!  And, you can also make short screen cast with your built in mic on your MacBook.   I see this as a tool for quick how-to videos for your students and parents.  With the Screencast.com account, you can get an embed code or a  share URL.

http://www.techsmith.com/tutorial-jing.html - Video Tutorials

http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html - Download Link

As always, keep copyright guidelines in mind!

How did you use Jing?  Share your fabulous ideas in the comments section!

Explain Everything

"Explain Everything - an iPad app to explain anything and everything!"  is one of my FAVORITE productivity apps for the iPad. It is similar to Educreations (which many people are familiar with), but it has more "bells and whistles." With Explain Everything, you start with a white "board" on which to work and you can design and annotate in many ways. You can add text, photos, shapes, audio... and so much more! Here's a link to the Explain Everything website.

This week, our 2nd graders at McGowen are using Explain Everything to create book trailers about the book Maybelle in the Soup by Katie Speck. They are drawing pictures on slides, adding text and their voices on each slide. To export, you can simply send the finished product to YouTube. YouTube is a super easy way to get those projects off of the devices, but there are other export possibilities as well. Check out Explain Everything to learn more! The app costs $2.99, but it is well worth the money:)

Remember, if you use Explain Everything, or another similar productivity app, let Laura or I know about it so you can earn a star for your tech super hero cape! If you don't have a Technology Super Hero cape yet, let us know and we'll get you started.

Chase Young, 2nd grade teacher at McGowen, made a great "how-to" video about Explain Everything to demonstrate how they used the app to make book trailers. Thanks for sharing, Chase!

Evernote-Remember everything!

Melanie and I want to introduce you to a fantastic productivity tool called Evernote.  It's slogan is "Remember everything," and it describes the app perfectly!  You can create an account and access it on your laptop, your iPad, even your smartphone.  I use it to take notes, but after learning more about it, I am going to start saving my documents and pictures on Evernote so that I can access them on multiple devices!  There are also other ways you can use it in your classroom.  Please click here to watch an introductory video created by us.

Don't forget to email Melanie or I to let us know you are using a tool that we featured on the blog to earn stars for your Technology Superhero cape!