Using Jing for screencasting

Last week, I introduced you to Jing for screen captures. A screen capture is essentially taking a snapshot of whatever is on your screen. In this post, I am going to explain how to use Jing for screencasting.

Screencasting is taking a brief video of whatever is on your screen and recording your voice if you choose, rather than a static picture. If you also have Camtasia installed, you can use that to edit the screencast with more features, or use it to create longer screencasts as well as other types of video.

In this post, I am going to assume you do not have Camtasia installed.

To begin with, we need to download Jing. To find out how to download and install Jing, look back at last week's post about using Jing for screen captures.

Once Jing is installed and we have the yellow sun on the edge of our screen, we can begin using it for the screencast. Before you do that, it is always a good idea to run through a basic checklist first:

• check your microphone and speakers (preferably, use a headset with a microphone)
• rehearse (this may include a script or it may not, but always know what you want to say before hand)
• preload any webpages or software before the recording
• anticipate background noise levels - move to a new location if necessary
• the pause button is your friend, but don't abuse it (using pause too often can make the audio and video seem choppy)
• Keep it simple with a good pace (you only have 5 minutes, make them count!)
• avoid the "ums" and "ahhs"!
• Make sure you have a free account at Screencast.com to house your videos for sharing.

Starting your screencast:

1. Hover over the sun icon and wait for the three options to appear.
2. Select the crosshairs.
3. Select the region of your screen to record by clicking, dragging and clicking again.
4. Select "Capture Video" from the resulting menu bar.
5. Jing will give you a 5 second grace period (which cannot be changed) and a confirmation message that the microphone is on before you begin.
6. During recording, you will see a small toolbar below the recording window with 5 buttons (stop, pause, mic on/off, restart recording, cancel) as well as a progress bar.
7. When finished your recording, click stop (orange square on black button).
8. Jing will ask you to provide a file name, and provide a new toolbar below the video window with 5 new buttons (share - send to screencast.com, save to computer, edit with Camtasia, cancel and customize). Enter the file name and decide how to deal with the video. I will assume you decide to share.
9. In the free account, screencasts are only in SWF format. Other formats are available in the pro version.
10. Click the share button.
11. As long as you have a screencast.com account already, the upload will begin. A progress window will show you how things are going.
12. Jing automatically places a link on your clipboard for pasting.
13. Congratulations!

Don't be put off by the number of steps. It takes less time than making the video itself in most cases.

I have used Jing for screencasting for quite a while for creating videos for every group of people in my school. It is great for demonstrating software, network navigation, lesson content, etc. It is an excellent tool for supporting learning. I highly recommend it. 
Good luck!