Jing

I was very excited to learn about Jing. I first saw it used in one of my educational classes to demonstrate a particular technology. It has more editing capabilities than ScreenToaster. When I downloaded the technology I discovered you also needed to register for Screencast as well. ScreenToaster does not require a separate location to store videos which is a positive feature. When you download Jing you are supposed to see a sun in the top or corner of your screen depending whether you have a PC or a Mac. My sun did not appear so I will need to try this out at some later time. I definitely want to explore Jing as I have heard that many people use it. One review that I read was at Softpedia. Another review about Jing I found written by Richard Byrne was at Free Technology for Teachers. As with ScreenToaster teachers and students can use this to demonstrate features on a map, perhaps using Google Earth, to edit writing or to use voice on class pictures. Another review I found at Using Jing for Educators. I am looking forward to explore more possibilities with Jing.

More About Blogs

Wow! I have discovered some fantastic blogs concerning education and teaching. There are many uses for creating one. I love that I can write about web 2.o technologies and I plan on continuing to add to my list. This can certainly be a resource for other teachers. I know that I have learned from reading others' blogs and have investigated the technologies listed.


Blogs can be set up for a class to communicate with each other. Check out some great blogs listed at KDitzler's Teacher Resource Page. There is even a little video on how to set up a blog using Blogger. Blogs can be used to discuss a particular topic being taught in class. Students can explore a website and record their thoughts on the blog.



Investigate this! Do you want to see a teacher's blog in your state? How about in your grade level? Perhaps you would like to see a blog from a different country. Click on Class Blogmeister to explore more.

ScreenToaster Examples

The Computers in Education Group of South Australia (CEGSA) rates ScreenToaster four out of five stars. They list the advantages and disadvantages and provide a teacher and student example on their site. View their ScreenToaster now.



An excellent article from EmergingEdTech compares Jing, ScreenToaster, Screenpresso, Screenr and others in a chart format. The comments posted at the bottom of the page also provide helpful information. So, if you want to compare the file format, editing capabilities and how files are shared, check this article out now.

Dabbleboard Examples

To see other examples of Dabbleboard you can click here to view flow charts, organizers and webs. A physical education teacher or coach can create sports plays and students can work on designing a Greek temple. TeachHub.com spotlights an article titled, Dabbleboard: Teacher Website of the Week. There is a video you can watch and below that you can see a picture that was uploaded and then lines were drawn to illustrate various features of the picture. I can see social studies teachers using this to illustrate geography terms and names of places on a map. I can see science teachers using this to label the parts of a flower, cell or heart.

Scriblink Examples

Earlier I was blogging about Scriblink and I included an example that I created with my classmate. I was searching the web and came across another example that I liked. It was a lesson created by Sarah Birdsall from Purdure University. The web page actually shows many examples ranging from an elementaty level to a business meeting. In Sarah's example, she shows a map of France and the students must color the map sections according to the key provided. Check it out.



I also found a wiki created by Karen Ditzler from West Shore School District, PA and she created a Scriblink Tour that is very informative. She also shows examples from first through third grade.

ScreenToaster Uses

There are many ways to use ScreenToaster in the educational setting. First it can be used for teacher training. There are many times that a demonstration is shown using new or updated technology software and someone is absent from the building or in another meeting. This would be perfect for those people to view the information at a later time. Another way to use this with teachers is as a refresher for how to do something with technology. We are often shown an example in an inservice and do not have enough time to practice and commit the procedures to memory. Create a ScreenToaster video and demonstrate how to use a Web 2.0 tool. Demonstrate how to view data in our grade book program or find different views of test results.

This would also be perfect for students to use as well. There are always students absent and those that need to be reminded how to do something. Create a folder titled "How To". Students can view how to reset their password, how to use word processing tools, how to change a mixed numeral to an improper fraction or how to create timelines. Now when a student needs that technology refresher they can view the video without waiting for you to finish helping someone else. This is a great time saver!

ScreenToaster

ScreenToaster is a screen capturing Web 2.0 tool similar to Jing. It does not require an application nor does it need a separate place to store your videos like Jing does. It really is simple to use. First you go to ScreenToaster's website, register and receive an e-mail verification. When you receive the e-mail verification, which took only minutes, you click on the link provided to finalize your application. There is a video that shows you how to create your first screen capture video. You can video the whole desktop or just a selected rectangle. You can record your voice and edit after your recording. Then you can upload your video to a blog or other social networking place. I like the fact that you have a choice to keep the video private or go public for the world to see. Check out my example below by clicking on the ScreenToaster picture.

Record your screencast online

Dabbleboard Uses

As you can see on the left side of this page, there is an example of a vocabulary activity that my classmate and I created and completed using Dabbleboard. It was easy to use and fun to make. As mentioned with Scriblink, creating organizers, flow charts, drawing or importing graphics is easy. Students can write a poem, descriptive paragraph or vocabulary words and then draw a picture to enhance the meaning. Typing anywhere on the page was easy too, just by clicking where you wanted the text to be placed. Caution your students though, as mentioned in a previous entry, your work can be deleted by your partner unknowingly. I think Scriblink is easier to use but with less features. I would use Dabbleboard with intermediate students.

Scriblink Uses

There are many uses for Scriblink in the classroom. Students can use this collaborative whiteboard to create and complete graphic organizers. They can brainstorm ideas on an assigned topic or create a diagram or picture that would enhance another project. It is great that students can use the online chat so they can discuss a group project from other areas. For example one student could be in the library and another in the classroom. Above is an example of a collaborative effort from my partner and myself using Scriblink. As you can see, we discussed our project online and then began to work on once.

Dabbleboard

Dabbleboard is another digital interactive whiteboard similar to Scriblink. Dabbleboard has more advanced features. You can use it for free just like Scriblink or there are different levels that you can pay for more advanced features.

One feature that Dabbleboard has that Scriblink does not is the ability to select objects, move them, copy, delete, enlarge and group them. There are windows that allow you to set the canvas size using numbers whereas Scriblink only has a button that allows the frame to go from small to large. You can also enlarge the picture or object by setting the width and height by numbers. You can add pictures from your computer and add to the side bar to drag in or out.

When my classmate and I were collaborating using dabbleboard we used the online chat setting. We chose to construct a vocabulary activity that we were both working on at the same time. The one problem that I had was my work kept disappearing. We discovered that when my partner used the Undo button for her work, MY work disappeared. It was frustrating because since we were on different computers I didn't know that she was using the Undo button for her work.

Dabbleboard does have a nice video that clearly illustrates how to use this product. I would take the video tour then try my hand at creating a page.

Scriblink

Scriblink is an interactive whiteboard that you can use for free on your computer. How cool is that! My classmate asked me to participate with her as we explored the capabilities of this tool.

You have a tool bar that allows drawing a straight line, a free hand pencil, a square, a circle, typing ability, pen colors and a grid pattern that you can use to line up objects or use to draw. You can continue to click undo which is helpful for step by step corrections. If you press clear though, the entire work goes away except for an image that you may have downloaded. To get rid of an image you will need to click the X in the corner of the graphic or once it has been placed you can erase it with the eraser. You can also change the image any way you want with the tools on the toolbar. Scriblink also has voice conferencing if your computer has a microphone. We did not try this feature.

Another neat feature of this is security. You are in control of your board unless you invite someone in with an email address. My classmate emailed me an address and we were able to chat online and collaborate about our project. We were able to print, save our work and return to it later but we could not save our chat for future reference. Check out their official blog at http://scriblink.blogspot.com/ or if you want to just start creating a project go to http://www.scriblink.com/. You will definitely have fun with this.

The Blog

Initially I did not see why many people were excited about using a blog. However, after exploring blogs that I found on the web and reading my classmates' blogs, I see blogs in a different light. I have really enjoyed looking at the blogs of my classmates. They have discussed many good Web 2.0 technologies that can be used by teachers to help in the learning process. I also read some blogs about technologies that helped me decide which ones I wanted to explore more.

I came across an article in TEACHER Magazine titled, "What Happened to All the Teacher Bloggers?" The author Anthony Rebora was questioning whether teachers stopped blogging due to burnout, job security, or moving on to Facebook or Twitter. Comments to his blog were interesting, logical and insightful. In addition to these issues it was noted that veteran teachers were moving toward the larger publications where they would receive a larger audience. After reading this I don't agree that teachers are giving up on blogs. I believe that you need to look at the time of the year people are posting and check out the purpose and content of the blog.

Some bloggers are now using wikis. However, you do not have to abandon one for the other. A blogger is usually one writer, though you can open it up for others to comment. A wiki is usually open for a group to write information. The original author can revert back to a previously saved version if something is written that is undesirable for the site. I found a good video that compares the similarities and differences between blogs and wikis. It also discusses web 2.o technologies and why we should use them with our students. I found this on TeacherTube. It is titled, "A New Way to Publish - The Rise of Web 2.o" from Suziea. You should check it out if you want to see a comparison of blogs and wikis.