So, here I am in a training listening the presenter talk about different types of screen capture software, which is very relational to my current research project on Flipped Learning. I have preached for, gosh, three years about the wonderful world of Snagit by TechSmith. First and foremost it is FREE (which makes this poor teacher smile!). Second of all it saves all of the screenshots and screen captures directly to your Google Drive, in its own folder (easy peasy, right?). And lastly, it is a Chrome Extension which means you don't have to close a window to go and hunt for it. It's right there in the right corner. It is a very user friendly tool. When I started this venture into Flipped Learning at the beginning of this year, I had all my curious and willing participants download Snagit even if they didn't think they would ever use it.
Now, cue the violins. Snagit is no longer free. This is SO frustrating to the poor teacher living inside me! You create this cool tool. You make it available for free for a very long time. Then, BAM, now you want to charge $29.95 for something that was FREE literally yesterday. And, it doesn't look any different than the version I have that was, did I mention, FREE! I guess everyone is in it to make a dollar, even if that means not updating your product to make it any better than it was before you needed that $30 from your customers. So, now I am scrambling to find a new favorite. There is Jing which is comparable but something about that golden orb thing that hangs out on the side of the screen just bothers me. I have also used the basic screen recorder in the ActivInspire program and it works okay if you want something very basic. There is also an open source program called CamStudio. I haven't tried it but it gets really good reviews. If you are going to go the paid route for a screen capture tool, I would spend my money on Camtasia (https://www.techsmith.com/camtasia-education.html). It is $179 per user license which is VERY expensive. However, it is a screen capture and video editing program. It is very user friendly and you can publish in multiple formats. Now, with that said. Don't you dare use your money to buy this...you gotta eat and pay bills and stuff, right? Download the trial version first and try it out. Then, when you fall in love with it, and you will, pitch your purpose for needing this fantastic tool to your principal, your PTA, and maybe even your district. TechSmith has different levels of pricing. There is bound to be one that will work for you.
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AuthorHi! My name is Allison Barton, a former elementary school teacher turned Technology Integration Specialist at Greenville High School in Greenville, South Carolina. I have been teaching for 11 years and have relied on technology during that time to excite, engage, and educate my students (both young and old). I also enjoy very much sharing my knowledge about technology with other teachers. Archives
May 2017
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