Choose Your Tool--Jing

Dear School Administrator,

I am writing this letter to persuade you to consider allowing downloads of a software called Jing on our school's computers. This particular software is free and works on either Windows PCs or Macs. The software has three main parts: screen capture, screencasting, and instant sharing on the web, email, or instant messaging.

In the screen capturing, the software allows the user to get a screenshot of a window, a pane, or a region of what's on the computer. An added bonus is that the user can add captions, highlighting, and arrows for special emphasis. With the screencasting feature, users can select a window or region and Jing will record a video of what is seen or done on the screen. If the user has a microphone, narration can be added with special features to pause and change windows if needed during the recording. The instant sharing of Jing allows the captured image or video to be uploaded to screencast.com and a link is created for the user to share on the web, in email, and or in instant messaging.

Downloading Jing can be beneficial for everyone in our school, but especially for students in the classroom. Teachers using their Tablet PCs can capture any ink annotations or writing of any kind used during lessons and students can view it at a later time for support or to refresh their memories. Other support materials can be created using Jing, and the Tablet PCs increase the possibilities. Extra materials can be created to address any areas of weakness by modeling subjects or concepts. Jing also allows introduction of websites, demonstrations of the uses of different websites, and specific training on certain areas of websites. Tours of websites can be created as well as collections of student work, which can be viewed by the school community and parents. But Jing doesn't have to be used only by teachers in the classroom. Students can use it themselves to showcase their own knowledge and learning. Anything mentioned above that the teacher can do, the students can also do, definitely enhancing their learning.

I hope you take my request seriously and allow the download of Jing on all of our school's computers. The whole school community can benefit. I look forward to hearing your decision soon.