using jing to facilitate connection

Running head: USING JING TO FACILITATE CONNECTION 1

This Paper was presented at the KU Village Online Conference: "Connect, Communicate, and Collaborate" September 20-‐23, 2010

Show and Tell:

Using Jing to Facilitate Connection, Communication, and Collaboration between Instructor and

Instructional Designer

Michelle A. Liken and Melissa A. Venable

Kaplan University

Author Notes

Michele A. Liken, PhD, APRN-BC is an Adjunct Instructor at the Kaplan University

School of Nursing. Contact: [email protected]

Melissa A. Venable, PhD was a Curriculum Manager at the Kaplan University School of

Nursing. Contact: [email protected] (Updated contact info: 10/2011)

USING JING TO FACILITATE CONNECTION 2

Abstract Have you experienced an online course problem that was difficult to communicate in an email or

online form? An instructor in Kaplan University’s School of Nursing uses Jing to provide

detailed information to the instructional designer related to course issues. Through Jing, brief

screencasts are created in minutes and sent via email. This web 2.0 technology produces video

segments including voice and screen recordings. Jing allows for enhanced communication

toward resolving course issues. In this report both instructor and instructional designer share

their different perspectives and make recommendations for the use of this type of technology to

promote connection, communication, and collaboration between instructor and instructional

designers working with online courses.


Show and Tell: Using Jing to Facilitate Connection, Communication, and Collaboration between

Instructor and Instructional Designer

Instructors of online courses are often not geographically located near their schools or

near technical support resources. When something goes wrong in an online course, such as a

broken link or problem with a file, these instructors have to rely on technology to communicate

the problem. Online instructors report the provision of technology support as a key element of

assistance required to do their work (McKenzie, Mims, Bennet, & Waugh, 2000).

An instructor in Kaplan University’s School of Nursing uses Jing to provide detailed

information to the instructional designer assigned to work on course issues in her program.

Through Jing, brief screencasts are created as a tool to convey the problem to the instructional

designer.

This paper outlines the process of submitting a course issue and the two primary roles,

instructor and instructional designer that are involved in the process of reporting and resolution.

The instructor is the primary facilitator of the course and is on the front line of delivery. He or

she interacts directly with the course components and content and also directly communicates

with the students enrolled in the course. Once the instructor identifies a problem with the course,

or is made aware of a problem by an enrolled student, the instructor then notifies the

instructional designer of the problem. In this particular institution, the instructional designer is

often responsible for the development and maintenance of this specific course. The instructional

designer reviews the submitted issue, investigates the problem in more detail, and then proposes

possible solutions.

Course Perspectives



Our instructional designer defines a course issue as a problem that has been identified

with a particular course. Types of problems typically include: broken links, error messages,

misdirected links, missing content, errors in content, outdated content, typographical errors, and

formatting errors.

Instructor

Problems listed above are compounded by adding the student factor into the

equation. These barriers to learning can create an atmosphere of anxiety in that it prohibits

students from moving forward with course material. Because most students believe the instructor

creates, manages, and teaches courses, these issues may infer instructor incompetence.

Student Students are often unaware that there is an instructional designer involved in their course.

When a technical difficulty arises or a mistake is found in a course, they may assume that it is the

instructor’s error and responsibility. Providing timely resolution to the problem and support to

the instructor is important to foster student learning and satisfaction with a course. Experiencing

problems related to technology may be one of a number of influences that affect student

retention in a course (Park, 2007).

Current Course Issue Process From the Instructional Designer’s Perspective

Typically, the instructor will identify a problem with a course and report it to the

instructional designer. This might happen in a number of ways including an online form and an

email message. This particular institution uses SharePoint as an online tool. This site includes a

specific online form for submitting these types of issues. This form includes fields for: course


name and number, term in which the problem has been identified, description of the problem,

and suggested resolution. The issue is then reviewed by the instructional designer who posts an

action taken and an update of the issue’s status, such as active, resolved or resolution in progress.

From the instructional designer’s perspective, clarification is often required. This means

contacting the instructor who submitted the issue, usually by email, to ask questions and seek

additional details.

The following items are two examples of potentially confusing issues as posted in an

online form: (a) Student feedback and areas causing student concerns on the assignment

wording. Several students felt the instructions were vague and unclear. Students requested

greater detail on projects, and (b) unit 6 assignment guidelines “don’t open properly.”

From the Instructor’s Perspective

Upon identification of a problem, instructors typically e-mail a description of the problem

to their mentor and/or program director. The mentor/program director requests that the instructor

record the problem in Sharepoint. One or both of these individuals forwards this information to

the instructional designer. At this point, the instructor is not aware the process that is taking place

to solve the problem. Sometimes it is solved, however, the instructor may receive a message

from the course designer stating, “there doesn't appear to be a problem.” At this point, the

instructor has moved to the next course venture and may not follow through with trying to solve

the problem. The problem, thus, perpetuates.

Communication of course issues are critical components of successful completion of the

teaching/learning process in online courses. Mechanisms to enhance course communication are

likely to facilitate the teaching/learning process. Jing is one avenue for augmenting course

communication.


What is Jing?

Jing, developed by the TechSmith Corporation in 2007 falls into the category of

screencasting software. It allows users to film/record actions taking place on their

desktop. Screencasts are useful for demonstrating components of the learning process. They

may be especially useful for showing students how to work with technology or navigate through

a course.

The recording, a video screen capture, is processed and a URL is created. Users can

paste the link to the screencast in a website or email for others to view. Jings are stored on

TechSmith’s server. Links can be used multiple times and do not expire.

TechSmith Corporation (2010) lists the following as possible uses for Jings: project

collaboration, voice over narration of pictures, capture of computer glitches, and demonstration

of using software applications. Jing has proven to be a useful tool for demonstrating glitches or

problems that are barriers to successful completion of the teaching / learning process in online

course in Nursing at Kaplan.

Improving Connection, Communication, and Collaboration Current Research and Evidence-Based Teaching

To date, few studies were found to support the base of evidence based teaching practice.

In one study, Peterson (2007), a library sciences instructor, piloted an informal study of course

benchmark outcomes. The intent was to compare student outcomes where screencasts were used,

versus those where screencasts were not used. Likewise, according to Urata (2004) creating

visual manuals can help to make communication more effective when the parties involved are

communicating across a distance. These manuals include the use of screen shots, pictures of the

computer screen, and step-by-step guidelines for the user. Urata noted that research showing the


effectiveness of this kind of communication tool has taken place in the training field. However,

to date documented outcomes of this research was not found.

In another study, Rethlefsen (2009) reviewed and compared other screencapture and

screencasting products to Jing Pro, the paid version of Jing. Rethelfsen reported high ratings of

Jing Pro in terms of ease of use and video capabilities. The product, however, received low

ratings on flexibility and audio capabilities. While this product did not rate as high as others,

such as Adobe Captivate and Camtasia Studo, it was by far the least expensive, often by a

margin of hundreds of dollars. The free version was also considered “an excellent alternative”

(Rethlefsen, 2009, p.62).

The majority of publications (Ferriter, 2010; Griffis, 2009; Rethlefsen, 2009) regarding

Jing and similar screencast applications remain at the descriptive level. The impact of using

screencasts on teaching/learning outcomes is ripe for empirically-based intervention studies, thus

adding to the base of best practices in teaching.

Our Experience

This instructor-instructional designer team found that video screencasts improve

connection, communication, and collaboration. They remove a great deal of uncertainty about an

issue by allowing both the instructor and instructional designer to see the problem on screen and

to hear the instructor talk about the problem via audio recording. This team has also realized the

potential for faster resolution. When the need to clarify issues with the instructor is removed, via

a screencast, a viable resolution takes less time.

Show and Tell Instructor


The instructor was first introduced to Jing during hospital staff training. Jing recordings

were created to demonstrate use of newly implemented electronic medical charting software. The

ability to see active screencasts of the data entry process greatly aided staff understanding, thus

facilitating a smooth transition to the new program.

In the online classroom the instructor had difficultly trying to explain in words how to

upload a document to the course dropbox. Recalling the success using Jing in the hospital

training, the instructor created a Jing to show students the dropbox process. Receiving

overwhelmingly positive comments from students about the Jing, precipitated ongoing use of

this screencast software.


From the instructional designer’s perspective the use of screencasts has improved the

process of communicating and resolving course problems. This instructor has been able to

clearly articulate the problems she has encountered through the use of Jing. The instructional

designer sees and hears immediately the problem and can use that information to quickly find the

source and complete the required action to resolve the issues.

Examples

Four examples of how this instructor used screencasts to communicate course issues to

the instructional designer, responsible for maintaining this instructor’s online courses, are

presented in Table 1. Information includes description of the specific problem, the subsequent

resolution, and perceived benefit of using screencast technology to submit the problem.

Table 1 Examples of Course Issues Reported with Jing Screencasts

Issue Type Problem Description Resolution Perceived Benefit Broken Link The instructor found a broken link Correct the URL address so Instructor was able to


to a survey. The survey was linked in several places in the course.

that the link opened the survey.

show the instructional designer exactly where the broken link was located in the course.

Gradebook The instructor found a problem with the course gradebook – too many total points for the course.

Reset assignment points to correct number.

Instructor was able to correctly identify the source of the problem by walking through the gradebook on screen. The instructional designer was then able to enter the gradebook and quickly make the needed modifications.

Doc Sharing Missing documents in doc sharing area of online course – two of a set of four.

Upload correct documents to course master so they would migrate to all sections and terms.

Instructor clearly conveyed the two specific documents that were missing.

Document/File File was not opening properly for instructor and students.

Change the file extension of this document so compatible with multiple editions of MSWord.

In an initial email report of this issue the instructional designer was unable to recreate the problem. The screencast illustrated the file type problem – the instructional designer could see the pop-up screens and error messages and make the diagnosis.

Benefits and Challenges

As with most types of technology, there are pros and cons to working with screen capture

and screen recording tools. Below are some of the benefits and challenges experienced by this

team.

Benefits

The screen captures are quick to create and view, thereby providing clearer

communication of a problem. Screen captures also serve as a kind of visual documentation that

expands on the instructor’s submission of an issue. The audio and video allow for a more in

depth description of the problem that is being experienced. They may also illustrate the process


resulting in the problem, allowing the instructional designer to retrace the steps to create the

problem and fix factors contributing to the problems. While the benefits are clear, challenges do

exist.

Challenges

Using screencast applications require some additional equipment - specifically a

microphone or headset that allows for the recording of the instructor’s voice. The lag time

between making the recording and receiving a URL production can be frustrating. Likewise,

account limitations with the free version of Jing include a limited recording time. Each

screencast can be no more than five minutes in duration. In addition, TechSmith limits space for

storing URLs. Eventually further recordings are prohibited for free accounts. Finally, more

sophisticated options come with fees for licenses and for added features, such as storage for

recordings on the system’s servers (TechSmith Corporation, 2010). Upon examination of these

challenges, both the instructor and instructional designer concur that using Jing is worth the extra

effort to facilitate course success by enhancing connection, communication, and collaboration.

Recommendations

This report offers several recommendations regarding the use of screencast technologies

for reporting issues in online courses. Instructors who are interested in using screencasts should

consider adding these screencast URLs to their issue submissions. This may require some

coordination with the support personnel who maintain the online courses. It may be possible to

add a field to online forms that allows for the upload or attachment of the screeencast.

While this team reports its own use and experience with screencapture technologies,

opportunities for future empirically-based intervention studies in this area are needed. For

example, studies should include collecting feedback from larger, more diverse groups of


instructors and instructional designers. Likewise, critical outcomes, particularly those impacting

students, must be identified.

More specifically, researchers should seek to collect data about problems with course

issue reporting and potential successes with using screencaptures. Finally, further investigation

should be directed toward distinguishing between specific types of issues that may be more

clearly expressed with the addition of audio and video, and those that can be clearly expressed

without this additional step.

In summary, the purpose of this paper was to describe use of Jing in the online learning

environment. Perspectives of using Jing between an instructor and instructional designer were

presented. Examples of using Jing in a course were illustrated and recommendations were made.

While minor challenges exist, the benefits of using screencast software like Jing to facilitate

connection, communication, and collaboration between an instructor and instructional designer

are certainly worthy of further investigation.


References

Ferriter, W. (2010). Preparing to teach digitally. Educational Leadership, 67(8), 88-89.

Griffis, P. (2009). Building Pathfinders with Free Screen Capture Tools. Information and

Technologies Libraries, 4, 189-190.

McKenzie, B. K., Mims, N., Bennett, E., & Waugh, M. (2000). Needs, concerns, and practices of

online instructors. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 3(3)

Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall33/mckenzie33.html

Park, J. (2007, February). Factors related to learner dropout in online learning. Paper presented

at the International Research Conference in The Americas of the Academy of Human

Resource Development, Indianapolis, IN. Retrieved from ERIC database (ED504556)

Peterson, E. (2007). Incorporating screencasts in online teaching. International Review of

Research in Open and Distance Learning, 8(3), 1-4. Retrieved from ERIC database

(EJ801074)

Rethlefsen, M. L. (2009). Screencast like a pro. Library Journal, 62-63.

TechSmith Corporation. (2010). Frequently Answered Questions. Retrieved from

http://jingproject.com/faq/

Urata, T. (2004). Step-by-step visual manuals: Design and development. Tech Trends (48)3, 31

34.