Using screencasts to report course issues. Collaboration between and online instructor and elearning instructional designer. Paper presented at KU Village Online Conference, 2010

1. Running head: USING JING TO FACILITATE CONNECTION 1
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: mliken@sc.rr.com
Melissa A. Venable, PhD was a Curriculum Manager at the Kaplan University School of
Nursing. Contact: mvenable@design-doc.com (Updated
contact
info:
10/2011)
This
Paper
was
presented
at
the
KU
Village
Online
Conference:
"Connect,
Communicate,
and
Collaborate"
September
20-­‐23,
2010

2. 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.

3. USING JING TO FACILITATE CONNECTION
3
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

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Instructional Designer
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

5. USING JING TO FACILITATE CONNECTION
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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.

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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

7. USING JING TO FACILITATE CONNECTION
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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

8. USING JING TO FACILITATE CONNECTION
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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.
Instructional Designer
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

9. USING JING TO FACILITATE CONNECTION
9
to a survey. The survey was that the link opened the show the instructional
linked in several places in the survey. designer exactly where the
course. broken link was located in
the course.
Gradebook The instructor found a problem Reset assignment points to Instructor was able to
with the course gradebook – too correct number. correctly identify the
many total points for the course. 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 Upload correct documents Instructor clearly
area of online course – two of a to course master so they conveyed the two specific
set of four. would migrate to all documents that were
sections and terms. missing.
Document/File File was not opening properly for Change the file extension of In an initial email report of
instructor and students. this document so this issue the instructional
compatible with multiple designer was unable to
editions of MSWord. 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

10. USING JING TO FACILITATE CONNECTION
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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

11. USING JING TO FACILITATE CONNECTION
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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.

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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.