Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Explain Everything for iPad vs Snag it

It's been a few weeks since my last post on Audioboo and I have to say it's not been easy with a full time job, tutoring from home on 2 online courses and doing all the other bits and bobs I always get involved! It's all under control and it seems like I work and perform better when under pressure! 

Anyways, this blog entry is about Explain Everything, the Apple equivalent of Techsmith's Jing (Jing Pro has retired!) and the updated verion of Snagit . I recently inherited an iPad and so I decided to start using it as much as possible in as many ways as possible in equivalent manner to my desktop, tablet, notebook and laptop! Now, one of the aids I enjoy creating to support my teaching and my own learning too is screencasts. 

I started using Jing and immediately fell in love with it, but soon realised I needed another tool which would allow for more versatility and which offered more features. Jing Pro is great but has now retired and I still wanted more so I explored the free trial version of Snagit and we're now madly in love! :-) Also engineered by TechSmith and knowing the quality of Jing, I didn't hesitate one single minute before buying it. The more I use it and the more I like it to be honest. Now, going back to my inherited iPad (one! :-) I've started trying to find Apple equivalents to different software and so I found out from a colleague a couple of months ago that Explain Everything does pretty much the same. I've created a couple of screencasts for my students and and trainees and I think it's also a valid tool. I must confess that I'm still exploring it and that I think it's a little slower than Snagit, but that may definitely be because of my new 'old' iPad so I must be honest and give it the benefit of the doubt. In short, I still find Snagit a lot easier to use, but this may also be due to the fact that I've been using it longer. For the time being, I'll continue to use both and see if my opinions change somehow. I'll report back in a few weeks on my explorations!

A New Journey Begins - NILE MA in Professional Development for Language Education

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