Screen Capture Ideas

As the staff in my building continue to build their technology skills, I'm reminded repeatedly of two important points: 1) there is always more than one way to "skin a cat" and 2) an old dog and always learn new tricks.

This week's discussion has centered around screen capture.  It has been asked of the staff to show they have mastered different pieces of our technology expectation list. In a perfect world I'd be able to work one on one with everyone, but we all know that's not where we are. So the staff are asked to find alternative and creative ways to share their accomplishments. The most convenient way is to share a Google Doc with screen shots.

I have mistakenly assumed that most people have done this. I could not have been more wrong! And through discussions, I'm finding more ways to do what I have been doing for a long time. So here are some "new" tips from the old dog on screen capture for a PC.


1.  Capturing an Image

If you simply want to capture the entire screen, hit the Print Screen button, usually in the upper right of your keyboard. If you only want to capture the active window, hit Alt + Print Screen.  There will be no indication you've got it, this is where trust comes in.

2.  Open Google Doc

For what the staff is being asked to do, simply go to your Google Document and Paste (Ctrl + V) the image in the document. Once you have pasted it, you can resize the image, change the text wrapping  (to Wrap Text, see picture below) so you can click and drag the picture around, and crop the image if you are only looking for portions of the screen shot.

No while I did some searching I also found a new way to capture the screen. My PC at school has something called a Snipping Tool. (Click on All Programs > Accessories > Snipping Tool.)

This tool allows you to draw a box around the area you want to capture, starting in the top left, clicking and holding to the bottom right. When you release the mouse, a window opens for you to edit and save the image.


This image is now on your computer (or the server if at school) and can be inserted into a Google document.


No matter what method you use, these or another one you might know of, the bottom line is they get the job done and allow the user to show what's happening on their screen.

Clearly to Clean your Web Page

Many times educators find great articles on the web they want to share with classes, but don't always have technology access during the class time. Yes, there are still situations where printing (for some of you that's the worst word I can say) and distributing is the best option to reach the most students.

If this is you, the go to the Google Apps store and download the Clearly extension. Why you ask? Most websites are filled with advertisements and extras that can mess up the look of the printed page (see the screen below).

When you apply the Clearly extension, you get a much cleaner look to your page, not advertisements, and larger print size (for those of us that need that.)

On the right side of your screen you'll have options to print, highlight text, and even clip the article to Evernote if you use it (which is a blog for another day).

When I know I want to keep an article, but not all the extras, Clearly is clearly the way to go!!