Snipping Tool

The print screen tool has been around since the beginning of time. It is a simple but useful tool for doing a screen capture, but it was never a graceful tool. Before this class, I had never heard of the Snipping Tool. And for the first hour I worked on this assignment, I didn’t believe it existed. I had to go through a number of computers. My lap top, an older machine, didn't have it. The school district issued laptop, a machine that frustrates me to no end because of the restrictions placed on it by those technology support people at LCPS did not have the tool either. By this time I am on the internet verifying that the tool exists, that I am calling it the correct name, that this really is my assignment! Now I am off to the next device, my desktop.  What? My husband has just loaded a new operating system onto it, and there is no Window’s Office loaded yet.  So, load office, take a breath, get a cup of coffee and start again. It was worth it. What a great tool!

In this lesson I learned about a tool that will simplify my work, and for me that is what technology is all about.  I so like it when I learn about a new feature that I have never heard of or used. This little tool made my day.   Now my Snipping Tool shortcut sits on my desktop and task bar, ready to be used in place of print screen.  I played with the options, highlighting, customizing my pen color, and snipping and emailing to myself. This will be useful to me.

I will use this tool to embed the image into instructions for my students.  For example, the course that I teach focuses on preparing for schooling or a career after high school. One of the web sites that I use is VA Education Wizard a site designed for Virginia Public Schools. (For younger students there is VA Career View.)  I can quickly select only the portion of the screen that I want from this site and then quickly embed it into my document. This is a great time saver. Also, being able to select only a portion of the screen allows me to create directions that show a clear picture of what I want the student to focus on. So, for example, when I am explaining the bar across the top of the page, I can show only the bar.

When I cover their resume tool, I can display the instructions with highlighting.

The use of this tool meets ISTE-NETS-T’s standards of designing and developing digital age learning experiences and modeling digital age work and learning. It is very important to customize learning activities for my students and using this tool will do that by allowing me to display portions of the screen rather than the entire screen. Presenting a lesson with examples created with the snipping tool embedded in the lesson is modeling.  If I use something in my lessons, I also always take time to demonstrate the tool to the students.