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"Record your screen as a video with your voice & face, an annotated image, or a GIF and instantly share it as a link to get your point across."

"Downloading videos from YouTube through a third-party service is a violation of section 4 of YouTube's terms of service. I don't want students thinking they can download anything they want without concern for copyright or a company's terms of service. Therefore, I think I should model for students the behavior of respecting copyright and a company's terms of service."

""Blogging - an essential online space" (link to the recording)  was the theme of this week's Tech Talk Tuesdays. I feel stronly that blogging should be open and online. Why?  Otherwise students should use offline tools to document their learning etc. A question was asked "How can we ensure that students are safe and secure whilst blogging?" Here are some suggestions:"

"Google Hangouts is a great messenger app, but it has long suffered from bugs, inconsistencies, and the propensity to crash when you have it open in a Gmail tab of your desktop browser. Well, Hangouts has now got a major update on the web in the form of an all new dedicated web app, which promises to fix all its issues. Much like other messenger apps, Hangouts is focusing on three key features: video calls, phone calls, and instant messaging. And remember, Hangouts encrypts all communication to protect your privacy."

"If you're embarking on a video project, perhaps an explainer video, podcast, school project or video presentation, using the right production music can be the key to successfully drawing your viewers in; but finding the perfect song to use beneath a voice over actor's recording can seem a daunting task. Of course you could commission a track to be composed especially for you, but that can run into tens of thousands of dollars. Luckily, there are plenty of places available for you to find free music for your video project, but where can you get it from and how do you know if you have the legal right to use it for your project?"

Muvizu is an animation tool for hobbyists that's so easy to use its creators, Digimania, are increasingly targeting the classroom. The app can be used to create characters, sets and bring the whole performance to life with its character animation system. The software includes the following features: Create and customise 3D characters. Virtual lights, cameras and special effects. Automatic lip-synching for any language. Lightning fast rendering for quick results. Muvizu has recently added some powerful new tools with the launch of two new versions. Muvizu Play and Muvizu Play+ both feature customisable characters and sets and automatic lip-synching, while lighting quick rendering and full HD output is one of many enhanced Play+ features. A special educational version of Muvizu will be launched in September designed for K12 students and above.

"The purpose of this site is to introduce the concept of Personal Learning Networks (PLN) and its key principles. The site is divided into several sections that are represented in the navigation menu. The first section-What is a PLN?-provides background information about PLN and a definition of this concept. Tools to construct a PLN is a section that describes the main categories-namely format, function, and application-in the PLN Tool Browser. In the Build your PLN section, we address the topics of privacy and licensing, including Creative Commons. How to optimize a PLN by adding a social dimension is the focus of the Making It Social section. The PLN Examples contain student testimonials that illustrate the uses of a PLN. Finally, if you want to explore tools that can be used to construct your own personal learning network, please check our PLN Tool Browser."

"There are dozens of reasons why students should blog. There's increased engagement by sharing with an authentic audience. Blogging encourages reflection, collaboration, and communication. Publishing on the web is even required in Common Core and other state and national standards! And best of all, using Edublogs, blogging with students is as simple as following these 5 basic steps…"

"Teachers and their students are moving more and more online. Kids are blogging their learning as an excellent way to build confidence, reflect and gather feedback. Schools are showcasing the best of their students' work on their websites.and the educational world is benefiting from a collaborative worldwide connections. That's all exciting and positive but we have one important question: Who owns the material and it's components when it's published? This is where we must all be careful. A quick Google search will find a growing number of cases where people have sought damages for even single images republished on both blogs and social media like Twitter. This link tells the story of a bad photo taken on a phone that was found on Google and used In a blog Post resulting in an $8000 out of court settlement. Every photo is owned by the photographer automatically and if you choose the wrong image you can loose out substantially."

"Welcome to ZapSplat.com, the web's fastest growing free sound effects and royalty free music download library. All the free sounds and music on this site were recorded by professional sound designers. You can use our sound effects and music in your projects be them commercial, non-commercial and even for broadcast. We add approximately 300 new sound effects every week so if what you need isn't yet available, please check back soon! Please search for your sounds using the search box above or by browsing our comprehensive categories here."

"Older teachers, who tend to have more experience in the classroom, are more likely to say they feel ready to make use of the reams of data available through digital learning tools, according to a new survey. Younger teachers rate themselves as less ready. More broadly, teachers of all ages report feeling inadequately prepared to use technology to enhance teaching and learning, according to a survey from the Software and Information Industry Association that was released Tuesday at the conference."

"Canva provides teachers and students with a simple new way to design. Its drag and drop functionality enables them to create presentations, posters, one-page documents, and social media posts."

"I'm presenting a keynote speech in Brisbane for EduTech next week, and the theme for my talk is 'Meet Learner 2.0'. I want my audience of mainly higher education teachers to think about the cohort of students that is now coming through the doors of universities. "

"Published on 21 Apr 2014 Twitter in the Classroom - created at http://goanimate.com/ In the style of 'Common Craft'..."

"Blogging in the classroom was a watershed discovery for me.  I had such an acute need for a better way to manage my student's writing, but I was wary of blogging.  There are challenges to helping students learn in an online community.  Until I met Matt Hardy from KidBlog, I viewed these risks as too big to manage on my own.  I believe that as a teacher I have to both innovate and protect my own professional reputation.  When I heard Matt talk about how he created KidBlog to support exactly the kind of connected learning I want to happen in my classroom, I realized how accessible this learning is now.  Using school specific tools like Kidblog, or  Edublogs, can give you more control and management potential than using conventional tools like Blogger, or WordPress"

"In simple terms, RSS is a simple and effective way of keeping in touch when new information is added to a website without having to visit the website to check for new updates. How it works is you subscribe to your favorite website using the RSS feed in a RSS feed reader such as Feedly.  Whenever new information is added to the website it is automatically sent to your RSS feed reader where you can read it at your convenience."

"Here are all of the videos that Digital Learning & Teaching Vic has uploaded to Vimeo. Appearances are videos that Digital Learning & Teaching Vic has been credited in by others."

"In classrooms all around the globe, educators are introducing new and exciting technological tools to engage their students in learning. Many educators are successful when integrating these technologies, but unfortunately many are not for a variety of reasons. In my opinion, and from my experience in classrooms around the world, these are the biggest mistakes that educators make when integrating technology into the classroom:"

"Teachers and educators in the present fast-paced, ever evolving world of communication are presented with a plethora of options which might sometimes be overwhelming. To reduce the efforts of teachers in learning a new form of communication, we give you some of the most effective ways of using the most modern form of communication, Twitter. The 26 Effective Ways to use Twitter for Teachers and Educators Infographic is aimed at educators interested in utilizing Twitter as a communication and collaborative tool, for educators who like telling a story and effectively reaching out to an audience who they normally can't! Check out the 26 effective ways to do that."

"Global2 is a blogging community provided by the Victorian government. It is the largest Edublogs campus in the world. Providing the functionality of WordPress, plus the added benefits of moderation, content filtering, class management and network administration. Examples of the blogging activities in which you can use Global2:"