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Gmail has changed so much in the past two years that referring to it simply as an "email client" doesn't do it justice. This manual is not for new Gmail users, but for those of you who already use Gmail as an email client and want to take advantage of its many features. Those of you who are new should probably read The Ultimate Guide to Gmail first, which will give you an introduction to the service and how to use its most important features.

Do your students realize how vulnerable they are, when using the Internet and social media? Are you teaching them appropriate use? The guest post below, featuring the video above, is an excellent resource to share with students.

One of my favorite ways to use the commenting feature in Google Documents is to host online discussions around a shared article. Doing this isn't a radical departure from having a classroom discussion about an article that you've printed and distributed to your students, but there are some advantages to hosting your discussion in Google Documents. The first advantage is that your students can participate in the discussion from anywhere at any time they are connected to the Internet.

It's common for Facebook to undergo drastic (or silent) changes whether the users like it or not. The real question is, how ready are you when Facebook is determined to 'make the world more open and connected'? Have you made full use of the privacy and account settings to your advantage? Also, if you've been observant enough you should've discovered several improvements on the existing features to make them more visible and user friendly. Why not give this list a run-through and see if you missed any.

"Advancements in online collaboration are rapidly changing the way in which we learn, and Google is pioneering the field with Google Docs . The development team continually adds new features and enhancements to the free online productivity suite, similar to Microsoft Office, which now includes applications for creating and editing text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, and forms. Students and teachers are leading the parade of enthusiastic users, finding innovative ways to enhance education using Google Docs."

We've written many times about the virtues of Evernote as a note taking, research and organisational tool. But Evernote also has a number of features that makes it ideal for use before, during and after excursions. Here's how it could be used:

Some great titles here, but unfortunately not all books are available in iTunes Australia

" 375 Free eBooks: Download to Kindle, iPad/iPhone & Nook This collection features free e-books, mostly classics, that you can read on your iPad/iPhone (purchase), Kindle (purchase), Nook (purchase) or other devices. It includes great works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. To learn how to load books to your Kindle using the links below, please watch this video. This other video explains how to upload epub files to a Nook."

If you have a blog or website it can be a good idea to include a panel displaying your recent tweets. The process of adding a stream of tweets to your blog is now much easier with the addition of a widget maker in Twitter.

A recent new and relatively little-known feature was added to the Keynote and Pages apps that makes removing the background of any image an easy task.

A recent new and relatively little-known feature was added to the Keynote and Pages apps that makes removing the background of any image an easy task.

Learning in Hand Show #28 is about some of what's new in Apple's iOS 8. Instead of showing you the major features you might already know about, I demonstrate the lesser known additions that teachers, students, and parents will be interested in. These include additions to the Notes app, predictive typing, dictation enhancements, sharing options, zoom improvements, speak screen, time limits, and updates to the photo library.

ck in 2012, now-former Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats tweeted a series of pearls of narrative wisdom she had picked up from working at the studio over the years. Pixar is responsible for some of the most compelling and engaging stories to hit theaters in the past several years, from Toy Story to Finding Nemo to Wall-E. This week, Imgur user DrClaww reimagined Coats' 22 rules for perfect storytelling accompanied with signature characters from Pixar's portfolio of powerful animated features. If you're a writer or filmmaker, print these out and stick them on your desk.

One of my favorite features of Google Drive is Google Forms. If you're unfamiliar with this, think of it as a way to create quick surveys that can be used for a number of applications. Google automatically aggregates this data into a Google Spreadsheet, making forms a great way to quickly collect and share information. I have seen educators and administrators use Google Forms in the most creative and inventive ways. If you're just starting with Google Forms, here are five ways that you can use them to streamline your classroom!

Google Docs is a powerful word processing tool that many schools have adopted. As it's similar to Microsoft Word and other word processing tools, most of its features are intuitive to use. However, in addition to completing many of the functions of a traditional word processor, Google Docs provides even more capabilities that can be invaluable to educators. Here are ten tricks that can make your life easier with Google Docs:

Twisted Wave is an online service (iPad app also available) for creating and editing audio tracks. One of the best features of Twisted Wave is that you can save your recordings directly to your Google Drive account.

Flubaroo enables you to quickly grade all of your students responses to quizzes that you deliver through Google Forms. The newest features allow you to share graded quizzes to students through Google Drive in addition to the email option that has existed for a long time. Through Flubaroo you can send students a copy of their responses, a copy of the grading key, and their individual grades. To be clear, a student will only see his or her grade and quiz responses.