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Have you ever needed or wanted to create an online course but did not know where to start? If so, you are not alone (and in this article, the marketing experts at Dynamic Search will show you how easy it is using Versal.com!). Versal provides a free service that allows you to completely design and create an online course without ever having to worry about trying to code. Many people are still hesitant, however, because they fear that using the program will prove to be just as difficult as coding and as a result have a hard time figuring out how to use it. This could not be further from the truth. Versal is easy to use and easy to navigate, and they take all of the guess-work out of creating a course - all you have to do is have the knowledge that needs to go into the course and how to set-up a lesson plan.

Last month, without warning, Facebook and Twitter killed-off access to RSS feeds. With the launch of the new Twitter interface, you could only access RSS feeds on Twitter if you were logged out of your account. Now, it seems you can't access them at all. To access the RSS feed of any user, use the following link: http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.rss?screen_name={USERNAME} So for example, if you want to access the RSS feed of The Next Web's Twitter account, you would use the following link: http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.rss?screen_name=thenextweb

Case study of a School who used Google Hangouts for teacher observations. Summary of "pros" follows: "Maynard, the observing teacher in whose class Grubb worked, believes Google+ Hangouts offers a lot of potential for student teachers. "They could sit down with professors and supervising teachers and analyze lessons much easier," she says. "I like how multiple people can be invited as well. In the past there has been just one professor from the university sitting in the classroom observing." With Hangouts, multiple people could participate in the observation--including other student teachers. Plus, she added, the recordings could be useful for new teachers; they could simply take it to a job interview and share it. "That could be a huge part of interviews in the future.""

"When most of us think of Pinterest, we probably think of young people sharing links to web pages, photos and videos with their friends - just another social network for people to show off things they like, what's going on in their lives, favorite video's, and so on. But how often do we consider Pinterest as a tool to aid in teaching and learning? Here are a few ways in which Pinterest can play a role in the classroom."

Yugma provides desktop sharing, chat and white-boarding. It also supports VOIP conferencing, including a feature that integrates seminars with Skype calls. Presenters can use PC, Macs or Linux. Participants can use almost any system or browser by downloading a Java applet. A free, limited-functionality version allows up to 10 people to participate; more feature-rich versions start at about $200 per year for up to 20 people

Janet Colvin recommended as resource she uses often in her courses-she was wondering if there was a way we could create some sort of "Learning Object" like this that could easily be used again and again.

There is a free downloadable guide to using iOS 5 located here

Storify offers educators several easy to use features for designing multimedia assignments, since it allows both technology novices and professionals to create auditorily and visually rich news articles or "stories" without web design skills. Storify can be used for students to gather resources from the web, evaluate these resources, and write enticing synthesis essays based on research.

Find the data in places like Google public data Use it as an assignment, example: 1 find data on drop-out rates for Colorado and for Denver 2 explain what this means 3 use whatever format you want to, anything 4 be creative

"Google has announced that Google Docs are now included in Hangouts on Google Plus. When in a Hangout, you just click on the new "Docs" button and you can add an existing document, upload a new one, and switch between and collaboratively edit multiple documents at once. This is another great feature of Google+ Hangouts for education. Teachers and/or students can hold study groups, help sessions, or work on other projects using Docs in Hangouts."

Great overview of exactly what an infographic is and how it can be used.

ZebraZapps has partnered with the eLearning Brothers to produce high quality photographic character packs available in the Gadget Shopp. Conveniently integrated in the ZebraZapps cloud, these new character packs help authors instantly connect with their audience. Starting at just $3.50 you can choose from several multi-pose sets of unique characters. There's no need to search for and download art online, as the character packs live in the cloud with your account and can be used in every project.

Screenr is a superb tool to create screencasts.You can use it to make tutorials to embed on a webstie. Parents and students can view them as often as needed.

StudyStack helps you memorize information on any subject. Use the existing studystacks or create your own. A large variety of tools are available once you have added your own content.

A free online tool to help students learn their basic math facts. XtraMath is very easy to use and it even sets up a rotating practice schedule for your classroom computer.

Examples of self-checks and interactions that can be used in online courses

"Easy-to-use graphic organizer with lots of templates help you organize, visualize, plan, create and share graphic organizers and diagrams."

Can use to create voice recordings

Great article from Dale Borgeson, a teacher in CA. Lists his top tech tools for education. More K-12 focused, but some could be very useful for us. Good to at least be aware of what is out there.

Great article about how to recover previous versions of documents in Dropbox, recover mistakenly deleted files and more.