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"We are suffering here and there from a cut-and-paste culture bred by the ease with which any of us can locate and save information. Sadly, Google and its relatives give us all a false sense of security and wisdom as we can search for something as elusive as "the truth" and Google delivers an answer in less than ten seconds. Enter "the truth" in Google, elect "I'm Feeling Lucky" and with little hesitation or needless strain or effort we have our answer."

An older but good blog post by Jaymie McKenzie that explores the wisdom we think we are getting when we totally rely on a search engine to deliver the 'answers' instead of activities that are more challenging and worthwhile.

You may be asking yourself, "Should I put a QR Code on my business code?" And the answer is, "Why shouldn't you?"

Lecture webcasts are readily available on the Internet. These include class lectures, research seminars and product demonstrations. Webcasts routinely combine presentation slides with either a synchronized audio stream (i.e., podcast) or an audio/video stream. Conventional web search engines retrieve this content if you include "webcast" or "lecture" among your search terms, or search a website that specifically organizes lecture content. But users, particularly students, want to find the place in a lecture when an instructor covers a specific topic. Answering these queries requires a search engine that can search within the webcast to identify important keywords. TalkMiner aggregates and indexes lecture videos available across the internet. The system processes RSS feeds from a variety of sites to collect lecture videos. The system automatically processes the video to generate metadata describing each talk including the video frames that contain slides, their time offsets, and the text recovered from those frames by optical character recognition. TalkMiner does not maintain a copy of the original videos. When a user plays a lecture, the video is played from the original website on which the lecture video is hosted. As a result, storage requirements for TalkMiner are modest.

"backchan.nl is tool for involving audiences in presentations by letting them suggest questions and vote on each other's questions. backchan.nl is intended for conference or event organizers who want a new way to solicit questions from the audience and make better use of question and answer time."

The Me on the Web section in your Google Dashboard can help you understand and manage what people see when they search for you on Google.

"So you and your students use the Internet everyday, but are you fluent in its language? Perhaps you've found yourself listening to a "techy" conversation where the terms IP, DNS, or PHP were being used and you wanted to know what those terms mean. What is an IP address? What is a DNS record? And just who is in charge of the Internet? Get answers to those questions and many more in Make Use Of's free ebook How the Internet Works."

"It is a common view that "if only someone could break this down and explain it clearly enough, more students would understand." Khan Academy is a great example of this approach with its clear, concise videos on science. However it is debatable whether they really work. Research has shown that these types of videos may be positively received by students. They feel like they are learning and become more confident in their answers, but tests reveal they haven't learned anything. The apparent reason for the discrepancy is misconceptions. Students have existing ideas about scientific phenomena before viewing a video. If the video presents scientific concepts in a clear, well illustrated way, students believe they are learning but they do not engage with the media on a deep enough level to realize that what was is presented differs from their prior knowledge. There is hope, however. Presenting students' common misconceptions in a video alongside the scientific concepts has been shown to increase learning by increasing the amount of mental effort students expend while watching it."

To transfer your Google+ circles and other connections between accounts, click Google+ circles transfer tool at Google Takeout. This tool transfers your Google+ circles and connections from a "source" account to a "destination" account. It also replaces your source profile with your destination profile in other people's circles.

The VCE Information Technology Study Design covers the areas of study, outcomes and assessment for Information Technology Units 1-4 in Victoria as published by the VCAA.

Access past and sample exams (containing some answers), Study Designs, assessment advice and other teacher support materials relating to that study.