Create Video Lessons in Minutes by Annotating Screen Captures with this Free Windows App

From Practical EdTech:

“Microsoft appears to have taken a page from Google’s playbook, encouraging employees to “turn their wild ideas into real projects” and calling the effort Microsoft Garage. One of the results of this initiative is the new “Snip” tool for Windows. Snip is a screen capture and annotation tool (or just a ‘whiteboard’ if you want it). It makes it really easy to create instructional videos by writing or drawing on a screen ‘snip’ and saving the resulting video as an MP4 file”. Read the full article.

OpenEd Assesses ‘Most Effective’ Online Learning Resources

We might keep this in mind when creating video resources for our students.

“Animated flashcards and sub-two-minute videos turn out to be the most effective online resources for K-12 against all other common options. That’s the finding determined by OpenEd, which recently studied the data generated from the results of assessments given to students who used its free online resources for educational purposes.” See more here.

2 min videos.

How to Search and Subscribe to YouTube Channels

This is a great post from FT4T:

“YouTube can be a great place to find all kinds of educational videos, if you know how to search within it. One tip that I often share in my workshops is to search within a YouTube channel. Let’s say you’ve found a YouTube channel that you like, but you don’t want to scroll back through dozens or hundreds of videos in it. The search function within the channel makes it easier to find a video from a source that you trust on YouTube. ”

And a link to a video demo how to get it done.

Worldwide Study: Students Who Use Computers Frequently in School ‘Do Worse’ in Learning

Hmmmm. Yes? No?

“Students who use computers moderately at school tend to have “somewhat better” learning outcomes than those who rarely use computers. And students who use computers frequently at school “do a lot worse” in their learning outcomes, even after accounting for differences in social background and student demographics. That’s the conclusion reached by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in a new report examining the impact of technology on student performance around the world.”

More here.

WOW awards presented!

?The WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) has presented its annual WOW Awards to four institutions that are implementing exceptionally creative, technology-based solutions to challenges in higher education.

The winning institutions are:

  • Boise State University, for its virtual reality nursing simulation that allows students to practice sterile procedures in a digital gaming environment;
  • The NROC Project’s EdReady online college math readiness system helps students hone their math skills without having to take remediation courses;
  • The University of Central Florida’s Direct Connect to UCF Pathway is an academic support tool designed to help transfer students planning to attend UCF; and
  • The University of Maryland University College’s open educational resources (OER) initiative has enhanced the use of OER materials in more than 700 undergraduate courses at the university.”