Slideshow style videos can be a powerful way to bring together the best of your school experiences and share with others.

In the coming months, millions of school and college students will be graduating, and many graduation ceremonies might take place virtually. A slideshow video can play a central role in these online events, providing a meaningful keepsake for graduates.

There are many other occasions where special days, events, and milestones can be marked with a photo montage video.

There are many tools out there to put together slideshow videos with music. This post summarizes 7 free online tools and apps. We also look at the legalities of music and copyright. Finally, you’ll find out how to share your completed video with others or embed it on your blog.

The tools and apps we reviewed are:

• Animoto
• Google Photos
• Quik
• Clips
• iMovie
• Lumen5
• Adobe Spark

Another option that’s currently popular with teachers is WeVideo. This is a fantastic tool but was only free to schools until June 30, 2020. So, it’s a tool you might want to explore depending on your timeline and budget.

Comparison Chart

Here’s a quick comparison of the 7 tools we review in this post. Read on to find more details and examples.

Animoto

URL: https://animoto.com/education/classroom
Use on: The web or iOS app (The Android app has been discontinued)

Animoto allows you to create videos from photos, video clips, and music. There are a number of pre-made video templates available that are designed to make the creation process quick and easy.

Animoto is an intuitive tool that allows you to create a professional-looking video in minutes.

Educators can sign up for a free account which allows you to create student accounts as well.

You can embed Animoto videos on your blog. This help guide shows you where to find the embed code.

Here’s some graduation inspiration from Animoto. Do you have a current example we can use? Let us know in a comment!

Google Photos Movies

URL: https://photos.google.com
Use on: Best on the Google Photos app (iOS | Android)

Do you use Google Photos? It’s a free service to store, organize, and share all your photos and videos. If you’d like to learn more about this service that many of our team enjoy using, check out our beginner’s guide.

You might not know that you can easily make a slideshow of your photos with music using Google Photos.

This is best done on a phone or tablet. You can do it on a computer but the computer version only allows you to create a movie from one of the pre-set themes shown below. This is unlikely to be what you’re after.

To make a movie on your Google Photos app on your phone or tablet, tap Library and then Utilities.

From here, you’ll select “Movie” and then “Create movie”.

You’ll be prompted to choose your photos or video clips (up to 50). You can then customize your creation by choosing your music and a variety of filters.

When you’re done, there are lots of sharing options. You can share your completed video with friends, save it to your device, publish it on social media, add it to your Google Drive, or share it to a service like YouTube.

Check out these instructions from Google for step-by-step directions.

Quik

URL: iOS app | Android app
Use on: Phone or tablet
Note: There is also a desktop app but it requires downloading software.

If you like creating on your phone or tablet, check out Quik by GoPro. It’s a free app with no in-app purchases.

The Quik app allows you to make video slideshows with professional transitions and music with minimal effort.

You simply select your photos or videos from your camera roll (up to 200). The app then analyses your footage to make smooth and effective transitions. You can choose from 26 themes and customize the video with 100+ music options. You can add your own music but beware of copyright. You can also add text and titles as needed.

Completed videos can be saved to your device or there are other sharing options like social media or text message.

Here’s a short tutorial video by Richard Byrne of Free Technology For Teachers.

Clips

URL: iOS app only
Use on: iPhone or iPad

If you’re looking for a simple video creation tool to use on your iPhone or iPad, Clips might be the answer.

It’s a very intuitive app that lets you create videos out of photos and video footage. There are lots of additional features like text, stickers, emojis, and filters. Because this app is easy to use and has lots of fun features, it’s always a popular choice for students as well as teachers.

Clips now offers a few options for background music; you can create your own music in GarageBand as well as using their built-in soundtracks. Additionally, you can pull in music from your iTunes account but please be cautious of copyright.

One unique feature of Clips is Live Titles which is a built-in caption feature. Users can choose to have their words appear as they speak. The words can come up all at once as static text, or as animated text with each word highlighted as they’re spoken.

Here’s an example of a short video created in Clips by teacher-librarian Jo Martin from Brandon Elementary. It’s called LEGOmania in the Library.

iMovie

URL: iOS app | macOS
Use on: iPhone, iPad, or Mac computer

iMovie is a step-up from Clips with a lot more features that allow you to create anything from a short video slideshow to an impressive full-length movie.

Unlike a lot of the tools reviewed in this post, iMovie doesn’t do the work for you. There are handy templates to enjoy but you need to add your own photos, videos, titles, and music to put your video slideshow together.

Some of the special effects available include the ability to slow down or speed up footage, as well as picture-in-picture and greenscreen effects. While these are awesome, they may be more than you need to create a simple photo montage.

If you don’t have your own music to add to the video, iMovie offers 80+ soundtracks and there is also the option to add your own voice-over narration.

Here’s an example from teacher-librarian Amy Kincaid. She used iMovie to create a video that condensed her year with Jackson Elementary students into 7 minutes.

Lumen5

URL: https://lumen5.com
Use on: Computer (or on a phone/tablet via the web browser)

Lumen5 is a free drag and drop video creator. It’s most known for its ability to turn blog posts into videos, however, it can also be a handy tool for creating video slideshows using images, short clips, GIFs, and music.

When you log in to Lumen5 and opt to “Create a Video”, you’ll be given three choices as outlined below. You can “automagically” make a video from your blog post, script, or media. 

To make a slideshow style video with music, select “Use your media”.

Lumen5 contains a library of Creative Commons Zero images and music if you need some content to complement your own collection.

This is a fabulous tool with some minor downsides being:

• The free plan allows you to make 5 videos a month in 720p resolution
• The free plan has a Lumen5 watermark
• It’s 13+ (so if you have younger students, they can’t create their own videos)
• You can’t embed your video directly onto your blog. So you have to put it on social media or YouTube first and then get the embed code from there. Or you could download the video and upload it directly into your post/page if it’s a small file. Scroll down for more details on embedding.

In this video, Richard Byrne from Free Technology For Teachers shows how to create a Lumen5 video from a blog post. You can modify the instructions and select “Use your media” if you don’t want to base your video on a blog post.

Adobe Express (Formerly Spark Video)

URL: https://www.adobe.com/express/create/video
Use on: The web or iOS app

If you’re an educator who is going to be using Adobe Spark, you might want to first make sure you’ve signed up for an education account. This will give you free premium features. 

Adobe Spark Video allows you to combine pictures, videos clips, icons, text, voice, and music to create compelling videos.

If you need extra footage or a soundtrack, there is a free database of images and music.

If you’d like to read a “how-to” on creating an end of year celebration video, check out this detailed explanation from Monica Burns.

Here’s an example of a video made in Adobe Spark by teacher Laura Hanser Burkhalter. She used photos that were emailed to her from members of her school community. 

Music and Copyright

When you’re creating a slideshow style video it can be extremely tempting to use popular music that reflects the mood and emotion of the footage.

As you probably know, most music is protected by copyright. It doesn’t matter if you paid for a song or not, it’s still protected by copyright. It doesn’t matter if you’re only using 30 seconds or less of a song, it’s still protected by copyright.

Normally, you can’t just use any music you like in your video creations.

However, in many countries, you are allowed to copy music to add to a video if:

a) it’s for educational purposes and
b) you’re not sharing your video publicly (or selling it!)*

So, if you make a video with music that’s protected by copyright, it’s not okay to publish this on a public blog, social media, YouTube, and so on. And you couldn’t show your video at a public event. However, it’s okay if the video is just being shown privately to teachers, students, and families at home/school.

It’s also important to note that background music is not considered “educational use”.

Despite the flexibility in these rules for educators, it’s always a good idea to not only think about loopholes but consider ethics and how to be the best digital citizen you can be. As everyone can now be a publisher, copyright is an important topic for educators and students to have a grasp on.

*Note: This is the case in Australia and the US but if you live in another country you may need to check your own guidelines. 

Here’s a brief summary of the above. You’re welcome to share this graphic on your own site, LMS, or social media with attribution.

Copyright Free Music

Luckily, many of the free online tools and apps available now have inbuilt music options that are free to use. All the tools and apps we’ve reviewed in this post have some free music options.

However, if you’re looking for some other copyright free music options, you might first like to check if you district has any subscriptions you can make the most of. For example, Soundzabound.

If this isn’t an option, there are lots of other sources of free music online like YouTube Audio Library.

Let’s take a look.

YouTube Audio Library

YouTube has a great library of music you can use. In case you’re wondering, using an online tool to download music from a YouTube video is not okay.

Visit the Audio Library section in your YouTube Studio to browse the selections.

You can filter your results to find music that doesn’t need to be attributed.

You can preview the music to hear what it sounds like and download the music you want to use.

Here’s an example called Sunshine in my Heart by Jingle Punks.

There are many other ways you can find copyright free music online so please let us know if you have a favorite.

How To Add A Video To Your Blog

Videos can be quick and easy to make but sharing them can be more difficult due to large file sizes.

If you want to share your video on your blog or website, first check whether the tool you’re using offers an embed code. If you’re using an online tool like Animoto or Adobe Spark Video you’ll be able to use an embed code to add the video to your blog quickly and easily. You can find the full instructions on how to embed videos in this Help Guide.

If you’re not using an online video tool that offers an embed code, you’ll want to download the video to your device. From there you’ll upload your video to a third party service and then embed it. Most videos are too large to upload directly to your blog or site.

These are third party services you might consider to house your videos:

• An online hosting site (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo, TeacherTube)
• Google Drive
• A Cloud service like DropBox or OneDrive
• Social media (many services have limits on video length e.g. Instagram 60 seconds, Twitter 2 minutes 20 seconds, LinkedIn 10 minutes, Facebook 120 minutes)

If you’re uploading your educational videos to a platform like YouTube or social media, check your school/district guidelines for advice and choose your privacy settings carefully.

Once you’ve uploaded to one of these services, you can embed the video on your blog, website, or LMS, or share a link. If you’re embedding a video, you can use the instructions below.

Methods For Embedding Videos

Videos from video sharing websites can be embedded into posts or pages by either using:

1. The video URL: Paste the URL on a line by itself in your post/page editor where you want the video to appear. This method only works with certain services, like YouTube.
2. The embed code: Find the embed code on the site you’re using (e.g. YouTube) and copy it. Then in your post put your cursor where you want the video. Click on Add Media and then Insert Embed Code. Paste the code and press Insert into post. Note: embedding isn’t available on free blogs to prevent misuse from spammers.

You can find the full instructions on how to embed videos in this Help Guide or check out the PDF below for detailed instructions for YouTube.

Download the PDF of the embedding instructions.

Related Posts

You might also enjoy reading:

The Educator’s Guide To Using Video In Teaching And Learning

How To Deal With Student And Class Blogs At The End Of The Year

10 End Of Year Blogging Activities

Blog posts used to be all about text and images. However, videos can really bring your blog alive and make the visitor experience more engaging and interactive.

Blogs are the perfect place to house videos that are made by you, your students, or someone else. If you’ve never tried adding a video to your blog, or you’re looking for some additional tips or ideas, you’re in the right place.

In defining literacy in the 21st century, it’s evident that being a fluent reader and writer of print materials alone is no longer sufficient. Silvia Tolisano has proposed that our understanding of literacy needs to evolve. Today, being a proficient communicator, creator, and consumer of multimedia—such as video—has become essential.

No doubt your students are avid consumers of videos so why not tap into this interest in the classroom?

This post demonstrates 3 ways that you can use videos in your blog posts.

Click on the links below to navigate this resource.

1. Embedding Videos That Others Have Made
2. Online Video Tools
   • Screencasting
   • Make your post into a video
   • Animation
3. Offline Video Creation
   • Piece to camera
   • 10 filming tips
   • Film your lesson
   • Interviews
   • Editing software

1) Embedding Videos That Others Have Made

Many teachers and students like to embed videos they find online on their own blog. That means you can play it within the post without having to open new tabs etc.

An embedded video looks like this.

Tip: When embedding a video, it’s a good idea to also put a link to the video, like this:

Check out the video, What Is A Blog?

Educators or students might embed videos from sites like:

• YouTube
• Vimeo
• TeacherTube
• Google Drive
• TED Talks

Methods For Embedding Videos

Videos from video sharing websites can be embedded into posts or pages by either using:

1. The video URL: Paste the URL on a line by itself in your post/page editor where you want the video to appear. This method only works with certain services. 
2. The embed code: Find the embed code on the site you’re using (e.g. YouTube) and copy it. Then in your post add a Custom HTML block where you want the video, and paste in the code.

You can find the full instructions with visuals on how to embed videos in this Help Guide.

A Note On Copyright And Videos

You may be wondering about copyright, because we know we can’t just take an image from another site and use it on our blog.

It’s fine to use videos from sites like YouTube that give you the embed option. That being said, you can’t necessarily download and make changes to the video (for example, cutting it up, remixing, adding audio etc).

A Note On Safety

Access to sites like YouTube is a contentious topic in schools. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any experiences with that issue.

If you use sites like YouTube, it can be a good idea to set up a class or teacher account if you plan to upload videos or create playlists. This helps separate your work videos from your personal videos.

Most video sharing websites are not designed for children. In fact, you’ll find most Terms and Conditions state that children under 13 are not allowed to use the service.

Therefore, there are a few things you can do if you’re working with younger students.

Embed Options

When you’re embedding a YouTube video, you’ll notice there are embed options. You’ll find these when you click on Share and then Embed.

You might want to uncheck player controls, and consider enabling privacy-enhanced mode.

2) Online Video Tools

Making your own videos is easier than ever! There are online options that are:

• free/paid
• simple/complex
• for editing/creating
• for all ages/restricted to over 13 or 18
• designed for video footage/images/animation

Here are three options for creating different sorts of videos using online tools. Feel free to share your own ideas too!

Screencasting (Loom)

Screencasting is where you narrate a video recording of your computer screen. Sometimes it’s just audio and sometimes you can see your face in the video as well.

One free tool that I’ve found particularly useful is Loom. There are many advantages to this tool including the fact that there are no age restrictions.

Screencasting is such a versatile way to use video in the classroom. Not only can teachers and students make tutorials, but students can share their learning as a screencast by narrating their digital creations.

For a very simple example, students could narrate a Google Slide presentation as we’ve done below. This is a video made for our Better Blogging With Students course which we ran in early 2018.

Make Your Post Into A Video (Lumen5)

Back in December, we made a promo video for our Better Blogging With Students course.

We created that with a free online tool called Lumen5.

It’s a simple way to make a slideshow type video.

It can even “automagically” make your blog post into a video (for best results you’ll need to edit it slightly).

Lumen5 contains a library of Creative Commons Zero images and music so you don’t need to search for content either (although you can use your own pictures and video).

The only downside (apart from it being a 13+ tool) is you can’t embed your video directly onto your blog as far as we can tell. So you have to put it on social media or YouTube first and then get the embed code from there. Or you could download the video and upload it directly into your post/page.

Animation (PowToon or Biteable)

There are a number of ways you can create simple animations online. Two free tools you might be interested in exploring with your students include PowToon and Biteable.

Both of these tools have free plans and can be used by students under 13, however, they do require students to sign up via email. We contacted both companies to confirm the age restrictions. PowToon recommended supervision or using a paid classroom account (obviously, supervision is always a good idea!)

One benefit of PowToon over Biteable is that you can download your finished product as a PowerPoint or PDF file. You can only download your Biteable creation with a paid plan.

You can embed both tools into your blog posts or pages.

Biteable Example

Another student taking part in the challenge created this Biteable about YAPPY.

What is YAPPY? on Biteable.

3) Offline Video Creation

You and your students can make videos in the traditional way too. You don’t need any fancy equipment either — a phone, tablet, or webcam can work just fine!

Here are three ideas that might work for your blog posts.

Piece To Camera

We know… who likes getting in front of a camera? Most teachers would avoid it at all costs! But it is really a great way to connect with students and families.

You could even create the occasional piece to camera for special occasions like:

• Welcoming students and families at the start of the school year (publishing the video before school returns is a good idea!)
• Thanking your class and families at the end of the school year/term and wishing them happy holidays etc.

Depending on your privacy settings, you might encourage students to create these sorts of videos too.

Here is an example Linda Yollis made to welcome her new students to the classroom last year.

10 Filming Tips

There are a few things you can do to enhance the quality of your piece to camera.

• Lighting: This is really important! Sit near a window if you can or add lamps etc. Aim for even natural light. Don’t have a window behind you.
• Audio: Your phone or computer will record video just fine (in good lighting) but the audio quality won’t be great. Add an external microphone if possible.
• Tripod: If you’re using a phone, it needs to be steady. Many discount stores now sell basic phone tripods. You can elevate these on furniture as needed.
• Location: Keep your background simple and film in a quiet location (easier said than done at school?).
• Clean your lens: Especially if you’re filming on your phone, wipe that dirty lens.
• Horizontal: If you’re using a phone, turn it on its side to record in landscape mode.
• Raise your device: If you’re using a laptop to film, you might want to raise it so you’re at eye level. Same with a phone or tablet.
• Front facing camera: If you’re alone, switch the camera so you can see where you are in the frame (consider positioning yourself slightly off centre in the frame).
• Look at the lens: Find the tiny hole and try to make eye contact with it. Smile!
• Record: Whether or not you want to actually script what you want to say is up to you. A more natural approach may be to create a few notes or an outline, rather than scripting or reading. Pace yourself and enjoy!

Want to share these tips with your students or colleagues? Download the PDF.

Film Your Lesson

Have you ever thought about recording your lessons and publishing them, not just for your own class, but for anyone who wants to watch and learn?

Eddie Woo is a Sydney maths teacher who has done just that.

Eddie’s award winning work has earned him a huge following with students from around the world.

Eddie has a YouTube channel and houses his videos on his blog too.

Here is an example…

As you can see, it’s nothing fancy but it works!

Of course, students can “be the teacher” too and record tutorials for other students.

Interviews

Depending on the permissions and privacy settings you have in place, it might be an option to have your students act out interviews.

Shawn Avery has done some great interviews with his class. Here is one example when students interviewed a famous person from history. A green screen was used to create the background.

The possibilities are endless! Students could make real interviews or mock ones. And it could work well for so many different subject areas and any age group.

Note on green screens

Want to learn more about green screens?

• Tony Vincent has compiled some different green screen set ups.
• LitFilmFest has shared 7 tips for using a green screen in the classroom.
• Jonathan Wylie has compiled green screen tips from teachers on Twitter.

A Note On Editing Software

Most people know how to record a video. It can be as simple as opening the camera function on your phone and hitting record.

But then what do you do with your raw video?

It’s not always essential, but you’ll generally want to do some basic editing. This can include things like:

• Adding text titles or captions
• Adding music
• Chopping out certain parts of the video
• Mixing together video and images

If you use a Mac computer, the go-to program is generally iMovie. You can also use the iMovie app on your iPhone or iPad if you have one.

On a Windows computer, you can use the built-in Clipchamp app. There is a premium upgrade available from Microsoft, but the free version does most of the basic editing tasks very well.

Other alternatices are a paid program called Adobe Premiere Elements and a free program called Shotcut. There’s a learning curve for both of these editors.

(Note: We have no affiliations with any of the above brands).

Conclusion

Want more video tips? Be sure to take a look at our interview with Rob Kelly for more video tips and examples.

We encourage you to have a go at creating or embedding a video.

If you’re anything like us, you’re taking more photos than ever but there’s an important next step which is often overlooked — organizing and archiving.

Google Photos is our favorite solution for storing, organizing, and sharing photos and videos.

It’s easy to use and it’s free, yet many people still don’t know about this useful service. We’re here to help!

This complete guide explains how Google Photos works, how to get started, and lots of tips and tricks for getting the most out of it.

Contents of this Post

Google Photos boasts many excellent features.

Use the menu below to navigate our guide and learn all about Google Photos.

What Is Google Photos?

Getting Started with Google Photos

Google Photos Search

Google Photos Memories

Create Movies, Animations, and Collages

Google Photos Albums

Google Lens

Storage and Space

Digitize Old Photos

Add a Partner Account

Safety and 2 Step Verification

Embedding Tips for Bloggers

Don’t have time to read the guide? Here is a two page cheat sheet you’re welcome to download and share.

Download the PDF summary.

The Basics – What Is Google Photos?

Google Photos is a photo sharing and storage service developed by Google. It was released in 2015 and is now hugely popular worldwide.

Google Photos stores your photos and videos in “the cloud” — this is just tech-talk for online storage.

In the past, you might have plugged your phone or camera into your computer and laboriously transferred all your photos and videos. From there, you might have backed up your computer on an external hard drive.

While extra backups can still be a good idea, especially for important files, storing your photos and videos in the cloud does have many advantages, such as:

• It’s quick and easy — you can set up backups to occur automatically when you’re connected to wifi.
• You can access your photos or videos from any device (phone, tablet, computer) as long as you have internet access.
• Sharing albums, photos, or videos with others is simple.
• Running out of storage on your phone is a thing of the past! Once your photos or videos have been uploaded, you can free up space on your phone.

There are a number of services available where you can store your photos in the cloud but Google Photos is particularly popular. Let’s take a look at why.

The Benefits of Google Photos

These are the main reasons why we consider Google Photos the best cloud storage service going around:

• You get unlimited storage for free. You can pay if you want your photos stored with the original resolution but you’ll probably find the standard high quality free version is fine. (Images over 16MP are compressed to size, and videos are capped at 1080p resolution). We explain storage more later on.
• It’s packed with numerous features to organize, use, share, and manage photos and videos.
• It works on all devices seamlessly.
• You don’t need to be overly tech-savvy to use Google Photos. It’s fairly intuitive and straightforward to navigate.
• Other people don’t need to have Google Photos to be able to view the content you share with them (sharing is optional; your content is private by default).
• You can archive photos that you want to keep, but don’t necessarily want to revisit like screenshots or receipts (find out more about archiving).
• It’s easy to find a specific photo. You don’t need to remember the date the photo was taken. You can search by someone’s name, an event, objects, places, text in a photo, or even a map.
• You can make movies, animations, collages, and albums to save, share, or embed.
• You can access Google Lens to identify objects in photos, copy-paste text from textbooks and documents, translate text in textbooks and on signs, scan QR codes, and more. 
• You can relive your favorite memories within the app (a very popular feature).

Google Photos has become more than just an app to manage your photos, it’s become the home for your life’s memories.

Here’s a summary of why we recommend Google Photos. Feel free to share this summary graphic with others!

How to get Started with Google Photos

Getting started with Google Photos is simple:

1. Download the free app from the iOS App Store or Google Play Store.
2. Open the app and sign in to your Google account. Chances are, you’ll already have a Google account (such as Gmail). If not, it’s quick and easy to sign up.
3. Once you’re signed in, you simply follow the prompts to start uploading your photos and videos. Be prepared: this can take a while if you have a lot of images and videos. Make sure you’re connected to wifi if you don’t want to waste your mobile data.

There’s also a web version of Google Photos for uploading pictures and videos that are stored on your computer. You can view and share images and videos via the web version but the app is better for exploring memories or creating movies.

How to View Your Photos and Videos

To view your uploaded photos and videos, you simply open the app or visit the Google Photos website from any device.

Go to https://photos.google.com on the web, or tap on the Photos tab in your app to view all your photos sorted in order of date uploaded.

The great thing about Google Photos is it doesn’t matter if you use multiple devices; as long as you’re signed in to your Google account you’ll be able to access your photos and videos.

Navigating the Google Photos App

The Google Photos app has three main tabs at the bottom: Photos, Search, and Library.

You’ll notice the app looks ever so slightly different depending on whether you’re using an iPhone/iPad or Android device.

Let’s take a closer look.

The first tab is Photos. This is where you see your past Memories and most recent photos.

The next tab is Search. This is where you can look for your photos by person, category, map, or things. You can also view your creations: animations, collages, and movies.

The third tab is Library. Here you’ll find your Albums, Favorites, Archives, and Trash. You can also make animations, collages, and movies through the Utilities option.

You view an individual photo by tapping on it. This is also how you access the options for editing and sharing a photo.

The image below explains what all the icons on a photo mean.

This is what the icons surrounding an individual photo mean:

• Cast to: Allows you to stream your photos from your phone to your TV using Chromecast. If you don’t have a Chromecast, you won’t see this icon.
• Favorite: Adds the photo to your favorites folder.
• More Options: Lets you add to album, archive, delete, and edit photo information. You can also open the image in Snapseed which is a photo editing app.
• Share: Used to easily share a photo with others. The icon looks a little different on iPhone/iPad but is in the same position as the image above.
• Edit: Used to apply filters to your photos; adjust light, color, or pop; rotate or crop the photo. If you want more complex photo editing tools you’d go to More Options (…) and then Open in Snapseed.
• Google Lens: Image recognition software designed to bring up relevant information using visual analysis. We explain this tool more further on.

Backup And Sync in the Google Photos App

If you take photos on your phone, the easiest way to get them to your Google Photos account is via backup and sync.

My phone is set to automatically upload my photos to Google Photos when I’m connected to wifi. It’s a good idea to make sure this setting is turned on if you have a limited data plan on your phone (so you don’t waste all your mobile data).

To turn on the wifi backup setting:

• Open your Google Photos app and tap on your profile image (or initial) in the upper right corner of the app.
• Tap Photos settings (the gear icon).
• The first option is Backup & sync. Toggle to activate backup & sync.
• Make sure the two options at the bottom of the screen, “Use cellular/mobile data to back up photos” and “Use cellular/mobile data to back up videos” are turned off.

Google Photos Search

Google Photos Search

Google Photos uses complex techniques to analyze and group photos which make its search very accurate and powerful!

You can search for people, pets, places, things, text, and more. You can type in search terms like “tennis”, “Sydney”, “Mike birthday”, “carrot cake recipe”, “Charlotte wedding” or anything else that springs to mind. You can have multiple search terms too like “2016 summer Steven picnic”.

What makes all these search options great is you don’t need to remember the specific date or even any specific details of the photo you’re looking for.

To find a specific image in Google Photos:

1. Click or tap on the Search tab at the bottom of the Google Photos app (or use the search bar on the web).

2.  When you start typing in your search, suggestions will pop up like recent searches, people you’ve named, location and so on.

3.  When you enter your search term you’ll see all the options which you can then scroll through and select.

Naming People and Pets

If you use Google Photos a lot, it can be very helpful to name your friends and family. You can also give pets a name!

When you click on a photo of a person or pet at the top of the Search tab, it pulls up any photo you’ve uploaded to Google Photos with them in.

Want pets included? Go to Photo settings > Group similar faces in your app and turn on Show pets with people.

You can name the faces of people for easy future searching too. This is how you do it:

1. In the Search tab of your app, you’ll see faces of people (or pets) who show up in a lot of your photos.

2. Tap on the photo of the person or pet you want to name.

3.  Tap on Add a Name.

4.  Type their name and tap Done if it’s a new name.

Or select from an existing list of names if it matches an existing name you’ve already created. Then tap Yes for merge.

Google Photos Memories

Memories is a feature that was added to Google Photos in 2019 and due to its popularity, it became a main feature of the app in mid-2020.

Memories are collections of some of your best photos and videos from the past. Memories are available on Android devices, iPhones, and iPad (not on the web version).

Only you can see your Memories unless you choose to share them.

To access your Memories, simply go to your Photos tab in your app. Memories are displayed in a carousel above the grid of your most recent photos.

Tapping on a preview for a year opens up your memories of photos and videos.

You can select the types of Memories you want to see in Settings:

• At the top right of the app, tap your account profile photo or initial and then Photo settings > Memories.
• From here you can hide particular people, pets, and dates if you don’t want to revisit these memories.

Embedded content like slides, quizzes, polls, videos, and storybooks are a great way to create opportunities for reader engagement and interaction not achievable using plain text or images.

Most online tools provide embed code that you can use to embed what you’ve found or created into posts.

We’ve assembled a list of the most popular tools used on class blogs, student blogs and personal educator blogs by activity type to help get you started.  We’ve included:

1. A brief explanation of why each tool is used with students.
2. Embedded examples of each so you can check how they work.
3. How to embed into posts.
4. A chart to identify which of the sites allow students to create an account.

Tools were chosen on the basis of their popularity, ease of use, and ability to be embedded into posts.

Audio Hosting Websites

Audio is used for a wide range of purposes including grammar and fluency reading practices; delivering content, and engaging auditory learners.

Educators use audio hosting websites when they want to embed their audio within embedded players rather than uploading them directly to posts as a links.  Audio Boo and SoundCloud are the most commonly used audio hosting websites.

AudioBoo

AudioBoo is a website, and a smartphone and tablet app, which allows users to post and share sound files.

The AudioBoo embedded below was used by the teacher to help students practice learning about nouns and naming words.  You can see how the teacher used Audio boo with her students in her Audioboo – Time for Grammar – Nouns and Naming Words post.

Students under 13 can create their own AudioBoo’s provided it is part of a school-led initiative.

SoundCloud

SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform that allows users to upload, record, promote, and share their own sounds.

The teacher used the Soundcloud embedded below to engage the students, showcase their creativity, and make the essence of a story memorable. You can read more about the activity and check out their Soundclouds here.

Your students must be over 13 if you want them to upload their own audio to Soundcloud.

Audio Presentation Tools

Audio is used for a wide range of purposes including grammar and fluency reading practices; delivering content, and engaging auditory learners.

Audio presentation tools allow you to combine images (or videos) with audio.  Popular audio presentation tools include Fotobabble; VoiceThreads; and Voki.

Fotobabble

Fotobabble enables you to create a talking photo.  It is excellent for speaking practice and students find it engaging.

The Fotobabble embedded below was created by an ESL student.  Their task was to choose a photo from a field trip and use Fotobabble to talk about what they like about the trip and what they learnt.  You’ll find links to all their fotobabble in the comments here.

Another task the students did was to make a one-minute Fotobabble review of a book using a book image sourced from Amazon.  You can read more about the process of creating the Fotobabble and check out all their book reviews here.  Fotobabble was also used to share their artwork.

Your students must be over 13 if you want them to create their own Fotobabbles.

Voicethreads

VoiceThreads is an online media album that can contain any type of media and it allows other people to make comments in 5 different ways (voice using a microphone or telephone, text, audio, or video).

Embedded below is a Voicethread created by Michael Graffin’s PLN Voicethread Project.

You can read more about using Voicethreads with students here.  Students under 13 are allowed to have a Voicethreads account provided it is created by the educator or school.

Voki

Voki allows you to create talking avatars which is excellent for speaking practice and engaging students.   Teachers and students also like to add them to their blog sidebar to welcome visitors to their blogs. You can embed Vokis in posts and pages.

Students under 13 can create their own Vokis.

Brainstorming Tools

Brainstorming tools help students think up new and creative ideas quickly and easily. Brainstorming allows students to comprehend connections between concepts and helps them with their thinking process.

Popplet

Popplet is a popular collaborative brainstorming tool that can be used to create graphic organizers, timelines, and many other visual organization forms.  Popplet is also a powerful presentation tool.  Students can create puppets on their computers or using the iOS app.

Check out the following popplet to see how it can be used for maths.

Students must be over 13 to create their own Popplet.

Watch this video on how to use the Popplet lite app.

Padlet

Padlet, originally known as Wallwisher, is an online notice board creator.  Padlet’s popularity is how fast and easy it is to create engaging activities to use with students.

You can read more about using Padlet with students here. Students under 13 are allowed to create their own padlet provided it is under the supervision of the teacher or school.

Book Creation Tools

Book creation tools allow students to quickly create their own beautiful books.  We’ve included Book Creator for iPad in Step 9: All About Video because books created using this app are often shared as a video.

Storybird

Storybird is an online book creation tool that provides artwork and templates that students can use to create their stories. Students can also browse their Picture book gallery and embed Storybirds created by others into posts.  You need to be logged into a Storybird account to access the embed code.  You can only embed Picture Books into posts.

Students under 13 are allowed to create their own Storybirds.

We’ve embedded Storybirds: A Simple Guide for Teachers and Students below so you can see what a Storybird looks like.  You can check out some examples of Storybirds created by students here.

Comic and Cartoon Tools

Comic and cartoon tools can be very engaging for students, especially visual learners, and are another way that students can enhance their posts with images.

ToonDoo

ToonDoo is a comic strip and comic book creation tool. We’ve embedded examples of a Toondoo comic strip and comic book below.

Learn more about using ToonDoo with students here.  Students under 13 aren’t allowed to create their own ToonDoos.

Students under 13 can create their own comics using Make Beliefs Comix.  Once the student has created their comic it needs to be saved onto their computer and then uploaded to their post as an image.

whatedsaid

 

TeacHer toons by whatedsaid | Make your own at www.toondoo.com

Curation tools

Curation tools allow you to collect, preserve, maintain, archive, and share information.  The goal of content curation is to find the most relevant content pertaining to a specific category and funnel this information for yourself and your readers in a very targeted way.

Livebinders

Livebinders allows you to curate webpages, PDFs, documents, images, or videos into a digital 3-ring binder.  Content can be curated by tab and subtabs within tabs.

The Livebinder below is used by the teacher to share resources from classes.

Check out the following for more information:

1. Using live binders with students
2. Using Livebinders on iPads

Students under 13 are allowed to create their own Livebinders provided their parent or guardian agrees to their terms and conditions.

Scoop.it!

Scoop.it! is a curation platform that enables users to collect news, articles, and other sources found on the Internet, and share them on their own custom-themed Scoop.it! site.  Scop.it! is like a social bookmarking website but with a visual, online magazine-like format.

Some bloggers set up their Scoop.it! account to auto post their scoops to their blog.  You can also embed a link to your Scoop.it site in a post or page.

Students over 13 can use Scoop.it! with parent or guardian approval.

Storify 

Storify allows you to curate your own stories from photos, videos, tweets, what people post on social media sites and your own narration.

Read more about using Storify with students here.

Students under 13 can’t set up a Storify account but they could embed Storify’s created by other users such as news services into posts.

Poll, Survey, and quiz tools

Online polling and survey tools help you gather opinions, collect votes, and see and share results immediately.  Some of these tools can also be used to create quizzes.

Google Forms

Google Forms is part of the freeware web-based office suite offered by Google within Google Drive.  Google Forms can be used for planning events, surveys, student quizzes, and collecting other information in an easy, streamlined way.

The Google Form embedded below is an example of how you can use it for a simple poll.   You’ll find an example of a more extensive Google Form embedded in this post.  Graphs and data generated from this form were compiled into our State of Educational Blogging 2016 post.

Watch this video to learn more about using Google Forms.

PollDaddy

PollDaddy allows you to quickly create online surveys, polls, and quizzes.

Presentation tools

Presentation tools allow you to publish and share presentations in a range of formats online.

Animoto

Animoto is a great site for quickly creating professional-looking videos from your images.  It is a great tool to use with students because it allows them to focus on content creation rather than trying to learn an editing or manipulation tool. In the school context, Animoto For Education is the ideal tool for students to create their own book trailers, digital stories, or music videos.

Below is an example of a student-created animito.  Check out more student work here and learn more about using Animoto with students here!

Students under 13 are allowed to use Animoto for Education under the direct supervision of the teacher within the classroom.

Our trip

Biteable

Biteable online tools that allow you to make animated videos and presentations easily.  Students under 13 are allowed to create their own Biteable presentation.

Below is an example of a presentation created using Biteable.

Australian Animals on Biteable.

Watch this video to learn how to make a video using Biteable.

https://youtu.be/PUKWRHhmId4

Glogster

Glogster allows you to combine images, video, music, photos, and audio to create interactive posters.  Glogster encourages students to gather their information, synthesize it, remix it, and then create their original presentation. It is an excellent alternative to the traditional classroom poster project by providing an online tool that is fun to use (and it’s not messy or bulky).

Learn more about using Glogster with students here.

Students under 13 are allowed to use the Glogster.

Google Presentation

Google Presentation is part of the freeware web-based office suite offered by Google within Google Drive.

Below is an example of a Google Presentation.

Haiku Deck

Haiku Deck is a tool that allows you to create presentations using their website on your computer or their app on your iOS device.  Haiku Deck works by combining beautiful images with minimal text.  As you type a word(s) on the slide Haiku Deck searches Creative Commons images to find images to match your text.  You can also upload images from your computer.

Below is an example of a Haiku deck created by a student.

Students under 13 are allowed to create their own Haiku Deck presentations provided their parent or guardian agrees to the terms and conditions.

Persuasive Presentation – Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires;

For more ideas, check out Haiku Deck’s Pinterest board of Education case studies.

PowToon

Powtoon are online tool that allow you to make animated videos and presentations easily.  Students under 18 are allowed to use the Education version of Powtoon.

Below is an animated video created using Powtoon.

Refer to PowToon’s quick start guide to learn how to create a PowToon video.

Prezi

Prez is an online presentation and storytelling tool that uses a single canvas instead of a traditional series of slides.  The images, text, videos, and other objects are placed on the canvas and users can zoom in and out.

Below is an example of a Prezzi created by a student.

Students under 13 aren’t allowed to create their own Prezzi’s.  Students over 13 are allowed to use provided their parent or guardian agrees to the terms and conditions.

SlideShare

SlideShare is a site where you can host your presentations and share them with others.  Slideshare is ideal for those who want to embed Presentations in their posts and websites rather than upload their PowerPoints directly and insert them as a link.

Students under 13 can’t upload slides to Slideshare but they can embed Slideshare’s created by other people in posts.

https://www.slideshare.net/gwynethjones/secrets-of-the-remix-mashup-youtube-generation-video-version

ThingLink

ThingLink is an easy-to-use online tool that allows you to make any graphic or photo interactive. With ThingLink you can create multiple hot spots on specific parts of your image that link to a website, video, music, text, or audio file.

Read more about using ThingLink with students here.  Students under 13 can use Thinglink under the supervision of a teacher or school.

Hover your mouse over the ThngLink below to check out how it works.

Slideshow Tools

Slideshow tools allow you to create and share slideshows.

PhotoPeach

PhotoPeach allows you to quickly upload photos to create great looking slideshows and even simple quizzes. Students under 13 are allowed to create their own Photopeach presentation provided their parent or guardian agrees to the terms and conditions.

Watch this video to see how to create slideshows using PhotoPeach.

Video Sharing websites

Videos can be used for a wide range of purposes including: grammar and fluency reading practices; delivering content, and engaging visual learners.

Video-sharing websites are used when teachers need to a site to host their videos or find video resources for use in class.

Google Drive

Google Drive allows you to upload video files up to 10 GB in size on your desktop computer or use the Google Drive app on your mobile app, and share them with select people or embed them into posts and websites.

Google Drive is a popular video hosting option for schools using Google Apps for education.

You can embed videos uploaded to Google Drive if you select Public on the Web or Anyone with the link in the Sharing settings.

TED

TED is a media organization that posts talks online for free distribution.  It is used to share the best ideas from expert speakers on education, business, science, tech, and creativity.

Vimeo

Vimeo is another popular video-sharing and viewing website.  Fewer videos are hosted on Vimeo compared to YouTube.  Vimeo is less likely to be blocked in schools compared to YouTube which is why it’s a popular video hosting website for uploading videos for class and for finding videos to use in class.

YouTube

YouTube is the most popular video-sharing and viewing website on the Internet.  While some schools block YouTube there are lots of educators who use YouTube to share videos they or their students have created or to source video resources to use with their students.

We recommend you set up a class or teacher YouTube account if you plan to upload videos or create YouTube Playlists because this helps separate your work videos from your personal videos.

YouTube Playlists are a fantastic way of compiling a list, or group, of videos that play in order to share with students.  When one video finishes playing the next video starts.  Using YouTube playlists you can control the start and finish times of each video — this is handy if you want students to watch specific parts of videos.

YouTube, Vimeo, and TED videos can all easily be embedded into posts using their video URL.

Embed in posts

Once you’ve created your content using one of the above online tools you embed it into a post as follows:

1. Copy the embed code.

• Websites use a range of different icons to represent Embed code.
• Look for icons like </>, the word Embed, Share, the share icon, HTML, or hover your mouse over icons until you see the word Embed.

For example, if you created a Biteable video the embed code is located in the Controls panel when you view your video:

2.  Go to Posts > Add New

3.  Place your cursor where you want the video to appear and then click on the Add Media button.

4.  In the Add Media window click on the Insert Embed Code tab.

5.  Paste the embed code into the Insert Embed code box and click Insert into post.

6.  When you have finished writing your post click Publish.

7.  You should see your embedded content when you view the published post.

Using with students

Some websites have age restrictions that restrict who can create accounts.  We’ve embedded a chart below to help you identify age restrictions.  Age restrictions are normally listed in Terms & Conditions, Terms of Service, or in a website’s privacy policy.

Share your favorite tool

With so many online tools that you can use, we are certain to have overlooked a few of your favorites.

Leave a comment below with any that we missed so that we can add to the list!

When was the last time you checked your spam or junk email folder?

Email service providers’ spam filters are very good but occasionally they can send legitimate emails to your spam folder.

It’s a good idea to regularly check your spam folder if you don’t want to miss important emails that may have been sent to spam by mistake.

Here are our tips:

Change your Spam folder to show (if it is hidden)

By default, the Spam folder is hidden when a Gmail or Google account is set up.

Changing your Gmail spam folder to Show makes it easier to monitor how many spam emails you receive and check your spam folder.

The easiest way to show your spam folder is to use the Gmail Settings page as follows:

1.  Click on Settings

2. Click on the Labels tab.

3.  Click on Show next to the Spam label

4.  When you look at your menu items you should now see the Spam label above the More drop-down menu.

Regularly check your spam folder

Make it a habit to regularly check your spam folder (which, depending on the software used, may also be called the junk email folder).

Once you’ve established a habit of checking your spam folder, you’ll quickly work out how often you need to check it.

Mark any legitimate email as Not Spam

Spam filters learn by what you spam and mark it as Not Spam.  Marking an email as Not Spam (or Not Junk) moves the email from the spam folder and will help prevent future emails from the same person from being marked as spam.

Here is how it is done:

1.  Click on your Spam label (or Junk Email folder).

2.  This reveals the emails that have been sent to spam.

3.  Select the email(s) that aren’t spam by clicking on the check box next to the sender’s name.  

4.  Click on Not Spam to move the email(s) back to your inbox.

5.  Select all other spam emails and mark them as Read.

This makes it easier to monitor for new emails in your spam folder.

Check Spam Folders in All your email accounts

Remember to log into your original email service provider account if you forward emails to another account.

For example, I forward my Google apps account to my personal email account.  Emails sent to the spam folder of my Google Apps account aren’t forwarded to my personal email account.

Filters on Educational Email Domains

If you can’t find an email you were expecting in your spam folder it’s either been sent to the wrong email address by mistake or it’s being blocked by your email domain.

Filters on educational email domains, and some parent’s business email accounts, are more likely to block or spam legitimate emails than web-based email service providers like Gmail.

Student email domains are most likely to block emails.

If emails are blocked you either need to request the sender’s email domain be whitelisted by your IT Department or use an alternative web-based email account.

Your Tips

What did we miss?  What else did you want to know about dealing with missing emails?  What are your email tips?

Leave a comment below to share your tips or ask a question.

Web Browsers

Your web browser, originally called Internet Browser, is your window to the web and impacts on how effectively you interact with content, your social networks and websites on the Internet.

A common misconception is you can only run one web browser. Wrong! Web browsers are just programs; just as you can install/use several graphics or word processing programs on your computer so can you have several web browser without causing any problems.

Just because a web browser is incorporated in the operating system of your computer doesn’t mean you have to stick to using that one web browser. There are quite a few free open source web browser that can enhancing your browser experience.

Whilst Internet Explorer dominates, contributing 74.88 % of market share in February 2008, FireFox is increasing in popularity. Check out this article for a comparison of web browsers.

Statistics used in graph above were taken from Market Share Report prepared by Net Applications. If you compared these statistics to results from Google Analytics, or similar application, for browser usage by visitors to your blog it’s likely that FireFox will feature highly (Note: Statistics for Flock are normally combined with FireFox).

FireFox

Firefox, a free open source web browser which runs on various versions of Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, is very popular with e-learning professionals with most preferring it to Internet Explore. It was nominated 2nd top tool in the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008 list by 155 learning professionals.

It’s regarded as the best Web browser in terms of add-ons that users can install to modify or add to existing functionality of FireFox. There are hundreds of FireFox add-ons which can be downloaded from here

Everyone who uses FireFox has their own personal favourite add-ons.

My favorite add-ons include:

1. Del.icio.us Bookmarks add-on – great for adding the sites I bookmark to del.icio.us plus excellent for searching my bookmarks in del.icio.us
2. CoComment add-on – automatically activates coComment when you write comments on all major blogging platforms, on services like Digg, Flickr or Youtube and some Forums making it easier to track responses to comments you leave on other people’s sites.

Glen Gatin nominated Zotero add-on in his top 3 tools because it’s easy-to-use and helps you collect, manage, and cite your research sources. Zotero was nominated 72nd top tool in the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008 list by 155 learning professionals.

Flock

Flock is another free open source web browser that also runs on various operating systems and is based on open source FireFox’s code. It’s becoming increasing popular because of the social networking features built into it’s interface.

Dean Groom, John Larkin and ozesteph1992 all twittered that Flock is one of their 3 favorite tools. Ozesteph1992 says “I feel like sitting in planes cockpit where I have all ‘controls’ on my fingertips, just a few clicks” when I use Flock.

One cool feature of Flock is once you’re logged in into your favorite sites such as Flickr, Facebook and Twitter the far left side of your flock browser window becomes a mini-people’s feed showing the latest updates from these sites by your friends.

Check out this excellent video by Liz Davis on Figuring Out Flock.

Liz Davis has created an excellent range of videos on “how to” use a range of web 2.0 tools and she has located them in this post on her blog.   Make sure you take the time to watch her three video on how to use Google Reader if you are still trying to set up a feed reader.

Blogging and Web Browsers

People’s decision to read and/or subscribe to your blog is based on appearance. The various web browsers display your posts differently so every now and then it’s important to check what your blog looks like in various web browsers.

I’ve had my posts display lovely in FireFox only to be upset to discover they looked terrible in Internet Explorer because my image sizes where too large for the web browser making the posts untidy.

FINAL THOUGHT

Other posts from this Best of Web 2.0 series include:

• Are You Making Your Life Easier By Using A Personalized Start Page?
• Setting Up iGoogle For Your Personal Learning
• Blogging Tools To Help You Blog
• Getting More Out Of Blogging And Edublogs
• Using Your Twitter Network For Help & Providing Their Recommendations

What’s your favourite web browser, and why? What’s your favorite add-ons, and why? What tips and tricks do you have for using web browsers?

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

Larry explained that Edublogs is his #1 best Web 2.0 tool because “it’s so easy to use and not blocked by my School District filters”. While Rafa agreed with Larry saying “especially with the new facility to create blogs for my students. I have a small group project started which involves every team running a blog, and this made it so easy to monitor!”

So let’s check out resources for getting more out of blogging and Edublogs in our latest post on our ongoing series on Best Web 2.0 tools.

Blogging Resources

I’ve set up a Getting Started With Edublogs page on this blog to provide a central location for information, provided by the edublogger community, on the “basics of getting started blogging” including:

1. “How To” Manuals

These Introductory manuals are both excellent with fantastic “how to” explanations; both can be viewed online or downloaded and printed to provide excellent guides to step you through the process of setting up your blog and writing posts.

I still refer to both these manuals for extra tips — thanks Gail Desler and Janetta Garton for taking the time to create and share them.

2. Blogging With Students

Some really excellent posts explain the benefits of student blogging plus cover all the different aspects of blogging with students from parental consent, setting up their blogs, and student blog management to effective use of student blogs.

Let me know if you have a post to add to this section.

Don’t forget that Edublogs has now added a new feature that allows you to create blogs and usernames for your students and colleagues in batches of up to 15 at a time.

3. “How to” Video Tutorials

Edublogs has created excellent short “how to” video tutorials that step you through the process of setting up your blog and writing posts. I’ve added some of these to the Getting Started With Edublogs page (just click on the image and the video plays) and included the entire collection link.

Like the Introductory Manuals, I still refer to these videos for extra tips.

Latest News

Edublogs is committed to providing you the latest news of what’s happening in the Edublogs community and lots of great tips but are you receiving these updates?

Here’s how you can receive the latest updates:

1. Subscribe to Edublogs

James Farmer writes blog posts to let us know what’s happening.

The fastest and most efficient way of being notified of these is to subscribe to Edublogs’s URL using your feed reader (i.e. add http://edublogs.org/). Now whenever James writes a new post it will be delivered straight to you.

If you aren’t currently using a feed reader read this post on Are You Making Your Life Easier By Using RSS? Plus check out How I Use RSS To Make My Life Easier.

2. Follow Edublogs on Twitter

Edublogs has set up an account on Twitter to let the community know of the latest news.

Make sure if you use Twitter that you follow the Edublogs Twitter account.

Alternatively, if you don’t use Twitter you can still receive these updates by adding the RSS feed from the Edublogs Twitter account to your feed reader – here is Edublogs Twitter accounts RSS feed.

If you’re currently not using Twitter check out this post on How I Use Twitter plus read How A Twitter Network Can Be Used For Help & Providing Recommendations.

3. Subscribe To The Edublogger

The Edublogger was set up by Edublogs to help educational bloggers with emerging technologies in education, share their own experiences, and promote the blogging medium.

The fastest and most efficient way of being notified of the latest tips from The Edublogger is to subscribe to its RSS feed in your feed reader — here is The Edublogger RSS feed.

Help And Support

If you’ve got a problem with your blog the best place to access support is through the Edublogs Forum.

Before asking for help take the time to search the forum because more than likely the questions are already being asked and answered.

If you can’t find the answer by searching the Forum, reading the FAQ, or watching the videos, then post your question to the forum — please provide as much information as you can including:

• The exact URLs you are referring to (i.e. add the address of your blog to your post), if it is an issue with your blog
• A detailed description of the issue (the more the better)
• Sample of the code you are trying to embed, if you are having trouble embedding

The Edublogs crew does an excellent job supporting the community in the Forum but they can’t be expected to help 24/7. Please subscribe to the Forum Feed in your feed reader, and if you know the answer to a question take time to write a response — here is the Forum RSS feed. Let’s give back their support by helping as a community in the Forum :).

Don’t forget to check out the benefits of being an Edublogs Supporter — only costs $25 per year and you get lots of extra features.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Other posts from this Best of Web 2.0 series include:

• Are You Making Your Life Easier By Using A Personalized Start Page?
• Setting Up iGoogle For Your Personal Learning
• Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Web Browser?
• Blogging Tools To Help You Blog
• Using Your Twitter Network For Help & Providing Their Recommendations

Don’t forget to let us know about resources or posts suitable for Edublogs Help info pages.

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

And yet to dismiss Twitter is a mistake because it’s an incredibly powerful tool for your personal learning, connecting with others and complements your blogging. Twitters way more than telling people what you’re doing!

The key to “getting twitter” lies in using it effectively. Fortunately besides being a RSS power user I’m also well known as a Twitter-a-holic so let me share my tips on how I get the most out of using Twitter.

Disclaimer: Twitter is personal; it means different things to different people and there’s various ways people use it. Like blogging, my focus for using twitter is the conversations and connections. These are my personal tips and not rules for using Twitter :).

Getting Started With Twitter

Go to Twitter.com and click “Get Started-Join.” Think carefully about your username; I personally recommend use your real name. If I could wind back time I’d use Suewaters, and not dswaters, because branding with one unique and recognizable online identity is better.

Make sure you upload a picture; people connect more when they can visualize the person. Also very important you complete your “Online line bio” and add your “More Info URL” (for a link to your website) because people check these out carefully when deciding if it’s worth following you.

To gain a deeper insight into the value of twitter check out:

• This podcast, or the text from the podcast, I created with Alan Levine, Graham Wegner, Michael Coghlan, Kristin Hokanson and Simon Brown for the Knowledge Tree
• Michele Martin’s podcast with Jeff Nugent, Britt Watwood and Bud Deihl from Virginia Commonwealth University Center for Teaching Excellence where they try and educate Michele on what she’s missing out by not using twitter effectively
• Chris Betcher’s video tutorial on Understanding how Twitter works

Effective management of twitter lies with:

1. Processes i.e. how many people you choose to follow, how you choose who to follow and your purpose for using twitter
2. Technical i.e. the tools you use to manage twitter

Adding Followers

How many people you follow, and who you follow, influences what you get out of twitter and to some extent how you use twitter e.g. how effective you will be at maintaining conversations.

When you follow a person you will receive their tweets. You get their tweets when they follow you; but not necessarily their replies (tweets that start with @) to people they follow but you don’t (unless you have @replies set to “all @replies” in Settings>Notices — this is not something you want to do if following lots of people).

Following too few people with too few following means you’re less likely to see the true power of twitter for connecting and providing assistance. Follow too many people makes it harder to maintain the conversation.

My magic number of people to follow is between 100-200; that was when life was easier. Once you’ve set up your account check out the twitter accounts of some of your favourite bloggers (most have a link on their blog)– go through the people they are following to choose people to add to your account. Remember to follow Edublogs twitter account so you get the last news on what’s happening at Edublogs.

Personally I avoid choosing higher profile people, as they often have too many followers, are less likely to engage in conversations or follow you back — however do check their @ replies.

Using A Twitter Client

The power of twitter is in the instant notification/response to tweets of people you follow.

A twitter client is a MUST; using the web interface isn’t the way to go. They provide instant notification of the latest updates. Which to use is very personal however my favourites, at the moment, are Snitter and Twhirl.

Twhirl is really nice which I equate to a lovely sports car; has a beautiful interface. Definitely a good choice if you aren’t following too many people. Unfortunately I follow too many people and find the way Snitter displays notifications of new tweets is better for maintaining my conversations.

Snagging Link URLs From Twitter

People are always sharing fantastic links in twitter that are worth checking out. I use Twitter Link Monitor to collect these links and feed them by RSS into my Google Reader so I can check them out at my leisure; also handy for grabbing links tweeted when I’m offline. Note — doesn’t display links from people with locked accounts.

Tracking Terms in Twitter

I use TweetScan all the time to effectively manage conversations in Twitter that I want to track e.g. replies to my twitter name dswaters and any other variations people have used e.g. suewaters and tags like Edublogs.

With the number of people I follow I need TweetScan as my eyes and ears. By subscribing to the RSS feed for the tracking term using my feed reader I’m notified through Google Reader whenever anyone, anywhere, tweeters that term. Here are my instructions for setting up TweetScan. Note — doesn’t display terms tweet by people with locked accounts.

Applying A Bit Of Twitter Karma

There’s nothing worse than having a conversation and not realising you’re having it with yourself which is why I use Twitter Karma.  It displays whom I’m following and who’s following me back; I’ll often unfollow if they’re no longer following me.

And Let’s Not Forget The Classroom

The uses of Twitter in the classroom are really only limited by our imagination. Tom Barrett’s been writing some excellent posts on what his Twitter network means to him in terms of his classroom practice and the best ways that twitter can be utilised in your own classroom. Check out Tom’s posts:

• Twitter – A Teaching and Learning Tool
• Plan, Tweet, Teach, Tweet, Learn, Smile

FINAL THOUGHT

I’ve shared my tips for using twitter but everyone has their own secret ingredients —what are your tips for getting more out of twitter? Do you have any favourite applications?

If you’ve tried twitter and it wasn’t working for you — what did you like/not like? If you haven’t tried twitter and you now plan to — please let me know how you go and don’t forget to follow Edublogs on twitter.

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I love teaching people how to create digital stories and videos because it’s a skill that most learners, regardless of age, enjoy learning and experimenting with and are more likely to spend time perfecting their skills in their own time. A great way of engaging even the most reluctant educator to use technology.

However, there are so many videos available online, on so many different topics, that it’s sometimes more effective to use ‘others videos’ than create your own video.

Locating Videos Online

The efficient and fastest platform to locate videos is YouTube

YouTube has made it easier than ever to share and embed videos across the web. Embedding a video from it onto your website allows you to seamlessly integrate multimedia content without the need for complex coding or hosting the video files yourself.

YouTube’s recommendation algorithm is also worth mentioning. It has the ability to suggest videos that are tailored to the viewer’s interests, which keeps users engaged and coming back for more and can be extremely helpful for students to consume similar resourceful video content.

Embedding Videos From YouTube

1. On your blog dashboard, go to Posts > Add New
2. Completely write your post adding all text and images including adding your categories, tags, and post title.
3. Make sure you tell your readers that you have embedded a video below as many feed readers such as Google Reader may remove the video).
4. It’s best to add any code you want to embed as the last step just before you click publish as you’re less likely to have problems.
5. Click on Save Draft and Preview this Post to make any final edits to your post
6. Locate the video you want to embed from YouTube. Click Share to view the embed URL.
   
7. Click Copy to copy the embed URL for the video.
   
8. In your post, you can either insert a YouTube or Embed block on the location where you want the video to appear.
   
9. Now, paste the previously copied embed URL for the video in the YouTube/Embed block, and click Embed.
   

In the provided example, I’ve added the A Guide to Clients & Billing video using the above-mentioned method.

Final Thought

What are your favorite video-sharing websites? How do you use video with your learners?

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So we’ve tried our best to explain what is RSS and why it’s important to learn how to use. And as we said it’s hard to explain probably because the power of RSS is really something you need to experience first hand.

We’re really into RSS — RSS power users may be an appropriate title since we grab every RSS opportunity to make our lives easier and maximise our ability to interact effectively with others.

Remember that using RSS is a simple and effective way of keeping in touch when new information is added to a website without having to visit the site; instead information is brought to one location, a feed reader, to read whenever convenient.

Let us show you some of ways to use RSS with an RSS Reader.

Subscribing To Blogs

Read a lot of blogs by subscribing to their RSS feeds because blogging isn’t about working in a vacuum; it’s about the conversations.

Conversations aren’t about you just writing a reflective post that invites / encourages / evokes readers to express their opinion by writing comments on your post. It’s also about you engaging in conversations on others’ blogs by linking to their posts and writing comments on their posts.

To engage effectively in blogging conversations, you need to subscribe to blogs that interest you.

Effectively Managing Comments

One of the most important tips for keeping up the conversations on blogs is being very effective at managing your comments on other people’s blogs. Getting good at this is when you use tools that track comments posted on other people’s blogs plus subscribe to the RSS feed from these tools.

Whenever a person comments on a post that you have commented on, their comment is transferred from the post into your RSS Reader, so you can choose to immediately respond back if you want.

Managing Interactions on Flickr

Flickr is really cool Web 2.0 tool that didn’t initially grab us back when it started because we didn’t get the whole idea of sharing photos online and it’s whole social networking aspect.

Make Flickr friends and comment on their photos; your friends’ newest photos and any comments you make are automatically fed from Flickr to your RSS Reader (here are instructions of how to do it).

This interaction has shown a different glimpse of their life compared to what can be seen from reading their blogs or following them on twitter.

RSS is More Than Blog Posts

As Rafa Ribas said about a previous post on RSS:

There is more to RSS than just blog posts. You can RSS news, comments to your posts or others, audio and video, comic strips (I am an absolute fan of xkcd.com), other people’s bookmarks (del.icio.us), and so on and so forth. In summary, RSS is a bit daunting at first, but absolutely amazing in its potential.

We’ve only given a small glimpse into the ways to harness the power of RSS. Remember to look out for the RSS icon whenever you visit a web site and consider if subscribing to it’s feed will make your life easier and/or more fun.

FINAL THOUGHT

So have you set up a feed reader yet? If you’re just getting going – please let us know what’s working for you and what’s not.

If you are experienced with using RSS how about telling us about the different RSS feeds besides blog posts that you subscribe to, and why you like subscribing to them.

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