Weekly Learning Technology Digest... 32

Bonfire night is here already - cripes!

Another week has whizzed by and there was a load of really interesting stuff to get your teeth stuck into (I know I always say that!) including developments to Google+ Hangouts, more on MOOCs and well...

... let's get stuck in and see what the past week had to offer, shall we?

• First little goodie is a free set of resources from Google on Understanding YouTube and Digital Citizenship and although it's aimed at 13 - 17 year olds, I think there's a lot you can reuse and it gives you a place from which to start bringing ideas of digital footprint into the curriculum
• From the BBC came How do you stop online students cheating and if you're moving towards more e-assessment / e-submission then this is a very very useful article to read to get you thinking about some of the issues involved.
• Prezi also unveiled a massive makeover and if you've struggled with some of the 'quirks' of the user interface of old Prezi and not bothered with it as a result, then perhaps now is the time to venture back and take another look?
• It must be make-over season because the Google+ hangout screen has been redesigned with new sidebar, colorful notifications and easy to find apps which is good news as hangouts are one of the very best features of Google+ if you want a readily available, video conferencing tool which is designed for collaborative working.
• Oh and there's also a new Google+ Help account which is another way of helping you get going with Google+!
• And if you want to record your Google+ Hangout rather than going completely open with a Hangout On Air (which we've discussed on the blog in the past) then How to Record Skype, Google Hangouts and Webinars from Techsmith is very useful!
• There was also a nice little tips and tricks article in Mashable called 10 things you didn't know Dropbox could do and whether or not you use Dropbox I always think articles like this encourage you to dig a little deeper and see what you can discover about the tech you're working with!
• For something less tech and more teach, I spotted Will academia be destroyed by massive open online courses and with quotes which include 'MOOCs are not the answer to our pedagogical shortcomings' and 'If I had my wish, I would wave a wand and make MOOCs disappear, but I am afraid that we have let the genie of the bottle' this is a provocative one to get your teeth into!
• Since MOOCs are a buzzword right now, what other trends are out there? Classroom-Aid.com pulled them together in 5 must read articles for latest educational technology trends and though it's essentially a list of links, it's handy to have them altogether like this!
• My final article in a rather tech-heavy round-up is Top 10 Secret Features of iOS which I know is Apple specific but it might be helpful for someone (though I understand that there's potentially an issue with iOS6, the iPad and Eduroam... so if you haven't already upgraded then maybe hold fire a while)

Before I forget, I have a video for you too - this one is from Ryan Merkley about remixing and creating interactive, interesting online video!  If you're inspired to have a go, let me know!

And that... is that... for this week anyway!

Enjoy the fireworks and I'll see you next week

Sarah