The Lighthearted Librarian

This week's tool is one that I have personally used and loved using when I was a classroom teacher -- Screencast-O-Matic. This software records whatever is on your computer screen and creates a video that you can save to your computer or post immediately online using several different platforms like Google Classroom, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo or Dropbox. You can add a webcam video or just have audio recorded along with the the screen capture. There is also a video editor tool that allows you to add music tracks, zoom in on certain parts of your screen capture, add text, images or captions.  This tutorial does a great job walking you through how to use the screen recorder. There are a couple different versions, from free to Deluxe, with varying features available for each. You can purchase an account for one user or multiple users (as an organization or group). As far as free online tools go, this one has quite a good bit of functionality for the free version. The pa...

I love Google. I know it sometimes gets a bad rap for its omnipresence and increasing girth in the business world, but as an educator, I have found it to be so helpful. I used Google Classroom extensively with my classes both on days I was present in class and always on days I had to be absent. We did assignments using Google Docs, collaborated using Google Slides and analyzed data using Google Sheets. I bring to you today another reason to love Google - Voice Typing in Google Docs/Slides. I had no idea the G Suite had this feature! How sweet! In education, adaptive technologies are essential for providing equitable access for all learners, regardless of ability levels. Adaptive technology resources can sometimes be pricey to have in every classroom so when there's a free tool available, it makes it so much easier to provide accessibility tools for every learner. This tutorial from Google Help walks you through the steps for initiating the Voice Typing feature as well as a li...