Entertaining Video explaining Copyright

Professor Eric Faden of Bucknell University created this "humorous, yet informative, review of copyright principles delivered through the words of the very folks we can thank for nearly endless copyright terms".

An entertaining video explaining copyright, designed especially for the 'disney generation'?!!

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Technorati Tags: copyright, creative commons, fair use,

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Sharing on the eLearning Guild

The eLearning Guild is a "member-driven online information center and Community of Practice where anyone involved in the design, development, and management of web-based educational or instructional content (e-Learning) can identify and access resources needed to ensure that their organizations' projects are successful".

In fact, the eLearning Guild provides a professional peer network where members can "focus on expanding their own professional skills, knowledge, and expertise".

At the eLearning Guild, membership is "all about members sharing with, and learning from, other members".

Associate membership is free and provides for, among other things, access to every issue of the 'Learning Solutions e-Magazine', which is "packed with ideas, strategies, and techniques that you can actually use".

Members also have access to the entire archive of over 235 past issues.

The eLearning Guild provide free ebooks packed with helpful tips, information and links to further useful sites - for members and non members alike.

The latest, published in Dec 2007, details 162 Tips and Tricks for Working with e-Learning Tools.

Other titles include, among others:

• The eLearning Guild's Handbook of e-Learning Strategy
• 311 Tips on the MANAGEMENT of an LMS or LCMS
• 834 Tips for Successful Online Instruction.

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Technorati Tags: education, elearning, elearning guild, learning solution

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WiZiQ - Virtual Classroom Platform

WiZiQ is a free virtual classroom tool. WiZiQ is "equipped with live audio-video communication, chat, content sharing, and session recording capabilities". No download is required as WiZiQ works in any web browser and on any operating system.

WiZiQ also has a social networking aspect as you can communicate with other teachers and students with the same subject interests.

You can upload and share your own PowerPoint presentations as well as finding content created by other members.

Multiple choice WiZiQ tests have, recently, been added to the site.

In addition, free public sessions are offered on an ongoing basis and recorded completed sessions are available for viewing.

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Technorati Tags: social networking, virtual classroom, wiziq

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Use Your Computer for Internet TV

When it comes to watching video channels online you have at least two great sites to choose from - Joost and Miro.



Joost claims to have over 15,000 shows to view, with more being added every day. You need to download the player and sign up before you  get started.

Joost also includes some social features and tools within the player, so you can chat while watching your video or view the latest news through a news feeder. The videos can be played on a full screen or re-sized to suit.



Miro is open source and provides 2,500 channels including a huge range of HD content (unlike Joost). In fact, Miro claims to be much better than Joost citing better access, features, content and organisation (comparison).

Download the Miro player and get started straight away. A quick search of Miro revealed over 300 channels tagged with 'education'.

Personally, I like both players and am quite happy to use both of them for different channels.

18/12/08 Update: As of Dec 19th 2008 the Joost software will be discontinued and all movies will be viewable on Joost.

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Technorati Tags: internet tv, joost, miro, video channel

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Daily Software Giveaway

Have just discovered Giveaway of the day, which offers licenced software for download for free!

Every day Giveaway of the day nominate one software title that will be a Giveaway title of that day. The software is then available for download for 24 hours for free - not a trial or limited version - but a registered and legal version of the software, subject to the software usage being non-commercial only.



Giveaway of the day also encourage user feedback. This is very useful as seeing the comments of other users, good and bad, can help you decide if you should use the software or not.  These comments can also lead you to other free software as recommended by the individual contributor.

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Technorati Tags: giveaway of the day, software

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Automatic Shutdown Tool

Slawdog Smart Shutdown is a free, commercial-quality shutdown utility.

Slawdog Shutdown has a very easy to use interface and includes many shutdown options (turn off, reboot, log off, lock, hibernate, etc).

The program allows you to determine how long the warning dialog box appears before shutdown takes place. Slawdog Shutdown also lets you password protect the settings and the program can be set to empty the recycle bin on shutdown. All very useful features for a classroom setting.

Undoubtedly, this is a very handy tool for anyone who is in charge of a school/college computer laboratory.

Simply set the shutdown time (this can be set to repeat each day at the same time) and Slawdog Shutdown does the rest.

You don't need to worry about the machines being switched off correctly at the end of the day anymore!

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Technorati Tags: slawdog, shutdown utility

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Irish Photo Library Website Launched

Imagebank is a photo library website where people can search for and share high-quality photos for educational use.

The site was launched recently by NCTE and Scoilnet and has been developed in response to teachers’ needs and requests.

Imagebank is intended to be a support resource for students and teachers in Irish education by providing Irish related photos (places and spaces, animals, sport and flowers, etc).

The images in Imagebank are made available under Creative Commons licensing and everyone, with an interest in education, is encouraged to add high-quality photographs to the site.

Although geared towards an Irish setting, many of the photographs in Imagebank could easily be used for any educational setting.

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Technorati Tags: creative commons, imagebank, ncte, photographs, scoilnet

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World Digital Library coming soon......

The World Digital Library will "make available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from cultures around the world, including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, architectural drawings, and other significant cultural materials".

Content should be available on the World Digital Library site from late 2008 (or early 2009) according to a report from the Washington Post. This promises to be a great educational resource. Thanks for the head's up Zaid!

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Technorati Tags: education, world digital library

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VLC- Media Player for the Future

VLC media player is a highly portable, cross-platform multimedia player that supports a large number of audio and video formats (mpeg1, mpeg2, mpeg4, vorbis, divX, mp3, wmv, wma, avi, ogg, ogm, wav, flv).

VLC can also be used to play DVDs and VCDs. VLC is very useful for playing open standard formats, such as ogg, which many current media players cannot handle.

In addition, VLC can be used to view free streaming television and radio (via Shoutcast TV). There are lots of channels to choose from including a wide range of Christmas stations! To see how the streaming is set up, just watch this video from Jimmyr.

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Technorati Tags: audio, media player, ogg, video, vlc

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Wikimedia - Bringing it all Together

Wikimedia Foundation is "dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual content, and to providing the full content of these wiki-based projects to the public free of charge".

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, is probably the best know of the projects. However, the others are also beginning to take off.

Wiktionary is a multilingual, free web based dictionary. Definitions, etymologies, pronunciations, sample quotations, synonyms, antonyms and translations are all included in Wiktionary, which is the lexical companion to Wikipedia.

Wikiquote is a compendium of quotations from notable people and creative works in every language. Currently, the English version has 14,089 pages containing thousands of quotations and proverbs.

Wikibooks provides a free collection of open-content textbooks that can be edited by anyone. The teacher's toolbox is but one example!

An online library of free content publications is provided at Wikisource. You can read the full text of many books such as Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

The contributions on Wikinews are from volunteers "whose mission is to present reliable, unbiased, relevant and entertaining News" that is written from "a neutral point of view to ensure fair and unbiased reporting".

Wikimedia Commons is a database of over 2 million freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute. As with the Creative Commons Search Site this is an excellent starting point for finding freely usable material.

Looking for information on any species? Then check out Wikispecies, which covers Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Bacteria, Archaea, Protista and all other forms of life!

Wikiversity is a community for the creation and use of free learning materials and activities. Free content, multimedia learning materials, resources, and curricula for all age groups can be hosted on Wikiversity. The learning material about Narrative Film Production is a featured resource.

Also have a look at Downloadpedia (reference wiki for free software) and Wikivid (free software video tutorials from around the web).

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Technorati Tags: creative commons, downloadpedia, wikimedia, wikivid

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Convert Your files Online

Zamzar is a handy tool that enables you to convert your files online without the need to download any software. Convert office documents, image files, audio files, video files and zip files (up to a maximum size of 100MB) easily at Zamzar.

The converted file is sent to your nominated email address.

Zamzar has also, recently, introduced the ability to convert files from URLs including support for all the main video sharing websites.

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Technorati Tags: audio, image, video, zamzar, zip

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