Screencast-o-Matic & Master Courses

Please check out this useful video for two reasons:

• It's great advice. Please contact us for a Master Course if you are building a course for on-ground, hybrid, or online delivery. Even on-ground courses benefit from having a Master Course with all its content online. Not only will it help organize the course from one semester to the next, but you can maintain academic continuity with your classes in case of campus closure to emergencies like weather.
• It's Screencast-o-Matic! This video was produced using a tool new to UAH and available for your use now at no cost to you nor your department! Contact Tess.Olten@uah.edu to find out how to gain access to our premier team license!

The Swiss Army Knife of Search Engines

There was a time when a search engine was simply a search engine. But then along came Google. Fast Company's 40 Incredibly Useful Things You Didn't Know Google Search Could Do is not only an easy and fascinating read, it's worthy of bookmarking for future reference—and sharing!

Are you using Google Drive?

In ReviewGeek.com's Google Drive Has Quietly Become One of the Best Backup Options Around, I'm reminded that not everyone knows about the magic of Google Drive.

Are you still carrying files around on a thumb drive? And has that thumb drive been backed up after every change, deletion, addition to its files? What would happen if the thumb drive were lost or damaged? If you're not already totally dependent on Google Drive, you need to be.

And if you're a Dropbox fan, the ReviewGeek article has great information comparing the two and highlighting the benefits of Google Drive. I've had great experiences with the related mobile apps for all of Drive's components.

Luckily, UAH is a Google school so the account has already been created for you. If you're already logged into the single sign-on system, you can simply visit: Drive.Google.com to get started.

If you need help learning how to use Google Drive to enhance your course development and delivery, please contact me at Tess.Olten@uah.edu to set up an appointment to chat!

Virtual museums!

You and your (online, hybrid, or on-ground) class can now take virtual tours of many museums! Check out Museum Views on Google's Art and Culture platform!

How Can We Help the Forgotten Middle Meet Their Potential? (TED.com)

From TED:

You know the "forgotten middle": they're the students, coworkers and regular people who are often overlooked because they're seen as neither exceptional nor problematic. How can we empower them to reach their full potential? Sharing her work helping young people get to and through college, social activist Danielle R. Moss challenges us to think deeper about who deserves help and attention -- and shows us how to encourage those in the middle to dream big.