Q: I'd like to know about how to integrate automation in my virtual classroom. Do you know any tools that help you to create connections between your apps and automate repetitive tasks?

A: Check out the collaborative education tool Teamie - a cloud-based collaborative learning platform. "Use any of Zapier's 500+ connected apps to bring robust information right into your Teamie classrooms, such as articles from a RSS feed, videos from YouTube or Vimeo, and from social sources like tweets and Tumblr posts. You can even use native Zapier apps like Schedule to create specific posts each week in Teamie, or our Weather app to let your classroom know if it's going to rain on any given day." (Retrieved from Alison Groves' post) There are many tools that connect apps and services. Zapier is just one of them. Watch this video about Zapier in action. The article in a PC magazine provides a comparison with similar tools. I guess it is time to try Zaptier for my blog!

Q: I kept the interviews to show in my psychology course on VHS tapes. How do I digitize them to prepare for the online version of this course?

A: There are many services available to transfer VHS to digital files format. If you want to do it yourself look for USB Video Digital Converter. It comes with a software that allows you to edit videos on your computer, cut and save the chunks of your video in different format. You can find video tutorials online for different products. I am going to hook my VHS player with Sabrent USB-AVCPT A/V-to-USB 2.0 Digital Video Adapter to document the course materials I have on VHS tapes.

Q: Could you help? I need to make 6 power point slide-based videos and post the url in 2 hours for my class. Is it possible?

A: Sure it is. I assume that your slides are ready. First question: are you Mac or PC? 

Mac user - you can just record your screen with a QuickTime player. It is free. The instructions are here.
Save your movie as *.mov and post it at Youtube. You don't need to create a new account - sign in with the Google one. You can publish your video manually at Vimeo by uploading a video file. If you have a budget try Keynote

PC user - finally you have a choice. Try Screencastomatic - it works for Mac too. 15 min. long videos are free - much more powerful options than Jing. You can record a screen, web cam, or both. It is very user friendly. Download it, record your video. You have a choice to save your video as a file to upload to a website later or publish at Youtube. 

A few tips - please do test before you invest much time and efforts. Double check your audio devices. Make sure you set up your microphone before you start recording on PC. Check your Sound System Preferences on Mac. Pay attention where you are saving your video file at the end:)
If you are publishing on Youtube be aware of public setting by default. Go back and change it to private if you need. 

You still have time - run!

Q: I need to send my presentation to a colleague for the conference. How do I transfer big files?

A: there are many services available. They all have a free option. The most common services are Dropbox (2GB free), Box (250 MB free), WeTransfer (2 GB free) etc. Some of them offer to store files as well. Google Drive is also handy. Here is a link to more information.

Q: I want to make my online course materials more engaging. Is it something relatively easy to use for a busy instructor?

A: Try Zaption to create a learning tour for your course. You can add existing videos from Youtube and Vimeo, trim your video to show the segments you want, add interactive elements such as quiz questions. There is a basic account for free to start.

Q: What technology is available to make writing activity more fun for my online students?

A: NewsMaker: "really is an extremely user-friendly program that students will enjoy. Now teachers finally have a tool driven by content not the technology". Here is an overview. Newsmaker improves writing, presenting and collaborating skills when students are emotionally involved in fun news production process; there is an opportunity to interact with a global community similar to publishing a blog. It will boost creativity in your classroom, especially online. Newsmaker provides the students another way of thinking about organizing their information creatively and using their sense of humor. Newsmaker tool  limits the amount of time students spent on editing and production. Students can focus on content and learning rather than production values.

Q: What is Teachscape?

A: Teachscape is a platform for education innovation network. Its "software tools, online content, and services allow educators to assess their skills and competencies,collaborate with colleagues, build their expertise, and plan their careers".

Q: How to improve usability for my online course?

A: First - inquire information from your department regarding a usability study.There are usability testing strategies that can help you to identify changes necessary to improve your students' interaction with course materials. Numerous tools are available to address the needs: Mailchimp, IntuitionHQ, and User Testing. You can conduct a brief study to identify strengths and weaknesses of a design. You will learn if students can complete specified tasks and identify how long it takes them to do so etc.

Q: I developed an online version of my course. What is the best way to provide copyright protection at the time when students sell notes to commercial notetaking services?

A: Some faculty include a statement to the syllabus forbidding selling/buying class notes, exercises, quizzes, exams without their written permission. There are no tools to monitor the infringement of copyright when students sell notes to commercial notetaking services (FlashNote/Noteutopia/Notehall, Course Hero etc.).
Copyright protection for online course materials is a grey area. Is it legal or ethical?
There are "legal issues and the general controversy around selling class notes. Notehall and competing platform Course Hero even received a cease and desist letter from the UCSC general counsel, and it also alerted faculty members and undergraduates that the commercialization of class notes is illegal in California." 

Q: "Quality" in my online course is a challenge for me. How do I measure student outcome?

A: More artificial intelligence tools are coming to support education. Read about Cerego technology that used adaptive learning approach to enhance online learning.
I also learned that IAIED society journal, International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, is now indexed by ERIC - see http://eric.ed.gov/ and the publications at 
http://eric.ed.gov/?q=source%3A%22international+journal+of+artificial+intelligence+in+education%22

This will make IJAIED far more visible to a broader Education audience. Take advantage, collaborate!

Q: My class is heavy on a video content. Is it any platform available to perform an inside-video search?

A: Panopto is a helpful video platform. You can use it to do recording, broadcasting and inside-video search. The alternatives are listed here

Q: I want to make a group activity in my online course more effective. Is it any tool available that supports peer to peer evaluation?

A: CritViz is a custom online tool for supporting real-time critique, conversation, and peer to peer evaluation of student work in large classrooms. More

CritViz software

Q: I want to learn Analytics to build my online courses in the most effective way. Where to start?

A: this Mindmap will help you to see a big picture and all resources available: http://www.mindomo.com/mindmap/learning-analytics-62e500f49d144638b444cc5f26275e0e

Q: I want to find an alternative to clickers. What tool I can use in class to show the bell curve in real time?

A: You can use technology that students already own (laptops, cell phones). See the list of compatible tools below:

AdobeConnect: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-adobe-connect/creating-a-poll/
Poll­Daddy: http://polldaddy.com Socra­tive: http://www.socrative.com/ Piazza: https://piazza.com/ ​ https://piazza.com/features#​
Lec­ture­Tools: http://www.lecturetools.com/ Ques­tion­Press: http://www.questionpress.com/ Learn­ing Cat­alyt­ics: https://learningcatalytics.com/ pollev­ery­where: http://www.polleverywhere.com/highered-student-response-system men­time­ter: http://mentimeter.com/ Celly: http://cel.ly/ eClick­ers: http://www.eclicker.com/ Turn­ingTech­nolo­gies Respon­se­Ware: http://www.turningtechnologies.com/studentresponsesystems/mobiledistancelearning/higheredresponseware/ Socra­tive: http://socrative.com/# Google Forms: docs.google.comhttps://sites.google.com/a/pjrprojects.co.uk/sitesguide/google-sites/how-tos/create-a-poll-using-google-formshttp://www.demogeek.com/2009/04/01/polls-made-easier-with-google-docs-spreadsheet/Top Hat Mon­o­cle: http://www.tophatmonocle.com/ GoSoap­Box: http://gosoapbox.com/tour iClicker Web Clicker:  http://www.iclicker.com/products/webclicker/ Click­er­School Vir­tual Clicker by Eduware: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/clickerschool-virtual-clicker/id444020820?mt=8 Soda­Head Polls-WP plug-in:  http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sodahead-polls/ Pin­nion: http://www.pinnion.com/References:
http://blogs.princeton.edu/etc/2012/04/10/alternatives-to-physical-clickers-in-the-classroom/http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2011/10/three-alternatives-to-clicker-response.html#.UXm7AcolHuQ​

Q: I heard a new term "gamification". What does it mean?

A: It is new way of incorporating games in your teaching style and mostly applicable for online learning environment. judge for yourself - this article is presenting all arguments for defining "gamification" as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts: bit.ly/o6aX1U

From Game Design Elements to Gamefulness: Defining “Gamification”

Q: I want to put something on the internet, but how do I do that.

A: I want to introduce you to the digital representation of a sticky wall - a drag-and-drop interface - Padlet: http://padlet.com/ (in case you didn't know about it).

It is available in Chrome browser. If you consider using more interactive tools with your students online it is a good addition to a blog. It gives your students more control on building a group website.

Resources:
http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/21/yc-backed-padlet-brings-drag-and-drop-to-collaborative-web-site-creation/
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/02/wallwisher-is-now-padlet.html#.USucjWej-MQ

Check more creative tools at Chrome:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/app/89-creative-tools?utm_source=chrome-ntp-icon

such as
Balsamiq Mockups (wireframing tool - not free)
bomomo - drawing tool (free)
mind map - mapping tool
Autodesk 123D Catch - turn your photo into 3D model
etc.

Q: What is Playful Learning?

A: Follow the Learning Games Network. Alex Chisholm, Executive Director of Learning Games Network, said: “We established Learning Games Network to fill the gap between research and practice and are excited to be playing a role in helping to expand the marketplace, as well as the quality of games and resources available to educators and students.“ http://www.learninggamesnetwork.org/newschools-venture-learning-games-network/

Q: How can I improve my online course?

A: the Quality Matters workshops are now available online! Join the session to improve the quality of your online materials: http://www.qmprogram.org/professional-development-web-conferencing-workshops-available-now

Q: I've been looking for more flexible and easy to customize LMS for our online classes? What are the most competitive solutions on a market right now?

A: After attending the 4th Annual QM (Quality Matters) Conference on Quality Assurance in Online Learning Program I would look closer at products like Canvas: http://www.instructure.com/
http://www.instructure.com/higher-education
Also SoftChalk offers solutions for eLearning initiatives: http://softchalk.com/

Q: I am new to teaching online. What resources would you recommend to start with?

A: Welcome to Online teaching community! Explore the articles here: http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/
It will help you to "make the jump to online education".