You can download the video as a QuickTime MOV file. This version will play in iTunes, QuickTime and on iPads, Pods, iPhones and Apple TVs. iTunes is a free download that will work on both Microsoft Windows and Apple OS X.

You are recommended to download and print the accompanying presentation handout (PDF).

On the 29th October, 2011, I gave a one-hour session on "Essential Technology Tools for Teaching" as part of the monthly Technology Tuesdays. Above is an abbreviated video (about 19 minutes in duration) that shares some of the essentials of what was covered.

Every educator has their toolkit of essential technologies – technologies that empower faculty to teach more effectively and more efficiently. In this packed session we will covered 10 essential tools that are either free or extremely affordable. We explained the advantages of each tool, along with disadvantages and alternative solutions. All have been tested at DePaul, and can easily be adopted by Commerce faculty.

The list of tools covered include:

1. Desire2Learn
   We did not spend long talking about this, as there are plenty of online resources that cover use, or you can sign up for a workshop here. I have also discussed D2L extensively during specialized Technology Tuesdays sessions.
2. Google Reader
   Google Reader is an RSS aggregator, and there are plenty of ways that it can be used by educators. I shared several RSS alerts that you can use to support your teaching and research:
   1. YouTube
      1. Tags: http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/base/videos/-/[insert tagname here]?client=ytapi-youtube-browse&v=2
      2. Full-text searches: http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/base/videos?q=[insert url-encoded search term here]&client=ytapi-youtube-search&v=2
      3. Users: http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/base/users/[insert username here]/uploads
   2. Flickr
      1. Tags: http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?tags=[comma delimited list of tags]
   3. Wikipedia
      1. http://www.wikipedia.org http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=[page title]&feed=rss&action=history
   4. Twitter
      1. http://search.twitter.com/search.rss?q=depaul
3. Google+
   Google+ is Google’s social network. Popular with academics and researchers, Google+ has a robust (and free) videoconferencing solution.
4. Evernote
   Evernote is a “cloud” service for recording and sharing notes. The notable features are:
   1. Captures notes
      
   2. Synchs in the cloud
      
   3. Saves locally
      
   4. Available on multiple devices
      
   5. Converts images to text through OCR (Optical Character Recognition)
      
   6. Public and private sharing of notes
5. Skype
   Skype is a freemium VOIP/videoconferencing system that can be used to easily bring guest speakers to your classroom. I suggested downloading Portable Skype to USB drives.
6. Sansa Clip
   The Sansa Clip is one of the easiest ways for you to record your lectures. It works extremely well with Desire2Learn and iTunes U. Previous Technology Tuesdays sessions have covered use (You can download instructions here).
7. Dropbox
   Dropbox is the “cloud” file transfer application that Apple attempted to purchase (it is that good).
8. VLC Media Player
   VLC (VideoLAN Client) Media Player is the Swiss Army Knife of videoplayers.
9. Zamzar
   Zamzar is a freemium file conversion service.
10. USB Drives
    Many of us carry USB drives to class, but did you know about all the free software applications that you can run direct from your USB drive (Mac and PC)?