Rapid eLearning

Free resource of educational web tools, 21st century skills, tips and tutorials on how teachers and students integrate technology into education

Robin Good: Screen Video Recorder is a free Windows-only downloadable software which allows you to record your computer screen to create screencasts or video tutorials.

Key features include:

- Record full screen or defined region

- Record dynamic region by following mouse

- Overlay of graphics

- Webcam recording

- Post production image controls

- Full control of audio and video codecs

- Timed recording

Review: http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/video-screen-recorder-create-screencasts-with-visual-effects/ ;

Download and more info: http://www.testuser.ru/eng/screenvideorecorder.html ;

(Unearthed by Baiba Svenca)

Let’s be honest, we don’t like to read big pieces of text. Text-heavy graphs are rather difficult for understanding, especially when dealing with numbers and statistics. That is why illustrations and flowcharts are often used for such kind of information.

An infographic, or a visual representation of study or data, like anything else, can be done right or wrong. How to create a successful infographic? A good idea and a good design.

Stop by the link for more on what defines an infographic, what contributes to its popularity, as well as the various types of infographics and references for tutorials and best practices.

Additional topics covered include:

The major parts of an infographic How to create an infographic Developing ideas & organizing data Research & sources Typography, graphics & color Facts & conclusions Designing & Editing

Robin Good: For Windows PC users ActivePresenter may prove to be an interesting alternative, with lots of useful features at a price that can't be beaten.

And when you want more options, like extra export formats, or the ability to produce PowerPoint presentation as final output, the Standard and Pro editions come to the rescue.

With ActivePresenter, not only you can record your computer screen along with your own audio narration, but you can also capture screenshots automatically with mouse clicks or key presses and 

automatically generate appropriate annotations for each action.

Even the free version has no watermarks or time limitations.

Other features include:

- Attractive callouts

- Annotations for explaining each action
- Changing mouse cursor path
- Remove/change unneeded parts
- Add more video overlays
- Sync audio, video and overlays
- Closed Captioning

- Make it interactive by adding application simulations, branching scenarios, and quizzes
- Easily publish to the web, desktops, mobile devices, and leading SCORM-compliant Learning Management Systems
- Track and report key metrics to evaluate learner performance

Supported output formats: AVI, MP4, WMV or WebM (supported by Youtube)

Three editions available:

- Free Edition: Can create video (AVI, MP4, WMV, WebM)
- Standard Edition: as Free + output in Flash Video (FLV), Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Adobe PDF and HTML output
- Pro Edition: as Standard + the capability to create interactive AJAX, Adobe Flash simulations and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

N.B.: The Free Edition has almost all the features as in the Standard or Professional Edition, except the export capability.

Demo recordings: http://atomisystems.com/demo/ ;

Compare different editions: http://atomisystems.com/activepresenter/features-comparison/ ;

More info: http://atomisystems.com/activepresenter/free-edition/ ;