Google Updates and Simplifies Finding Creative Commons Licensed Images

When looking for public domain and Creative Commons licensed images to use in multimedia projects I generally recommend going to sites like Unsplash, Pixabay, and Photos for Class instead of Google Images (my full list of recommendations is available here). The reason for that recommendation is that in the past Google Images hasn't been terribly clear about image licensing even when the "labeled for re-use" filter has been applied to image search results. Fortunately, Google is taking some steps to change that.

Google has simplified the "usage rights" menu in Google Image search results. The menu now has just three options. Those options are "all," "Creative Commons licenses," and "Commercial & other licenses." For most classroom projects you'll want your students to use the "Creative Commons license" option.

The other significant update to Google Image search results appears when you select an image from the search results. Now when you select an image you will see an option to get license details and a clearer link to the image source. Clicking on the "license details" link will take you a page on CreativeCommons.org where you'll be able to find more information about how you can or cannot use the image.

Applications for Education
Whenever it is possible it is best to use your own pictures in your slideshows, videos, and other multimedia projects. By doing that you know that you haven't accidentally infringed on anyone's copyright. That's why this blog post has a seemingly random picture of a leaf I took yesterday. It's not always possible to use your own pictures. That's when we'll turn to the Internet to find a picture that is in the public domain or has a Creative Commons license.

How to Use Flipgrid With Students Who Don't Have Email Addresses

Last week I shared a tutorial on how to get started using Flipgrid. That tutorial included the perspective of a teacher and a student. The student perspective that I showed featured a student who has an active email address. It's important to note that you can use Flipgrid with students who don't have active email addresses. That's exactly what I demonstrate in this new video.


Applications for Education
Having students record short videos in Flipgrid can be a good way to have them virtually introduce themselves to their new classmates. For more Flipgrid activity ideas, take a look at this list.

How to Change Google Drive Comment Notifications

On Monday I shared directions for using Google Drive to comment on shared videos. Yesterday, I received a follow-up question from a reader who wanted to know if students would receive a notification when he replies to his students' comments on a video. Provided that students haven't disabled notifications, they will receive a notification when replies to their comments are published. That raises the question, "how do you change comment notifications in Google Drive?"

You can change the default comment notifications for file across your Google Drive. You can also change the comment notification settings for individual files within your Google account. In the following video I demonstrate how to do both of those things.



If you're sharing a lot of files for commenting in Google Drive, you might want to change the default notifications so that you're inundated with email and or browser notifications. If you have a particularly important document and you want to make sure you never miss a notification, change the default notification setting for that document.