Question Your YouTube Viewers

I saw a tweet the other day that mentioned YouTube was testing out a feature that would let you ask questions of your views throughout the video. I think that is a pretty great feature for educators. Apparently, you could go to your analytics page to get the answers. Here is where you can turn on the feature or turn it off.

That is it. Sorry no movie that I could find. But, for those of us that use screen casting regularly in class, it could be a very cool feature.

Common Craft Videos

So, I was going to re-post this great older post on Common Craft videos and Lee Lefever, but ended up deleting the whole post. So now, you get a "new" post on this fantastic video site. The old saying goes "a picture is worth a thousand words", but how many words would a great video be worth? Especially if it was explaining a computer concept or some new Web 2.0 tool? Priceless. Let's go to a video example of Common Craft's work:



As you can see, these videos are great and all over YouTube as well as the Common Craft Website. They have a ton of computer videos, as well as videos on recycling, elections, and even zombies. (My personal favorite.) Check out Common Craft videos and try them in your classroom. You won't be disappointed.

Summer Tech Challenge

Yes, I know it is summer and I like to forget about school in the summer. But, summer is a great time to learn something new. So, here is my challenge. Learn some new type of new technology this summer. Here are some ideas: Google Docs, Google Sites, Weebly, Prezi, Wordle, Blogger, KeepVid, etc.

I am taking a vb.net class online (it is very different than Visual Basic 6.0) and reading a new blog I found called Teach Paperless.

Find something that can help you in the classroom next year and give it a try while you have time this summer. Remember that YouTube is a great place to look for tutorials.

Thanks and have a great summer!

Use YouTube in the Classroom

By now, everyone has heard about YouTube. If you haven't, get out from under the rock you have been hiding and go check it out. YouTube has videos for almost any topic you can think of; some are silly and some are inappropriate, but many of them are fantastic teaching tools. Current event videos, informational videos, and especially (my favorite) software tutorials are among videos that can be used in your classroom. For example. . .

After Spring break, our Intro to Computers classes are doing a brief unit on computer hardware. Using YouTube, I was able to find three great videos for that unit. Computer Hardware in Plain English, What Components are Inside My Computer, and one on How to Install Computer Memory. I found them in less than five minutes. Not bad! Now I can talk about the concept of computer hardware with my students, and also show them a video each day to help them grasp the concepts.

Like some of you, I am very leery about just linking to resources on the Web, especially if I really like them. You never know when someone is going to remove information or change an address rendering my link useless. So, if I find a video to use in the classroom, I use a great Web site called KeepVid to let me download and save videos from YouTube or Google Video to my computer. That way, I always have them. If YouTube is blocked at your school, you can use KeepVid at home and then take the videos into school to use in class. You can download a free Flash video player here.

I have included a video below that I made with Camtasia to show how easy downloading a video off of YouTube can be. Enjoy.



Now head on over to YouTube, find a video to use in class, and use KeepVid.com to download it. Good luck!

Todd

Edit:
I love to learn new things! None other than Kathy Schrock just e-mailed to let me know that "The YouTube user agreement clearly outlines use of YouTube videos are to be embedded or used on their site. There is no provision for downloading locally."

Furthermore, Kathy has "been in contact with the YouTube team, asking about the fair use guidelines, and they agree that the best thing to do is to ask the person who created the video for permission to "rip" the video as you suggest and/or ask them to send you the original, since it is of better quality anyhow."

Another great lesson to use with our students when talking about copyright issues and online materials. Thanks for the information Kathy!