Video vitals

How Youtube can be used in school setting?
My feeling is that videos are vital in the classroom. Having the ability to combine meaningful visuals with music and sometimes text is both attention getting and entertaining for students so they are more receptive to the learning. Many videos are available for live streaming, this can be News, Documentaries or even fun clips that make a teaching point. I admit that Youtube can be a time waster if you leave students to explore on their own without any direction, but there are so many worthwhile clips, the benefits out way the nonsense. I admit I have even encouraged some students to create work and publish it there. With programs like Windows Movie Maker it's relatively a simple process to create video with a few photos, even if from a cell phone camera.
http://chatt.hdsb.ca/~bchs/web/store/index.htm
http://smartbusinesseducation.wetpaint.com/page/Making+videos+in+classroom

Google video- comes with your G-Mail account and you can upload videos and select view options such as search ability or public/ private.
YouTube is not alone in the online video world, there is also TeacherTube , Ustream, Google video, a personal favourite Ted Talks, and most Canadian and World News and Media sources that have streaming video. Most all are FREE and easy to access.

Gone are the days of hunting down a TV and VCR or DVD player for the classroom, with a limited supply of outdated sources. With one computer, projector and speakers you can bring these multimedia sources to the classroom in minutes.

This Sample video is from a series "I selected this one because it illustrates how we live in a "flat world" I find the music and purpose is motivational!

Photo Movie of "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music" trip to Guguletu, South Africa (Township of CapeTown) where the PFC Foundation is building a new music school this fall that will connect students from there to others at established music schools.www.playingforchange.com

Considerations
Teachers need to Preview clips ahead of time!!
As educators we could do a better job of teaching students:
1. How to find out who published the video
2. Where to look to find credentials of the video creator
3. Pay attention to video credits usually at end of a clip
4. Appropriate and productive use of time and resources
5. Respect for individual privacy
5. How to create meaningful videos
6. How to embed video in Blog, Wiki or web site
7. How to link and embed video into a Presentation with followup discussion questions or activities.
8. How to give credit, source videos in Blog, Wiki, or web site
9. Significance of number of views and ratings
10. Comments on videos
11. Subscription to video

A few Video sources:
http://edutube.org/sitemap
100 best you tube video for teachers.
http://nfb.ca/
http://medianet.hdsb.ca/

To download streamed video to play when Internet is not available.
I never realized how fortunate I am to work in Halton, we limited like many school boards in Canada, US and worldwide where there are a lot of blocked web sites. Seams odd when freedom of information is taken for granted, how will students learn to be responsible if they are never given any choice? but that's another issue. If because of blocking or just as back up you need to download streamed video them at home or when you have access to the internet try using zamzar, keepvid, or TubeTV for Macs. VLC works great for playing the flv videos. Then the Internet is not required to view.

Photo editing made easy!

Following the graphic and photo theme here is a really easy way to edit your photos, add cool effects without having to have costly or special software. Another fun freebie.

http://www.befunky.com/

Digital Storytelling

http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.com/2009/01/digital-storytelling-platforms-and.html

Lynn Marentette has an excellent accumulation for ways to use multimedia in the classroom for storytelling.

Create your own "Tour Guide Map" with Google

OK I think Google should be paying me now :) it's no wonder this Blogger account is free every time I turn around there is something else that makes me want to talk about Google. This time its their maps- you can create your own map with pictures, video and more. Another tool for educators or those who like to record a journey, vacation or other locations. So cool!

FREE Google directory Calls: 1-800-GOOG -411

OK I liked Google before but now OMG!(Oh My Google!)
this is yet another fantastic service!
Use your phone for voice recognised information, text and even mapquest
you gotta try it, add to you cell phone and let me know if this is all it claims.



http://www.google.com/goog411/

Learning Languages in a "flat world"- interactive and fun!

Jane's elearning pick of the Day-
recently wrote a post about a exciting way to learn languages, I previewed the site and found it very engaging and interactive this is great for both classroom and on-line educators, or even for those you dream of travelling abroad.

Mi vida loca - Spanish course

The BBC has produced a fun and interactive course, which is available for free. It draws you into a web of intrigue dealing with real natives and you can't help but learn Spanish! You'll find yourself at the heart of a fast-paced mystery drama, which
starts off in Madrid. Broken down into 22 bite-sized episodes of 10 minutes, it allows beginners to learn Spanish from scratch and more advanced users tom refresh their skills, all at their own speed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/mividaloca/

looking for more languages, French, Italian, German and more

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

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Just Hear It - Music

Search the world for Music, Legal listening!
Thanks to Liz Davis who recently posted "Just Hear It is an on-demand music discovery service. You can search for and listen to any song in the world without signing up or paying anything. You can create your own playlists and legally stream your songs right from your desktop. They pay for licenses from all the major performing-rights organizations. Just Hear It is currently in private beta, you can search and play music without an account. Members (by invitation only) can also create a media library, multiple playlists and keep track of their play history."

http://justhearit.com/

for more legal, free music:
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/12/08/the-best-places-to-get-royalty-free-music-sound-effects/

Ken Robinson -Do Schools kill creativity?

http://www.ted.com Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

what is web 2.0?

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by aSGuest5407

Fun with Wordle

Make your own Wordle
http://www.wordle.net/

3 steps to 21 Century Teaching

A vision of k-12 Students- today

Reading -Literacy without barriers

It used to be, that to subscribe to university publications you had to be a student paying tuition or pay high fees. To read books, magazines and professional resources you had to subscribe for a fee. Well there are a few new tools out there, and I'm sure there are more that I don't know about, but these will be of interest to educators in languages and all subject areas.

Daily lit- provide small bits of a book to you a few times a week or daily (you select) so if you don't want to be overwhelmed read a little each day. You can search for free books and some have very low fee. You can have the book sent to you in email, but that's already too busy for most of us so why not set up a Google Reader and you can get your subscription in your reader, it will stay there till your ready. Take a look here. http://www.dailylit.com/tags/all/price/1

Want more than a few pages at a time well try out Google Book Search- Search for books that are full version All are free! http://books.google.com/books?lr=&as_brr=1&q=teens

Looking to get started with that Google Reader?
This bring any web information to your reader for you to review, tag, share and look at when you have time.


A RSS Quick Start Guide for Educators 9 from Will Richardon at Weblogg-ed.com
(file is pdf)
http://weblogg-ed.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/RSSFAQ4.pdf

Google forms for Surveys, Quizes and more..

Here are some video's and resources so you can get started with google forms.

Teachers and Students can make a survey in minutes, the data automatically goes into a spread sheet and you can view a summary of results without even having to create charts. Here is a video posted by.
http://www.classroomnext.blogspot.com/


Well what about a paperless test or Quiz?- watch this...



10 Google Forms for the Classroom
Looking for more ideas,
what about a spelling test, and emotion scale, a reading log, an evaluation form
Take a look at this site and if you click on the links provided you will have a blank form in you google account ready for you to use and customize.
http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/08/23/10-google-forms-for-the-classroom/

Learning to Change, Changing to learn

21 Century Literacies and the Role of the Education



video source: http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/

Wikis in Education

Statistics, Forms come to life and have meaning.

Google Forms- Take Excel to the next level with Google Forms. You can create a form that will auto enter into spreadsheet!
Do you or your students ever need to create a survey or collect data, want an online form for evaluations, poll, quiz or anything?
Google forms is really easy to use and form can be embed in website or Blog,
Heres a sample of one I made for School Survey on technology and Communication
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pZ2B5zZMFPJn41Jv2xSMafg

you tube how to make google forms-from http://live.pirillo.com


Gapminder- Bring meaning to statistics!
I came across this web site over the holidays, might be of interest to teachers of: world issues, economics, international business teachers. It makes statistics interesting, really!

It is an animated interactive web site that has world statistics over time and you can select specific countries etc.
There are also 2 worthwhile (20 minute) Ted Talks presentations. (watch the video first then check out the site)
http://www.gapminder.org/





http://www.gapminder.org/

Google Docs- Teacher's in Digital Age need to know!

Google is much more that just a search engine it is an entire resource of information management. Teachers and students can benifit by exploring the many new features of Google. Here are some of my favourite features (so far)
1. IGoogle- customize your search page with all your favourite site feeds.
2. Google Reader - Any one that has an area of interest that they are passionately seeking to learn more about need to set up a reader. Information comes to you. I think this is the single best form of professional developement since my last formal graduate course.
3. Google Forms- Excellent for gathering primary data, evaluations, surveys etc, easy to make and automatically go into a spread sheet. Easy to post on website, blog, or email links directly to those you want to complete the survey.
Here is an excellent resource on how to use Google Forms in classroom.
http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/08/23/10-google-forms-for-the-classroom/
4. Google Docs- ducuments, presentations and spreadsheets with a free program and that can be easily shared and posted to websites, develope your work, docs, presentations with others in collaboration or securly kept your items private.
5. Google geers -allows you to view files and work off line.

I teach high school but am totally impressed by the younger generation and how they are using these new tecnologies. Here is an wonderful example of how grade school students in New Zealand are using Google docs in the classroom.



Check out this web site to find out more about Google forms and educational uses in Virgina. http://www.vaopenclassroom.org/

Comparing what if? to the Connected Student for 21st Century

Watching this video, I'm reminded of the hurdles in education.
Are we moving ahead yet? More importantly how do we get there?

The Networked Student

I recently came across this video in my reader that was posted on
http://www.thethinkingstick.com/?p=843
I agree with the author that education is changing and so is the roll of teachers.
The learning curve is steap and constantly changing for both educators and learners.