Thing #4 LibraryPlay2Play

Thing #4 is using a video uploader, specifically YouTube. Here is a video I created last year of some of my students asking questions to their teacher and 3 other students who were participating in a conference in Qatar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScadLHck3fU I shot the video using a Flip Cam, which if you don't have one is a really cool little handheld video camera that costs about $100 and hold about one hour of video. It is invaluable for student projects and plugs into a USB port right in your computer for uploading with no special software. Very easy for even young students to use and create their own videos. What was awesome about this little project was that we were able to communicate with our classmates over time zones thousands of miles away; they then filmed an answer from Qatar and sent it back and we got to view it in class the next day. Students love to create videos, and it really reinforces the topic and gives the students a creative outlet to express opinions. Most of mine (high school) have phones that can do this, so you don't even need any equipment now a days!

I have found video services such as YouTube, TeacherTube, and SchoolTube to be an invaluable resource in the classroom. You can find a video out there for ANY subject or topic you are trying to cover.

Last year I was trying to introduce my 9th grade engineering students to a Google application called GoogleSketchUp. I found a series of short hands on instructional videos posted on YouTube; by using those videos as well as verbal instructions it made the whole process of learning a new application much easier for my students who are visual learners to follow rather than reading a set of instructions from a handout. I also had the same students create videos of different class projects (mousetrap car trial runs, egg drop contest footage) and then was able to use these when recruiting students for the program for next year.

Now of course, since YouTube is blocked in my district and probably in most districts, I had to convert the file using Zamzar and save it on a flash drive when it would have been simplier to play it directly off YouTube, but a small inconvenience. I have found that Discovery Channel also has very good videos available for teachers at a very low cost and my district uses Ustream, which requires an account but is free of charge.