Tools for using YouTube safely in class!

For me, YouTube has become one of the first places I look to get a great "hook" to catch my students attention at the beginning of a new unit (and throughout). When I'm in the drivers seat, I can control what my students see.  However,  more and more my students are driving and this year I am offering an online course to my students,  therefore, I have been paying a lot more attention to the content on YouTube. Whether it be the comments at the bottom of the video, the video's that are available in the sidebar, the video's that show up after the video chosen is done, etc,  I am much more conscious of the video links I share with my students....until now!!!


After attending another fabulous Webinar organized by SimpleK12 (http://simplek12.com/tlc/webinars/),  I was introduced to some amazing tools that let you chop and purify those great videos!


1)  TubeChop allows you to easily chop a section from any YouTube video and share it. (You can also embed your chopped video into your website, wiki, blog, etc.)

http://www.tubechop.com/

2) Safe Viewing

• Safeshare: http://Safeshare.tv - Generate a link without the comments and related videos. (Ability to share the video via Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

• QuietTube http://quietube.com/ - This provides you with a button to put on your toolbar. When you open YouTube or other video sites, click on the button, and your video will be displayed without any ads, comments, etc.

• ViewPure http://viewpure.com/ - Very similar to QuietTube, however has a few more options.

Now I can share video's with my students without having to worry if something inappropriate or offensive will show up while they are viewing the video's links I have shared with them.

Did you also know that YouTube has a section for educators?

Check out : www.youtube.com/education

As well, for all the history teachers out there, this is really neat: YouTubeTimeMachine - http://yttm.tv - Where you can get videos from any year. Your students might really enjoy searching and watching video's of a certain time period!

For other additional resources visit: http://livebinders.com/play/present?id=172921 which also includes a list of YouTube alternatives.

Enjoy!

6 Steps to Becoming a Viral Educator

Today I attended a Webinar that discussed the 6 steps to becoming a Viral Educator. I found this to be a very valuable webinar in order to get organised and get ready for the next step of my adventure of becoming a great technology teacher, school coordinator, technology specialist, etc.

These 6 steps were presented by: Steven Anderson

Twitter @web20classroom

Email: steven.anderson@web20classroom.org

Some of you may feel that there are more or less then 6 steps. Please feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts on becoming a viral educator.

Step 1: Form a Brand (your online profile) 

• It's all about your digital footprint
• Name  - Always use the same spelling (Middle initial or not)

• Your Blog 

• Twitter 

• Combine together -https://about.me/

• QR Code - Link to your information http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

Step 2: Get connected

• Quality not quantity - better to follow a few good people, reduce noise
• Twitter for Teachers http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com/w/page/22554534/FrontPage and http://twitterforteachers.wetpaint.com/

Alec Couros, PhD Thesis illustration, 

the Networked Teacher ...

edtechfrontier.com

Step 3: Share

• A two way connection - give information back

• Create new information or
• Share the information 
• http://www.slideshare.net/ a great place to share your presentations with others.

Step 4: Reflect and think (reflections helps us grow and learn)

• Be CURIOUS
• Start a blog
• Ask questions

This is the blog post created by Alec Couros with a voicethread using the "connected teacher" image http://educationaltechnology.ca/couros/799

Step 5: Grow

• Take time to engage in edchat, read others' blogs, comment, and post new info.

• Read others people posts, tweets, etc that think differently than you do

Step 6: Have fun

• Always remember to Have Fun

Thanks for reading!

And If you are just getting started,  start with Twitter, follow me : @canadianteched and check out : Social Media Getting Started: http://www.cybraryman.com/chats.html

Supporting Bloom’s Taxonomy in a Digital World

On October 6th, I participated in an amazing Webinar, offered by SimpleK12, that shared a lot of very useful tools for our classroom.

Digital_Blooms.JPG

visualblooms.wikispaces.com

I hope you find these applications useful as they are also very well organized for each level of Bloom's Taxonomy.

Blooms chart (New Version)

• Creating

• Evaluating

• Analysing

• Applying

• Understanding

• Remembering

Knowledge and Rembering

• Visuwords - graphical connection - Online Graphical dictionary http://www.visuwords.com

• LinoIT - sticky notes - http://en.linoit.com

• studyblue = flash cards - http://www.studyblue.com

• What to learn = Create own games - http://www.what2learn.com

• Jeopardy Labs = 1$ donation - http://jeopardylabs.com/

• Spelling City = Vocab http://www.spellingcity.com/

Comprehension and Understanding

• Discovery Education - Subject area free discussion and lessons  http://www.discoveryeducation.com

• BBC - Games and Videos Galore - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/games/

• Hippocampus - Online digital Media (like a digital textbook) - http://hippocampus.org

• Annenberg  - Free media - http://www.learner.org

• Bubbl.US - Mindmapping - http://bubbl.us -  Like Inspiration - Can be exported

• Voki - Talking avatars - http://www.voki.com

Application and Applying

• Wolfram Alpha - using search to develop and construct- http://www.wolframalpha.com

• Vocaroo - (Flash) audio recording - http://vocaroo.com - get links or embedding code

• Soundcloud - Use phone to record audio - http://soundcloud.com like http://cinch.fm

• Xtranormal - Animated Movies creating audio from your text or you can upload audio http://Xtranormal.com

Analysis..

• 10 x 10 - Get material on topics from many different angles - http://www.tenbyten.org

• Exploratree - visualize conclusions - advanced mindmapping - have templates for ideas - http://www.exploratree.org.uk

• Animoto - Free video making site (30 seconds free) - http://animoto.com

• Popplet - visual display, like poster board or mindmap - embed videos into mindmap - http://popplet.com

• Jaycut - free video editing w/o camera or download http://jaycut.com/

Evaluate (Formerly the top)

• Fotobabble - Record audion over picture - http://fotobabble.com

• Authorstream - Share your powerpoints with audio  - http://authorstream.com

• Protagonize - Upload writing projects for feeadback -http://www.protagonize.com

• ToonDoo- Comic stripping type site - http://www.toondoo.com

• Nota - collaborative whiteboard/webpage - many people can work on it at the same time - http://notaland.com (has education version)

Creating

• Voicethread - Make comments on a picture with audio - http://voicethread.com

• Go Animate - animation -http://goanimate.com/
• Screencast-O-matic - Desktop recording (online) http://www.screencast-o-matic.com

• Glogster - Digital poster board - http://Glogster.com

• Prezi - More sophisticated slideshow has educational licence that gives teacher more  -http://prezi.com

• Stupeflix -add images/text/audio tracks to make video - http://www.stupeflix.com/

Links from the webinar:
http://www.diigo.com/user/mrplough07/bloomsSK12

If your interested, check out : http://simplek12.com/tlc/webinars/ for their upcoming FREE webinars!