Tuesday, September 17, 2013

YouTube is More Than a Place to Watch Videos

Well, as you know, the experiment with YouTube has been working well... So, YES, it's pushing the limits and we may have trouble if everybody is doing this at once, but it's something I have to share! 

There are some great options in YouTube that we haven't been able to use in the past that are too good not to harness for classroom use. 

This will allow the signed in Google User (Google bought YouTube a couple years ago) to record easily from their webcam. Go to this link and click on record (you have to agree to the permissions first on both the Chromebook or your teacher computer). 

When complete, click "upload" and for any video or student projects, you can have them set it to private or unlisted if you'd like. The user sets the privacy. Unlisted is a public video, but it doesn't appear in search results and private is available only to the user. You can only do videos up to 15 minutes at a time. 

This will allow the user to create a slideshow of photos. It is something you could also assign students to easily do within Google Slides (under Google Drive), but this is set up more like iMovie. 

This will allow you to edit videos that you have recorded or taken. Again, this takes up bandwidth, so it is probably something we will need to communicate about if we are all doing this as a semester project, but if we have the capability, we need to try. 

The other on this page is about Google Hangouts, which are currently blocked, but will have a place in the future. 

I am excited about sharing this opportunity, especially for short videos that you may want students to create. That being said, it is pushing our bandwidth boundaries, but I'm sure some famous athlete once said that we need to push our boundaries to know our limits- right?! So, give me some feedback if you'd like to use some of next Friday's PD time to go through some of this YouTube fun or if you just want me to come help you individually try something out.

Remembering that you or your students will be able to embed these videos on your website, blog or presentation to make your assignments even more interactive, if you choose. Also, think about the possibilities for flipping your classroom curriculum! 

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