Category blackboard

Jul 29 2013

9 YouTube tips and tricks for teachers

These tips are great for supplementing your own flipped videos uploaded to YouTube or other videos you use in class i.e. Khan Academy.

  1. Tubechop – This site allows you to choose a specific start and end point for a YouTube clip. This is great for reviewing parts of videos in lessons, differentiating clips for students and editing longer videos. I use a one minute per grade guideline (i.e. Grade 5 students should not watch clips of more than 5 minutes) in order to keep instructions short, sweet and specific.
  2. ViewPure– All the great YouTube video goodness minus all the ads and links. I have it on my Internet Explorer+Firefox toolbars for easy use.
  3. Hyperlink to specific point in a video
    1. “It’s possible to link directly to a specific point in a YouTube video. Play the video, and keep an eye on the white blob that moves along the timeline below the video, (the thing you drag to move forwards/back through the video). When you get to the point in the video that you want to jump to, right click on the blob and choose “copy video URL at current time”.

If you now use this link as a hyperlink in your IWB software or PowerPoint, the video will start playing at the point that you chose.”

Number 3 was from this site

4. Video Notes – a very useful web app that allows you to create and save notes with a YouTube clip. Perfect for teachers and students in the flipped class and saves nicely with Google Drive too. Here’s the URL since it is not a top link from a web search. http://www.videonot.es/

5. Tubesnack – Create a playlist of YouTube videos. Great for a collection of clips on a particular theme or topic. Share by URL or embed in a website or LMS like Blackboard

6. YouTube to .mp3 converter – Sometimes you just need the audio of a particular clip, this site helps you convert your video clip into audio. Shout out to language and music teachers on this one but all teachers will benefit from another nice handy tool for YouTube.

7. Watch2gether

It ,as its name implies , allows its users to watch YouTube videos simultaneously. You can now share and enjoy YouTube videos with your colleagues (and students) in real time on their devices.

8. EmbedPlus

EmbedPlus enables its users to start their videos at a chosen time , skip self-defined chapters, and add captions and annotations

9. Tubesnack – Enables you to build a YouTube playlist of videos on particular theme or topic.

This is my list of sites that I use frequently in my classroom. Here are two excellent blog posts that I used for reference and contain similar and additional links.

From Danny Nicholson’s Whiteboard Blog

From Med Kharbach’s Educational Technology and Mobile Learning Blog

Jul 23 2013

Writing Reflective Blogs in Blackboard

One of the advantages of our password-protected Blackboard site is the option to create a safe place for students to write, collaborate, edit and share. Setting up a blog is a great option for assessing student writing in a simplified format (i.e. not for elaborate Word docs with graphics, interesting fonts choices and backgrounds etc.) and creating and organizing a digital collection of student writing. This blog option can be customized to be private between you and your student or visible to all students in the class or grade for reading, commenting or peer editing. This tool also eliminates the need for transferring documents from home to school using USB drives, email or other online means. Students can login into Blackboard, click on the link and begin writing immediately. You can give direct feedback as a comment and have full control to delete or edit anything posted by you or your students.

There are two steps. In the first video, I demonstrate how to set up the blog and in the second video I cover posting a link for student access.
1. Setting up a Blog in Blackboard

2. Posting a link for student access to the blog

P.S. Remember only student accounts (i.e. 11111) can access the blogs and not the observer parent account (i.e. chu1643)

May 13 2013

My top 3 online curation tools for teachers and students

Traditionally as teachers, before we start a new topic or theme with our students, we collect a variety of educational resources (activities, worksheets, games, posters, models, songs etc.) to share in lessons or provide as resources for students in the classroom. Using technology, we can also provide multimedia and other interactive materials like graphics, slideshows, videos, files, websites, social media  accounts, hashtags etc. to enhance learning in our classroom and perhaps beyond. It would seem then that collecting a variety of traditional and digital materials would be an effective strategy to differentiate learning for students and appeal to our classes full of “screenagers” but not quite teenagers.

Here are three sites to help teachers curate educational digital content for discussion, resources and sharing with students. In online courses or blended environments, variety is important to help the visuals interesting while creating vibrant, diverse and educational rich experiences remain vital. All are useful in flipped classrooms too! All these sites are perfect for sharing by a link but work best when “embedded” directly into an online course/LMS like Blackboard or Moodle.

1. Symbaloo 
One online tool allows you to create a web page of links (as symbols) to sites on specific  theme or topic. (I find that the more specific, the better; (Grade 2 Time rather than Math.) Your symbaloo can be shared to students (or parents) as a link through email, Blackboard, Twitter etc. Your symbaloo page might be filled with links to websites but could also include links to graphics (from Google images), videos (from YouTube), even files (I used a link to a file in Google Drive) or any material with a specific URL.

Below is a link to a symbaloo I created for Grade 4-6 students to practice their keyboarding skills using a variety of tools.

keyboarding symbaloo
http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/keyboardingresources1

2. Edcanvas

Edcanvas is a website for collecting and assembling a variety of media (images, Word docs, Power Point, videos etc.) as a single presentation/webquest for students. Your “edcanvas” can be shared by email or posted on an LMS like Blackboard. Older students (Gr.4 and up) might create their own “edcanvas” to research and presentation their learning on a particular topic.

Here is one I made for a Social Studies/ICT project in Grade 5.

http://edcvs.co/XJuKkl

3.  Live Binders is one of three excellent websites (Symbaloo, Edcanvas being the others)  to help you collect, curate and present a variety of digital resources for students. Teachers have used Live Binders to build up a collection of images, resources and links on a specific topic. Students (perhaps Gr.5 and up) might also create an account and have their own Live Binder(s) for individual or collaborative research and presentation. Finally, the final product is easily shared with students (and parents) through our LMS (Learning Management System) AKA Blackboard, or email, Twitter etc.

Live Binders for Teachers


Featured Live Binders (check out the ‘Binders by Grade (scroll down on right of the screen)

http://www.livebinders.com/shelf/featured

Honourable Mention: to MentorMob for the ability to create learning playlists. Next on my list to investigate. Thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions.
~Anthony

Apr 1 2013

two min. tech. tip #10 – Symbaloo – a tool for curating content for students

symbaloo

Traditionally as teachers, before we start a new topic or theme with our students, we collect a variety of educational resources (activities, worksheets, games, posters, models, songs etc.) to share in lessons or provide as resources in the classroom. Using technology, we can also provide multimedia and other interactive materials like graphics, slideshows, videos, files, websites, social media accounts, hashtags etc. to enhance learning in our classroom and perhaps beyond. It would seem then that collecting a variety of traditional and digital materials would be an effective strategy to differentiate learning for students and appeal to our classes full of “screenagers” but not quite teenagers.

One online tool that I found useful for collecting and sharing digital materials is a web-based application called symbaloo. This app allows you to create a webpage of links (as symbols) to sites on specific theme or topic. (I find that the more specific, the better; (Grade 2 Time rather than Math.) Your symbaloo can be shared to students (or parents) as a link through email, LMS (Moodle, Blackboard etc.) or  Twitter etc. Your symbaloo page might be filled with links to websites but could also include links to graphics (from Google images), videos (from YouTube), even files (I used a link to a file in Google Drive) or any material with a specific URL.

Below is a link to a symbaloo for my grade 4-6 students to practice their keyboarding skills using a variety of tools. (Unfortunately, WordPress has blocked some the embedd feature from symbaloo but if you click the link below you will be able to access all my clickable keyboarding links.)
keyboarding symbaloo

http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/keyboardingresources1

Feel free to create a symbaloo for your next topic, assignment or theme and share with students or parents through email or blackboard (You can embed the symbaloo directly in a blog or LMS using html code but that is a tip for another day, I think my two minutes are up!)
Let me know how you get on.

Oct 8 2012

2 min. tech tip # 3 – What is Flip teaching?

 A new teaching strategy for our environment and students. See 2 min. tech. tip #2 for how to create your own screencasts/instructional videos. Online tools like Blackboard are excellent places to upload videos.

Three links to explore the topic further

http://www.emergingedtech.com/2012/08/8-great-reasons-to-flip-your-classroom-and-4-of-the-wrong-reasons-from-bergmann-and-sams/

http://www.fractuslearning.com/2012/09/13/the-flipped-classroom/

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/09/great-video-tutorials-on-flipped.html

Also try #flipteach on twitter and http://www.delicious.com/anthchuter/flipteach on delicious.

 

Sep 30 2012

2 min. Tech. Tip # 2 – Creating screencasts for your students

Purpose:  to record short clips of your computer screen for students to watch as a videos

Ideas for Use

The ‘Net generation responds really well to short, specific and relevant videos for  instructions, lessons or ideas.  Students love being able to pause, play and rewind so they can watch at their own pace and repeat if needed.  I find that video is really helpful for students when demonstrating a specific set of technology instructions (i.e. first press here then press here etc.)

The famous Salman Khan from the Khan Academy based his Math lessons, business and vision around this strategy…

 

Sep 28 2011

Educational Video and Multimedia

When used sparingly and strategically, video is a helpful medium to teach concepts and ideas to our 21st century students. I have used video clips to introduce a topic, review a set of instructions, explain a concept using multimedia or narrative or even demonstrate exemplary work or progress from students in prior years.

Personally, I try to limit clips to 5 -10 minutes at the most so that I can check-in with students to test their comprehension, address any issues and answer any questions. Planning BEFORE the video begins is crucial to prepare and engage all students. I find that giving students a list of things to look for or asking a higher order question (How effective is the consequence for the cyberbully in this clip?) “Clickers” or on-line polls can also provide an excellent way to test individual comprehension and facilitate  student engagement before, during and after a short clip. Here is a good example using SMART response clickers!

While YouTube is still my go-to resources for video content , is not easily searchable for appropriate and educationally rich videos for students. Thankfully, there are other sites where you can search by grade, subject, media kind etc. Here are my top 5 websites for K-12 educational clips. All are free except the fifth choice which requires a paid subscription. However, it was added to the Google Apps marketplace and the free ipad app is my son’s favourite for learning new ideas in a fun and kid-friendly way.

1. PBS Learning Media Site – new, 14,000+ videos searchable by grade, subject, media etc.

2. WatchKnowLearn – excellent search capabilities, over 50000 educational videos, 3000 topics

3. Harcourt media – Science videos for Grade 1 to 6

4. Khan Academy – Math and Science videos (best for junior and intermediate students)*

5. BrainPop – kid-friendly educational videos and activities on a variety of subjects

For more video resources you can visit the “Cybraryman” pages for a very comprehensive list.
http://cybraryman.com/videos.html

Last Final tip…to avoid bandwidth or connection issues, teaching is a live show I always say…the best planning is to download and save the video BEFOREHAND. I find a offline copy in case of bandwidth or connection issues. Sites like keepvid.com or saveyoutube.com are perfect for saving videos from the internet

May 6 2011

The 30 day Teacher Challenge

This 30 day teacher tech challenge is a pretty good list of free and useful educational apps for teachers and their students.
http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org

So far I am already using #1 – Wallwisher, #3 – Bitstrips for Schools, #7 – Kerpoof, #11 – Skype, #12 – Animoto,
#13 – VoiceThreads (although not free for students), #17 – DropBox, #18 – Jing, #19 – Audacity and #22 Little Bird Tales,

Want to investigate: #4 – Classtools.net, #5 – Edmodo, #6 – DoInk, #15 – Livebinders

Apr 28 2011

Top Internet safety videos for classes


Visit my Internet Safety page for details about my course for my Grade 5 students as well as useful links for educators and parents.

Here is a sample playlist of some internet safety videos for class discussions and activities.
http://www.youtube.com/p/1D0ED658FC5B0A56?hl=en_US&fs=1

Apr 11 2011

My top 3 sources and tips for instructional videos in the classroom

Strategic use of short instructional videos is an effective way to enhance lessons and learning for digital kids and 21st century students. I currently use Jing to create .swf files and the SMART recorder (part of SMARTnotebook download) to create .wmv files for YouTube uploads.  A quick video can be a useful way to “chunk” a list of instructions together.

In my techie world, videos help primary students when saving and are a vital strategy to keep this assessment-driven teacher happy (and organized!) In addition, I recently viewed a video on creating on-the-fly assessments for students using SMART response “clickers” which I think is a slick way to elicit student response and “check in” with them during videos. As a general rule, I tend to find that videos less than three minutes are best, perhaps with the option for some students to review at own pace, or even beforehand.
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