YouTube EDU

YouTube recently launched YouTube EDU. You have options to view the most viewed or most subscribed channels. Channels amount to dedicated pages for colleges and universities. I did a search for "psychology" and found an entire Lecture Series from Cal-Berkeley. Now as an AP Psychology teacher, this presents an interesting dilemma. Am I short-changing my students by not incorporating the lecture series from one of the finest universities in America? Should students view these lectures (and often the accompany slideshow) for homework and we discuss, explain, synthesis, analyze, and apply the principles during classtime? Bill Gates recently said in a TED Talk (about 1/2 into the speech) that the top 20% of our (United States) students are getting a good education that compares favorably to the top 20% worldwide (although fading). Gates is concerned with the remaining 80% of our students. Gates thinks the descrepency is in the quality of the teaching. Those students with the top quartile teachers give their students a 10% increase in their percentile ranking on standardized tests. While one could argue that other variables come into play, it would be hard to outright dismiss the quality of teaching. Now lecturing is not teaching, I know...but having access to these videos sure opens things up for the classroom.

Here is a look at a lecture on Sensation & Perception:

Alan November @ NECC

Alan November gave a thought-provoking talk at a NECC2008 special session on Tuesday July 1, 2008. The session titled, "Designing Rigorous & Globally Connected Assignments" (among other NECC sessions) can be accessed in full at http://www.kzowebcasting.com/necc/

While entertaining and thought-provoking, attendees didn't come away with specific assignments or a step-by-step how-to procedure. I left the session with a somewhat random list of ideas and tools to consider when designing a globally connected assignment. These ideas and tools were woven into stories and opinions about the current state of education. November's opening story was about how his son received detention because he went to China for a week because going to China wasn't on the list approved absences for seniors. What was more disturbing for November was that not one teacher took advantage of creating an assignment that would enable his son to bring something back from the experience.

Here are other thoughts gathered from my notes...
1. Surveying your audience is very effective tool to bring them into your conversation, lecture, or lesson. November used a clicker-type device that allowed him to survey the audience, giving him a jumping-off point for his talk. I've also used these devices in this manner in the classroom and it is a beautiful hook for most students.
2. Knowing your audience is very important and students should understand audience when communicating. November shared a story about American students being hired by foreign companies that use Instant Messenger tools to communicate in the business world. November claimed that American employees were being fired because they used IM in non-professional ways because they lost site of their audience. I immediately thought of emails I received from some of my students that illustrates they have lost site of the fact that they are emailing an adult who is an authority figure. Our students definitely need to learn to match proper communication to audience.
3. Gathering a global perspective using Google search strategies was very insightful. This media literacy lesson demonstrated the western bias of a Google news search and demonstrated ways to avoid this bias. November cited an assignment where students needed to gather news about Pope Benedict's speech in September 2006 that linked Islam with violence. The caveat was to gather the perspective of Turkey, where the Pope was to speak after giving the speech. The first search attempt using key words in the Google news search brought up sources that indicated mostly a Western point of view. Using "site:tr" prior to key words (no quotes, tr=Turkey) brought up articles from the Turkish Daily News. These articles were not anywhere near the top of the previous search.
4. The most recent information on a topic is very important, especially in the area of medicine or technology. Using Google's "view:timeline" (again, not quotes) in the search box will provide information (web search or news) in a timeline format. This will allow you to see the most recent advances. For example typing "view:timeline cml treatment" in Google will yield this.
5. Create a custom search engine can be a very useful for teachers. I wasn't aware that Google allows users to build a custom search that will limit the search to specific websites. Whether it is one site or a collection of sites, Google allows you to host a search box on your own website that will allow students to do specific searches. Better yet, have students build their own custom search engine for your specific course. As you can see, I have added a custom search for this blog in the upper left corner.
6. Learner job descriptions can be one way to organize classroom tasks. November suggested the following roles: a) Classroom Web Research-builds classroom search engine, b) Videographer to teach course content, and c) Curriculum tutorial design team. One suggested tool to for developing tutorial tasks is Jing. Once Jing is installed screen captures (photos & videos) are made and shared easily.
7. Student created content was emphasized by November. November believes that learners need to contribute to the learning community either by producing or organizing content. Suggested ideas included collaborative note-taking, powerpoints, and contributions to a wikipedia entry (ex. Pitot House, view the history tab). Read more on students as contributors in this article on The Digital Farm.
8. Global connections are easier than ever and kiva.org allows students (or anyone) donate to entrepreneurs in developing countries and get money back on their loan. November suggested some students should make up a "Global Communications Team" that works to set up contacts around the world.

Launch Your Own TV Channel

Create your own production team on www.mogulus.com. Broadcast a live video broadcast from multiple web cams and video files (from youtube or your own files). Mogulus allows for archiving of video productions as well as video-on-demand and autoplay when you are not broadcasting live. It is easy to embed your channel into existing websites and blogs. I created a blog on blogger called DWalt TV and can be found at http://dwtv.blogspot.com/. Unless you find me experimenting, I won't be broadcasting live but I did import a list of U2 videos from youtube that will broadcast using the autoplay feature. And those looking to compare uStream and Mogulus, this article might be what your looking for.

YouTube Channels

Many of us go to YouTube to watch random videos. Some of us may actually search for videos for classroom use. Fewer of us may have our own students create content that is shared on YouTube. Whatever the case, did you know you can create your own channel? Included in your personal channel is to use a user -defined playlist as your video log. In this case, these are videos that connect to concepts in my AP Psychology class. As I find more videos for this playlist, the v-log grows as well.

iPhones For Everyone

Albilene Christian University (TX) is the first university in the nation to issue iPhones or the iPod Touch to all incoming freshman. While this is amazing in and of itself, what is even more impressive is how the university has created a communications network with the iPhone, it's students, professors, and the university at-large. ACU has created a scripted video to illustrate the potential and the vision for the iPhone and what amounts to be a 1-1 computing interface.

Watch for yourself and then share your thoughts on the possibilities of mLearning (mobile learning).

If this is what our HS's are preparing for....what are our elementary schools preparing for?

Video News--iTunes Rentals & Netflix on Demand

In the past week both iTunes and Netflix announced new strategies to get video into the hands of customers. iTunes now allows for video rentals for $2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases. I didn't see many documentary titles or tv (pbs titles, etc.) shows for rent so there might not be much there for the classroom. If you are a Netflix subscriber you already know that Netflix has dropped its time limits for on-demand viewing. This feature only works with Microsofte Internet Explorer...I'm still waiting for a Firefox compatible version. There are more classroom possibilities with Netflix as many documentary and television shows are available for on-demand viewing. The quality is very, very good as well.

Mogopop

Mogopop is a way to create and share content for iPods. This was another website that was introduced during the NYSCATE conference. The presenter was David Jakes, who gave a presentation on Digital Storytelling. I haven't tried mogopop myself but I do know that if you or your kids are having trouble converting content for iPods then this might be the place to go.

NYSCATE DAY 2

Reporting from Day 2 at NYSCATE Conference. David Jakes, presenting on digital storytelling. One of the new tools of this trade is an online movie editing tool called Jumpcut. I also attended a Smart Tech (makers of SmartBoard) session on the Senteo personal response system. These are the "clickers" that students can use to answer quick polls, test and quiz questions then immediately graph, chart the data. Students can be tracked and you can immediately see how well your lesson went. Checking for understanding never became more meaningful because now you have actual data from ALL your students.

SketchCast

Smart Board & Smart Recorder Feature

Part I: View Video above
Part II: View Video below
I don't even have a Smart Board in my room but it didn't stop me from using the free SmartBoard software that includes a Screen Recorder to record a video/audio (.avi) file of directions on how to use this recorder feature. You can record any screen navigation you would like...this is great for tutorials or giving directions for online/computer tasks. You could also convert the .avi file to .mp4 files to view on iPods.

VoiceThread & PowerPoint

I took a powerpoint and saved all my slides as jpeg files. I uploaded the jpegs to VoiceThread, added some commentary and came up with this (keep the comments about Powerpoint Hell to a minimum, I'm experimenting!):

VoiceThread

I believe VoiceThread has some interesting classroom possibilities. Students can record voice or text responses to the same picture or groups of pictures. Teachers can record quick explanations to diagrams, formulas, etc. Slideshows can easily be narrated (you could even save PP slides as jpegs then upload them to voicethread to have collaboration take place with your entire class (or subset of students could respond to each pic). If you have ideas...post them here! Better yet, if you create a VoiceThread...post a link and share.

On-demand Video (and our school account)

Ok...I found out that our school no longer subscribes to United Streaming but we do subscribe to EdVideo Online. Much of the content is the same (at least what I was looking for was there). Find our our school log-in codes from our building techno coach and go the WXXI EdVideo to log on. Remember that the site allows you to create playlists, lesson plans, assignments, and assessments all on-line. You can make video's available to students so they can do assignments at home or in the library or with the mobile labs.

On-demand Video: United Streaming

Lots of educational content at the Discovery Channel United Streaming website...actually it is all educational content. I believe our school is a subscriber...I will check to see where you can get log-on information. You can create folders of saved video clips, quizzes and other assignments using the wealth of video content. I love the fact you can just add clips to your account folders.

Netflix: Watch Instantly

If you are a Netflix customer, then you probably already know about their new feature that allows customers to watch a large selection of movies, documentaries, music videos, and television shows instantly on your PC. If you pay $10/month for the dvd delivery service then you get 10 hours of instant viewing time on your computer. You might have to spend some time searching for videos that might be of use in the classroom but it's fun looking (and watching).

YouTube Playlists

If you open up your own YouTube account, not only can you upload your videos, but you can create your own playlist for sharing and publication. For example, for my History of Rock & Roll class I began my own playlist to organize clips I can use in class or have my students access for assignments. There is a wealth of clips related to a lot of academic areas, some from official broadcasts, other information is more of the student-generated variety. Feel free to compile then share your own playlists here as a comment to this post!