small steps

I came across this winning video from tropfest today and it really stopped me in my tracks and made me think. Worth watching all the way through.

I have been reading about a number of teachers who live stream their teaching to the world and thought it would be an interesting project with a Senior PDHPE class. The next time I have a senior class my plan is to record all lessons and edit to the key teaching aspects and then upload these to the web so students and others can see what is happening.

Benefits I can foresee include students having access to classes if they are away and being able to use it for revision. Others could also critique the lessons and it has the potential to open up conversation around the teaching and learning strategies used. I see the major potential barrier as being the time required to edit and upload the videos and it may be the breaking point of the project but I still think I will give it a try and see how it goes. While the focus would not be on students I see it would be necessary for students to give consent along with their parents on the project.

I would like to see a DET or statewide attempt at the project where they identify a few quality teachers and organise for them to be recorded and use it as a Professional development type project. I think this would be great for beginning teachers especially but all teachers could potentially benefit.

Stay tuned.

I have posted previously about youtube videos and how I am a big fan of it as a resource. I noticed recently that a really good video has been taken off and this is one of the downfalls of this service – that the videos can be removed by those who originally post them. A way around this is to download the videos and keep them in case they are removed. Downloading can also be helpful if you plan to use the videos in class and the internet is down or unavailable. I have played around with lots of ways to download youtube videos so thought I would put a few of the easiest ways I have found.

2. Unplug - this one is a firefox add on and presents itself as a little fish that is on your toolbar. When you are on the page with the video you want you simply click on the fish and it shows you all the files on the page that can be downloaded. Only problem with this way (and most other ways I have come across) is that it will only download it as an .flv file which is not as versatile as .mp4 format. You need to have a program to run the .flv files. Which makes the process a little cluncky. SWF & FLV PLayer is the one I use to play these files.

3. Video Downloader - another firefox add on that will download the videos in .flv format. The link provided has a good explanation of how this one works but is essentially very similar to Unplug.

4. Video Download x – is a web-based downloader which means you do not have to download any software etc. I have found that the quality of the downloads is not quite as good as the other methods but still useful if the others are not workable for any reason.There are a lot more applications out there that do the same job. Let me know if you find any that should be on the list!!

 Getting across complex ideas in a simple manner is a something good teachers always seem to be able to do and I just happened to stumble on some really good videos on youtube that do that with a few web 2.0 tools. The videos are made by lee lefever and the ones I found particularly useful were on blogs, RSS & social bookmarking (del.icio.us).  I think the videos will be beneficial when introducing students to these as they do a good job of explaining the uses and benefits of each tool over traditional ways of doing things.  (The RSS and Social bookmarking vidoes can be found in the sidebar after clicking on the above link- I have also included them in posts below).

This looks like a handy little application for catching footage of what you are doing on your screen and being able to export it as a movie file. This has lots of uses in creating tutorial style files for students and sharing hints and tips on the way to do things. Best thing is it is free and available to anyone with access to the internet.http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/