videos – Page 2 – iLearn Technology

DragON Tape

August 4, 2010Kelly Tenkely4 Comments3894 views

What it is: DragON Tape is a web application that lets you create video “mix tapes” (mashups) of YouTube Videos. DragoON Tape is really simple to use, just search for a video by YouTube URL or subject and drag it down to the timeline. Add as many videos to the timeline as you want and save it. DragON Tape makes it easy to give your students access to several videos with just one url.

How to integrate DragON Tape into your curriculum: DragON Tape is a simple way for you to create a mix of videos for your students to watch, collected under one url. DragON Tape is very easy to use and share, you can create a video mashup in no time. This is a great way to send video collections to students and colleagues. If you have access to YouTube at school, students could create their own DragON Tape mixes on any subject. Students can mix the best of the best videos on a subject to share with classmates. This year, I had my students make video commercials advertising Free Rice that we uploaded to YouTube. DragON Tape would be a fantastic way to collect all of the student videos in one url so that students and parents could watch the student creations in one place. DragON Tape is easy to fast forward and rewind through making it perfect for this type of class video collection. Want to see DragON Tape in action? Check out this phonics mix I made in under 2 min! Another thing that I like about DragON Tape is the way that it isolates YouTube videos against a black screen when it replays them. There are no distracting comments, advertisements, or related videos suggested. DragON is perfect for the projector-connected computer, interactive whiteboard, or on computer lab or classroom computers as part of a guided learning activity.

Tips: DragON Tape requires an email for registration. If students are creating mixes, consider creating and using a class email address as the login credentials or used a @tempinbox or @mailinator temporary inbox address.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using DragON Tape in your classroom!

Neo K12

March 1, 2010March 1, 2010Kelly Tenkely13 Comments4285 views

What it is: Neo K12 is an outstanding online collection of educational videos, lessons and games for students in grades k-12. Neo K12 believes that “kids learn best by ‘seeing’ the real world.” They have created this site with that belief in mind. Neo K12 has cataloged the best free online educational videos from the Internet in one place. Each video is watched and reviewed by k-12 educators to ensure their accuracy and appropriateness for students. Subjects include physical science, life science, human body, earth and space, social studies, math, English (including phonics, stories, and grammar), and fun videos such as time lapse, slow motion, arts and crafts, learn magic, music lessons, and sports lessons. In addition to videos, Neo K12 has Web 2.0 tools. The School Presentation tool is a mashup of Flickr and Wikipedia, and allows users to create and share presentations online. To create a presentation, students choose pictures for their presentation from Flickr, read and article about the subject from Wikipedia, and then add text to their presentation. When the presentation is finished, it can be printed or viewed online as a slideshow. Quizzes, games, and puzzles on Neo K12 are an interactive way to improve learning. Teachers can create and share videos playlists complete with notes and instructions for their students.

How to integrate Neo K12 into the classroom: Videos provide excellent opportunities for learning, they make it possible for kids to visualize and build a model in their minds. This helps them to better understand key concepts and can stimulate curiosity in a subject. When students or teachers search a subject, they are given a list of related videos, quizzes, games, and puzzles. When a teacher creates an account, they can create a complete assignment within Neo K12 that includes instructions and notes for the students. Students can complete the assignment by watching videos, playing related games and creating a School Presentation that shows understanding. The presentations are easy enough for even young students to create. Primary students can skip reading the Wikipedia article and just choose pictures and add some captions about facts they learned from a video they viewed. These videos are a great way to introduce new learning, expand on previous learning, or to spark curiosity in a topic.

Many of the educational games and puzzles would be great for an interactive whiteboard as whole class activities. They could, of course, also be used as classroom center activities, or completed individually in the computer lab. The jigsaw puzzles can be used as teasers to introduce a new topic. The jigsaw puzzles use incredible images from Flickr. Have students take turns coming up to the interactive whiteboard to put puzzle pieces together. Students waiting at their seats can take guesses about what new learning you will be doing in class.

Tips: Create a free Neo K12 account, you will receive a dashboard where you can store videos, games, presentations, quizzes, and add notes and instructions. You get a unique URL for your dashboard to share.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Neo K12 in your classroom.

PBS Kids Video Player

December 3, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2273 views

What it is: PBS Kids has a new video player. This is the most kid friendly video player I have seen. Students click on the PBS character that they want to watch video clips for. Then, they can select the episode clip they would like to watch. Students can watch clips of Curious George, Super Why, Dinosaur Train, Sid the Science Kid, Sesame Street, Martha Speaks, Clifford, Arthur, Mr. Rogers, Steve Songs, Word World, Between the Lions, Lomax, Dragon Tales, and more. Each video grouping has an accompanying website that has fun learning activities and games for kids to complete. Videos can also be browsed by their topic. This makes it easy to find a video that relates with what students are learning in class.

How to integrate PBS Kids Video Player into the classroom: This collection of videos is appropriate for the primary classroom (prekindergarten to first grade). Use these videos as an introduction to new units as an anticipatory set. All of the PBS materials are high-quality and educational. Super Why and Word World are especially great for literacy and language building.

Colorado is currently in deep freeze mode (it is cold!). As a result, we have a lot of indoor recess days ahead of us. These videos would be great to show during those recess times with the classroom computers set up with the matching games and activities.

Tips: Be sure to take a look at the website that accompanies each video group. The websites are full of fun games and activities where students can practice reading, math, and science concepts.

Leave a comment and share how you are using PBS Kids Video Player in your classroom.

ZuiTube

November 11, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment10482 views

What it is: KidZui is a site I have written about in the past. The KidZui network has added some sites to the network that I just learned about. ZuiTube is a kid friendly You Tube portal. It is the largest collection of kid friendly videos online. New videos are added to ZuiTube daily. All videos are approved by parents and teachers before being posted on ZuiTube. Students can watch educational videos, funny videos, movies and movie clips, silly songs, and music. There is also a special section on ZuiTube just for videos related to Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving collection includes everything from the Turkey Dance to videos about Native Americans and Pilgrims.

How to integrate ZuiTube into the classroom: ZuiTube videos can be used as an introduction to new teaching (on nearly any subject), to add some humor to the classroom, or to reinforce teaching. Videos are a wonderful way for students to make connections to new learning. I have found a video that correlates with nearly every part of our curriculum. I even found a great Berenstein Bears video for character education…gotta love that! With all the snow we get in Colorado, there are bound to be some indoor recess days for the kids. ZuiTube is a safe place to find kid friendly videos that students will enjoy while they are staying dry and warm inside.

Tips: I often have parents asking me what they can do at home to keep their kids safe online. KidZui is an excellent recommendation, the parent reports are a great way to keep parents involved in their children’s online activities.

Leave a comment and share how you are using ZuiTube in your classroom.

Kideos

August 23, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1342 views

What it is: Kideos is a collection of kid friendly videos. Each video featured on Kideos has been carefully screened by the Kideos Video Advisory Council (made up of a select group of parents and educators). The videos are categorized by age range (from 2 to 10) and by category. Categories include Baby Einstein, Barney, Book Characters, Cartoon Characters, Cute Animals, Disney Channel Programs, Disney Movies, Dr. Seuss, Educational Videos, Fairy Tales, Kids, Mickey Mouse and Friends, Muppets, Nursery Rhymes, Sesame Street, Songs, Teletubbies, Trains and Machines, and Wiggles. If you register with Kideos, you can set it up to only view your own selection of ages and characters. The videos are streamed from You Tube and placed inside a Kideo player .

How to integrate Kideo into the classroom: Kideo is a great elementary alternative to YouTube. While Kideo streams YouTube videos, you can be rest assured that your students will not be exposed to inappropriate content. Because Kideos can be set up for a specific age group and category, it would be simple to create a Kideos channel specifically for your class. You may choose your students age range and limit videos to educational and book characters only. Many of the videos would be appropriate in the classroom as an introduction to learning or part of a center activity.

Tips: I am continually amazed when my first grade students come in telling me about a YouTube video they watched (on YouTube). Suggest Kideos to parents as an alternative to YouTube for their little ones. Kids will be able to find all of the content they are looking for without any of the inappropriate comments and suggested videos.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Kideos in your classroom.

The Children’s University of Manchester

April 30, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1740 views

What it is: The Children’s University of Manchester is a site created by the University of Manchester that has some excellent mini-lessons and interactive lessons for students on a variety of science, history, literacy, and art topics. Topics include the body and medicines, energy and the environment, ancient Egypt, the earth and beyond, teeth and eating, micro organisms, the brain and senses, talking textiles, and words. Each lesson is like an interactive text book where students are engaged in and discover learning. Each lesson includes an interactive lesson, downloadable resources, educational games, and videos. The level of interaction is outstanding for helping students to learn about each topic.

How to integrate The Children’s University of Manchester into the classroom: The interactive lessons on this site are perfect for instructing whole class using an interactive whiteboard. During the interactive lesson, students can be called on to interact with the material. Most lessons will have enough opportunities to involve the whole class. The site is also ideal for individual instruction in the computer lab setting. Introduce students to a new topic with these mini lessons, videos, and educational games that can be expanded on as part of a larger unit. These mini-lessons begin with a bio of a scientist, historian, etc. in the field of the topic. Read these bio’s together as a class and discuss these real-world applications to the topic being studied.

Tips: Computers will need Flash installed to display The Children’s University of Manchester lessons, games, and interactive activities.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Children’s University of Manchester in your classroom.

Simple Science

April 21, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment10766 views

What it is: Simple Science is a collection of informative science music videos for use in the elementary classroom. The videos can be used to reinforce science learning objective and science concepts. The videos can be watched from the website for free or purchased on DVD. Simple Science video topics include: adapting, micro organisms, forces, changes, dissolving, how we see, changing circuits, keeping healthy, life cycles (flowers), gasses, water cycle, sun, earth, moon, changing sounds, moving and growing, habitats, keeping warm, solids vs. liquids, plants, friction, teeth, circuits and conductors, materials, rocks and soil, magnets and springs, light and shadows, air, atoms, DNA, Earth, electricity, insects, and magnetism. The format reminds me of School House Rock. Lyrics for all songs can be downloaded for students to follow along.

How to integrate Simple Science into the classroom: Simple Science videos are perfect for introducing or reinforcing science concepts. The songs and videos break down science concepts so they are easy to understand. Use Simple Science with a projector for whole class instruction or set up a science center on classroom computers where students can stop by and watch the videos.

Tips: The Simple Science website did not work for me using the Opera browser. I was successful with the links using Firefox.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Simple Science in your classroom.

The Periodic Table of Videos

January 27, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2565 views

So today is going to be another whirl wind of posts day. I am cleaning out my Google Notebook saved sites, hopefully you will find one of these awesome resources helpful for your classroom!

What it is: If I had access to the Periodic Table of Videos when I was going through chemistry, my understanding would have exponentially increased! This site literally looks like a periodic table, when a student clicks on one of the elements, a video opens up that explains the element. So neat! The site was created by the University of Nottingham, who is continually updating the videos with the latest and greatest experiments and explanations. There is a section with extra videos, a collection of science bloopers that are entertaining.

How to integrate The Periodic Table of Videos into the classroom: The Periodic Table of Videos is a great way to introduce the elements to students. I remember spending hours memorizing the Periodic Table but never really understood the properties of the elements. This site will help your students get a grasp on exactly what the different elements do. This is also a great way to bring those elements into your room that aren’t practical or readily available. Use this with your chemistry classes in the computer lab setting or with a projector.

Tips: The Features section has some extra videos on topics such as experiments and noble gases.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Periodic Table of Videos in your classroom.

Watch Know

November 24, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1547 views

What it is: Watch Know is a new educational video collection site. The site has not been officially launched and is still in beta version but already has a number of outstanding educational videos all offered for free! Watch Know brings together the best educational videos online into one convenient-to-search, safe site. Teachers, parents, and kids come together to find the videos, the videos are then approved for appropriateness by a media review panel made up mostly by school teachers and librarians. The site is very easy to search by category, topic, or keywords. Every video that I viewed was outstanding!

How to integrate Watch Know into the classroom: Watch Know is a great place to find educational videos to introduce any topic to students. The videos are wonderful to use as the anticipatory portion of a lesson to capture students interest in new topics, themes, or subjects. The videos are also well used as discussion starters for classroom debates/discussions. Because the videos are collected from all around the Internet but hosted on the Watch Know website, you can bring educational You Tube videos into the classroom even if your school blocks You Tube. Encourage students to interact and think critically about the video by rating the videos and leaving comments.

Tips: Videos are collected from all over the Internet from sites like SlideBoom to sites like You Tube. Some videos are interactive. I particularly liked the Logic puzzle interactive video where a logic puzzle is presented, kids can work out the puzzle and then click the video for the correct answer.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Watch Know in your classroom.

Kid Thing

November 20, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2242 views

What it is: I could have sworn that I had written a post about Kid Thing in the past, but after running several searches on my posts, I came up empty. Kid Thing is a secure digital media player for kids in grades k-4. Kid Thing accesses the Internet but is not a web browser. It is more like an iTunes type environment designed specifically for kids. There are no advertisements on Kid Thing and because it is not a web browser, there is no place to type a web address where students could inadvertently stumble on inappropriate content. The Kid Thing player is free to download and they often have free downloads of learning and interactive activities for students. There is also a Kid Thing store where additional books, videos, games, and creative arts can be downloaded to the Kid Thing player. Everything in the store is very reasonably priced. Right now Kid Thing is offering a free download in addition to the player, a 25 day Countdown to Christmas. Each day students will get to open a new kid thing Surprise with a game to play. After the game has been opened, it will stay on the Kid Thing player to be played over and over again.

How to integrate Kid Thing into the classroom: The Kid Thing player would make an excellent reading center, or learning center for phonics, language arts, and math. The player is very user friendly for students. Start each morning with the free Countdown for Christmas, let each student have a turn to be the one to open the Countdown for Christmas surprise. Throughout the day, let students visit the Kid Thing center to complete the new activity for the day. Kid Thing is great for the one or two classroom computers, a computer lab, a projector or interactive whiteboard, and for home use. Encourage parents to download Kid Thing at home and add books and games that are appropriate for their child.

Tips: At the moment Kid Thing only runs on PC’s running Window’s XP and Vista. There is a Mac version in the works (hooray!!) and if you visit the download page you can sign up to be the first to know when the Mac version is available.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Kid Thing in your classroom.