Tuesday’s Technology Tips
March 22, 2016
A Guide to YouTube Alternatives
(Please remember to not let the computer get the winning hand. Open a technology request
and let us help reduce the frustrations day in and day out with technology.)
Hello everyone, I discovered an excellent article online discussing alternative sites to
YouTube that you can use in your lesson plans. I thought I’d share some of these I
personally visited and let you know about them to enhance your lesson and instruction.
So…bring out the microwave popcorn.
Does anyone still cook popcorn the old fashioned way with hot air or with oil and popcorn
sizzling in an old fashioned popper? I didn’t think so…times have changed. That’s
great…now I’m hungry for some popcorn. Anyone else?
Here are some websites I’ve discovered online. If you have a favorite or one you’d like to
share that will help others in our schools, please feel free to send me an email and I’ll share
it in an upcoming newsletter. Remember my favorite saying, “None of us is as good as all of
us.”
School Tube is an excellent website dedicated to the sharing of videos created by students
and teachers and some material sourced from other websites. As you gain technology
understanding, I’ve found that School Tube allows teachers and students an opportunity to
create their own channels for sharing their students' works. School Tube also provides
excellent how-to resources, copyright-friendly media, and lesson plans.
Teacher Tube is also an excellent website as well. The video content on Teacher Tube
provides user generated videos for teachers by teachers. Many of the videos on Teacher
Tube have teachers sharing lesson plans in action. Some videos on Teacher Tube are
simply inspirational. And other videos don't have teachers or students in them, but contain
educational lessons that may prove valuable in your classroom.
Next Vista is a nonprofit, advertising-free video sharing site run by Google Certified
Teacher Rushton Hurley. Next Vista has three video categories. The Light Bulbs category
is for videos that teach you how to do something and or provides an explanation of a topic.
The Global Views video category contains videos created to promote understanding of
cultures around the world. The Seeing Service video category highlights the work of people
who are working to make a difference in the lives of others.
Academic Earth is a video and audio resource for individual lectures and entire courses
from some of the top universities in the United States. Visitors to Academic Earth will find
lectures and courses from Yale, MIT, Berkeley, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford. Since
some of our teachers in our system are going to be teaching some AP coursework in the fall,
this coursework might be even more interesting and challenging to students.
Dot Sub is a website I visited for a few moments while typing up this as a suggestion. The
site has plenty of user generated content that is subtitled into many different languages that
allows hearing impaired students an opportunity to read the content of the video displayed
in text.
If you are looking for selective news stories to incorporate in your classroom, you may want
to visit CNN Student News. It’s a daily web show highlighting a handful of current news
stories. The stories covered by CNN Student News range from traditional serious news
topics to how-to stories appealing mostly to students to light and fun stories. It also can
provide quiz information and maps you can use to further highlight the information
presented.
For another more global perspective to news, give Reuters Video Index a try as well. They
have a lot of national and international news you may want to use to supplement other
content you use in your classrooms. This is especially if you teach history or have
discussions on current events in the United States and the world.
TED Talks are a great source of inspirational, thought-provoking, educational, and
entertaining presentations given by some of the world's leading experts on a wide variety of
topics.
Untamed Science offers a collection of videos and podcasts about biology and Earth science
topics.
Current TV, the cable network started features user generated content about a diverse
array of cultural and current news topics.
PBS Video offers videos from the most popular shows including Frontline, NOVA, Nature,
and American Experience. For the younger crowd, PBS Kids offers videos as well. If you're
not sure what you're looking for, but you think PBS has an appropriate video you can
search the PBS Video center by topic.
The History Channel and the Discovery Channel both offer a lot of content similar to and,
in some cases, identical to that which is found on their respective television networks.
In addition to resources for learning languages, LangMedia offers a section called Culture
Talk. LangMedia Culture Talk is a collection of video clips of interviews and discussions
with people from many different countries, of different ages and from different walks of
life. The videos are intended to give viewers insight into the cultures of peoples around the
globe. Some of the videos feature English speakers while other videos do not. Those videos
that are not in English are accompanied by a written English transcript.
Explore.org produces and hosts high-quality documentary films and photographs. The
films and images focus on exploring the world and the work of non-profit organizations
around the world. The films and images are organized by location and by charitable and or
environmental cause. I clicked on the link and was able to view live cams underwater and
nesting birds with babies and a whole lot more. Nature is something I really enjoy and this
site is a great resource for allowing kids to see and explore more of the world around them.
I also enjoy free video lectures and websites that share the content at no charge to me. One
I have also discovered is Free Video Lectures. The library of videos can be searched by
subject and or university. The video sources are a mix of YouTube and other providers.
Plus an excellent benefit is the feature that allows you to download many of the videos to
import into a PowerPoint presentation or click to watch at a later point as part of a lesson.
ESL Basics is a site that provides short video vocabulary lessons for beginning and
advanced ESL students. For teachers, ESL Basics has a small collection of suggestions and
ideas for teaching ESL. ESL Basics is adding new content on a regular basis.
FedFlix is a collection of nearly 2000 films produced by the US government during the
20th Century. The topics of these films range from presidential speeches to agricultural
practices to public health and safety. All of the FedFlix films are in the public domain so
feel free to reuse and remix them as you and your students desire. The films can be
downloaded or viewed online. Films can also be embedded into your blog or website or
imported to a presentation.
Math A Tube is a compilation of videos from a variety of users and other websites. Videos
are categorized by mathematics topics and sub-topics. The videos demonstrate everything
from basic addition through Geometry. Please note that the content shown on Math A
Tube is user generated so some videos are better than others. Check it out!!
The Kids Know It Network is full of educational interactive games and movies intended for
elementary school students. The Kids Know It Network hosts a number of animated videos
explaining and demonstrating concepts from math, science, geography, and English. Each
video starts with an introduction to a topic and is followed by a quiz.
Wired Science has hundreds of videos addressing a variety of science and technology
topics. In addition to the library of videos, Wired Science, has great articles and lists of
science resources.
Math TV offers an extensive collection of high quality mathematics tutorials. Math TV's
video lessons cover basic mathematics and Algebra. Math TV videos are not easily accessed
away from the website, but the content is free and you can learn by creating your own
individualized playlists.
Okay I’ve finished my popcorn and now it’s time to move on to some jokes provided this week
by Ember Griswold at Zion Chapel. If you have a favorite quote or joke or comment or
suggestion, please feel free to send them to me and your name can appear in black and white or
color if suggested in a future newsletter. My email is [email protected]. Thank
you for your support and encouragement over the past few months and years.
Now off to the humor side of the newsletter….
I think…
Maybe it’s here…it is isn’t it?
Yep…it’s right around the next page…
Wait what happened?
Where did it go?
There it is…
And here are the quotes that are world famous and made popular by the emails (hint hint) of support
that flood my inbox each and every week…(Shameless beg for attention here…resuming normal
operations in three…two….one…) Oh and have a safe, relaxing and enjoyable spring break holiday!!
Let’s all make a goal to sleep in a few hours and relax and enjoy the holiday!! Deal?