Saturday, December 5, 2015

YouTube - It's Not Just Cats & Khan Academy

My workshop today at the Ed Tech Teacher Google Jamboree was all about YouTube tips and tricks. In an effort to come up with a clever title I called the session YouTube - It's Not Just Cats & Khan Academy. In the session we looked at search settings, playlist construction, privacy settings, and video production and editing tools that are built into YouTube. The outline of the workshop is copied below. A handout from the session can be found at the bottom of this page.


1. Search tools.

2. What’s inside your YouTube account:
-Playlists.
-Embed playlists to automatically update in your blog/ website.
-Subscribe to YouTube channels.

3. Creating videos.
-Audio slideshows https://youtu.be/3-IiGnrjZ1o
-Add text boxes to your audio slideshow. https://youtu.be/kdxFmmX-Zz4
-Webcam recordings – video blog entries.
-Mobile uploads with the YouTube apps.
-Create slow-motion videos.
-Blur faces.
-Stabilize footage.
-Creating choose-your-own-adventure videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp18wujtt48&feature=youtu.be
-Adding captions to videos.
-Adding custom cover art to your videos.

4. YouTube privacy settings.
-Private
-Unlisted
-Public
-Comment and ratings moderation.

5. Organizing your YouTube channel.
-Playlist sequencing.
-Channel homepage.
-Channel sections.

5 Things We Can do to Prepare Students to Work Independently

This morning at the Ed Tech Teacher Google Jamboree I had the opportunity to give a short presentation to kick-off the day. The title of my talk was Preparing Students to Work Independently - Five Things We Should Be Doing. The slides from the presentation are embedded below. Below my slides you'll find an outline of my talking points.


Introduction:
Nearly ten years ago Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod’s Did You Know/ Shift Happens (http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/) videos made many of us aware of the fact that the nature of learning and the nature of work has irreversibly changed. Yet in many schools we continue to we still teach as if we are preparing students to work and learn in the 80’s and 90’s (you can pick the century). While there is value in some of the traditional methods we must strive to incorporate new perspectives and instructional strategies.

1. Acknowledge What’s New in the Classroom and the Workplace
What’s different in the academic world:
1. Ubiquitous access to the Internet.
2. Faster and larger networks of classmates, friends, and family. Students expect to tap these networks for help.
3. Increased school/ class choice.

What’s different in the workplace:
1. We’re doing jobs that didn’t exist 5 -10 years ago.
2. “Going to work” doesn’t mean you have to leave the house. My friend Kate is an IT manager for a Fortune 100 company and she hasn’t gone to her office in years.
3. “Getting a job” often means creating your own job.

2. What's it mean to be an "expert."
1. What’s easy to you is amazing to someone else.
2. Students don’t always need you for an answer. They might need you to simply guide them to an answer.
3. You don’t have to have all of the answers. Richard Branson makes the point that what he’s best at is connecting people to get the answers and put a plan together.

3. Create Wise Consumers of Information
1. Take time to think. What do you already know? Who do you already know?
2. How would someone else interpret this information?
3. Can you verify this information? Particularly important when using social media as a search tool.

4. Encourage and Support Publishing Online
1. Want to be a writer? Be a writer, tell people about what you write.
2. Publish a podcast, a YouTube channel.
3. Create and share games.
-Creating and publishing is what leads to “getting a job” or creating your own job.
-Creating and publishing is what can distinguish you from a crowd of students.

5. Working independently sometimes means working with others.
1. Acknowledging when a project is too big to handle alone.
2. Knowing when to ask for help and who to ask for help.

Stop and think, can these tools help my students learn, work, and thrive in a constantly changing world?

The Week in Review - The Most Popular Posts

Winter has arrived in Woodstock, ME.
Good evening from Woodstock, Maine where I'm home after a great day at the Ed Tech Teacher Google Jamboree in Medfield, Massachusetts. Thank you to everyone who came out to the event. It was great to reconnect with teachers I had met before and make some new connections. Getting the opportunity to work with teachers is the best thing about writing this blog and I consider it a privilege. Thank you all for making it possible by reading and sharing this blog.

Here are this week's most popular posts:
1. Flubaroo Now Lets You Share Graded Assignments Through Google Drive
2. Great Google Drive Add-ons for Teachers - A PDF Handout
3. GrammarFlip - Online Grammar Lessons for Students
4. Click to Spin - A Fun and Free Random Name Picker
5. ToonSpaghetti Teaches Kids to Make Movies on iPads
6. 10 Resources for Teaching With Primary Sources
7. Science Snacks - Fun, Hands-on Science Lessons

Would you like to have me speak at your school or conference?
Click here to learn about my professional development services. 

Please visit the official advertisers that help keep this blog going.
Practical Ed Tech is the brand through which I offer PD webinars.
BoomWriter provides a fantastic tool for creating writing lessons. 
Storyboard That is my go-to tool for creating storyboards and cartoon stories.
Discovery Education & Wilkes University offer online courses for earning Master's degrees in Instructional Media.
PrepFactory offers a great place for students to prepare for SAT and ACT tests.
The University of Maryland Baltimore County offers graduate programs for teachers.
Boise State University offers a 100% online program in educational technology.
EdTechTeacher is hosting host workshops in six cities in the U.S. in the summer.
SeeSaw is a great iPad app for creating digital portfolios.
Lesley University offers online education programs for teachers. 
Southeastern University offers online M.Ed programs.