How to Record a Webcam Video on Your Chromebook

Recording a video with the webcam on your Chromebook can be accomplished through the use of a free Chrome app called CaptureCast. CaptureCast, produced by Cattura Video, allows you to record the screen on your Chromebook as well as input from your webcam.

To record a video with the webcam on your Chromebook open CaptureCast in your browser then allow it to access your webcam and microphone. You can specify how high of a resolution you would like to use to capture your video. You can also choose your audio quality. If you have an external microphone connected to your Chromebook, make sure that you have it enabled before you start recording.

When you have finished recording in CaptureCast you can save your video on your Chromebook or upload it to YouTube, to Vimeo, or to Google Drive.

Applications for Education
CaptureCast could be a great tool for students to use to create video entries for classroom blogs. Rather than having students write blog posts, they can record short videos to talk about what they learned in class that week or to share their thoughts on a topic that you've posted for discussion on your classroom blog.

As I explain in Winning Blog Strategies, including video in blog posts is a good way to increase engagement on your classroom blog.

YouTube, It’s Not Just Cats & Khan Academy

This coming Wednesday I will be hosting my last webinar of 2016. The topic is YouTube. Specifically, I will be showcasing the features of YouTube that many teachers and students overlook. That's why I am calling the webinar YouTube, It's Not Just Cats & Khan Academy.

In the webinar you can learn how to protect your students' privacy when you or they upload videos to YouTube. You can can also learn how to create an interactive series of choose-your-own-adventure videos. Did you know that you can collaborate to create playlists of the best videos about a topic? You'll learn how to do that in the webinar too. In fact, you'll collaborate in real-time with the other people who participate in the live webinar. Registration for the webinar is open now.

Webinar FAQs

• The live webinar is on December 21 at 4pm ET. 
• The cost is $20.
• The webinar is conducted live.
• The recording will be emailed to those who cannot attend the live session.  
• Certificates for one hour of PD will be awarded to participants. 
• Register here.

Richard, why are you charging for the course? 

I explain the answer in this video. 

Canva Adds New Awesome New Features!

Last week I shared a video tutorial about how to create greeting cards with Canva's excellent templates and design tools. That's an example of just one of the many things that students can design in Canva. This week Canva released more design and publishing features.

Canva now offers dynamic chart editing. In other words you can pick a template that includes a chart and edit any of the content displayed in that chart.

All Canva designs can now be embedded into blog posts and websites. This removes the need for you to download your design then upload it to your blog or website. If you make a change to your design after you embed it, the updated design will automatically be displayed in your blog post. And speaking of design updates, you can now invite others to collaborate with you on your designs.

Finally, and perhaps most exciting, Canva designs can now be published as webpages. To do this just click the share button on your design and select the option to publish as a webpage. This option could be great for folks who want to create webpages to serve as flyers for school events.

Teaching History With Technology - An Online PD Course

Last summer twenty-five middle school and high school teachers joined me to learn about tools and tactics for teaching history with technology. During the fall quite a few people expressed interest in participating in the next offering of the course. Registration is now open for the January section of Teaching History With Technology. The course begins on January 9th at 7pm Eastern Time.

Teaching History With Technology is a three week course in which you will learn how to develop engaging and challenging history activities. You will learn how to use tools like Google Earth and Maps, multimedia timelines, and video production tools. You will discover primary source databases, and learn how to help your students become better researchers. This course features three interactive online meetings along with a discussion forum in which you can further interact with me and your classmates. Certificates of completion are awarded for three hours of professional development.

Course FAQs

• The course begins on January 9th at 7pm ET. 
• The cost is $97.
• All webinars are conducted live.
• The sessions are recorded for those who cannot make it to the live sessions.  
• Certificates for 3 hours of PD will be awarded to participants. 

Richard, why are you charging for the course? 

I explain the answer in this video. 

Spend the Summer in Washington D.C. as a C-SPAN Fellow

Summer might be six months away, but it's already time to start thinking about summer professional development opportunities. Social studies teachers should take note of C-SPAN's 2017 Summer Fellowship Program.

The C-SPAN Teacher Fellowship Program brings together teachers and media specialists to work together for four weeks in Washington, D.C. The fellows work together to develop new teaching materials. Teachers selected for the program will receive an award valued at $7,000 (including lodging and travel costs). You can learn more and find the application here. Applications are due by March 3, 2017.