TeacherTube Notes

A few TeacherTube items to note:

• The TeacherTube Laptop Contest begins tomorrow, April 1st. Check out the details.
  

• Video upload file size is now unlimited! The Help page advises: "Just remember to set your computer's screen saver and/or sleep mode to 1 hour(recommended) or more. If your video does not properly upload, try to edit your video into two parts: EX: Math Part I - Math Part II."

• In line with its commitment to stay educationally focused, TeacherTube has outlined these two criteria for uploaded videos: 1. address specific learning objectives and/or 2. provide professional development for educators.

• A new channel dedicated to Student Products is now available. Teachers are encouraged to upload videos made by students or videos highlighting student products here. We all want to see what your students are learning!

• When creating an account, please notice these two phrases: " - I certify I am over 18 years old. - I agree to the the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy."

Embedding and Linking TeacherTube Videos

One nice feature of TeacherTube is the embedding capability. It's designed to work with Friendster, eBay, Blogger, and MySpace, but we're finding it works with other apps as well. I successfully embedded one of my TeacherTube videos into my TeacherWeb site. It was really easy. (For all the TeacherWeb users, here's a link to the how-to video.) If you have trouble embedding in your wiki, you can download the code in the Help section. Please post comments if you've found it working in other applications not mentioned here.

Another option is linking to the video through the URL. Again, it's a simple copy and paste task. (Just like I linked to the TeacherWeb video above.) One district is uploading videos to a private group in TeacherTube and linking the URLS to their digital curriculum and lesson planning software. They can link videos of instructional strategies being modeled into their professional development section and also link instructional videos to use with students to standards located in the scope and sequence. A great deal for the district to not have to host all those videos but still have access to them anytime, anywhere.

I encourage readers to share ideas they have about embedding and linking TeacherTube videos.

Why Use Video in Education?

TeacherTube users know the power of video in education: Engaged Learning! But where's the research? NCLB is all about research based practices, right? Thanks go out to TeacherTube community member Anne Bubnic (http://abubnic.blogspot.com/) for pointing us to the current research. The following article references are posted on the The California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP) Region IV math project site:

Scientific Research Indicates that Using Video in the Classroom Improves Learning http://www.libraryvideo.com/articles/article18.asp

Using Video in the Classroom - There is substantial research promoting the use of video in the classroom as a dynamic resource for supporting curricula. http://www.libraryvideo.com/articles/article13.asp

Video Goes to School – a 3-part series at http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=5597

KQED – using video effectively - http://www.kqed.org/topics/education/educators/videoclassroom/effective.jsp

Why It Works - a series of papers & research studies from United Streaming. http://www.unitedstreaming.com/home/why.cfm?id=3

The research confirms the power of video in teaching and learning. But TeacherTube users, we want to hear specific examples of how you are using video. Please share your success stories!

TeacherTube Site Update: We've added a new channel for student created videos. We thought these deserved their own spot so teachers and learners could get ideas of what students have done. Please post student products in this channel.

TeacherTube Goes on the Road

We'll be taking the TeacherTube community concept on the road in April. On the 14th we'll be exhibiting and presenting at the SAGE (San Antonio-Austin Area Geography Educators) conference in New Braunfels, Texas. April 25th and 26th we'll be exhibiting and presenting at Tech Fiesta 2007 in San Antonio, Texas (during the famed Fiesta week!). We hope to video the presentations and uploaded to TeacherTube so our users can have another mode of learning about us, the services, and the vision for the site. In June we plan to exhibit at a national conference, though the details haven't been solidified yet. So, if you are a current user in these areas of the country, please drop by and see us. We'll let you know about the national conference as soon as we have it firmed up.

TeacherTube Update

Finally got the blog going! Yea!

Appreciation

Thanks to all who have visited TeacherTube and especially to those who have become members and uploaded videos. Some stats:

• We launched on March 6. That day we had 10 unique visitors.
• Yesterday, March 25, we had 1,036 unique visitors.
• We've had visits from 59 countries.

What I Learned From TeacherTube Today

The Carol Morgan teachers taught me how to implement Literature Circles . As a language arts teacher, this video really resonated with me. It's a quick professional development video -- a concise how-to on literature circles. I needed this information and I know other teachers I work with will use it. I'd like to add it to the professional development video section of my district's online curriculum database. I love how they explained the strategy and roles and then modeled it. Model, model, model is my mantra for the classroom. Seeing how the "students" went back into the text for evidence sent chills up this English teacher's spine!!

You're invited to share what you have learned from TeacherTube.