1.The first is CommonCraft. This video site offers simple black and white drawings explaining “in Plain English” (or German, French, Spanish, or Portuguese) common concepts. In the “technology” section you can find very basic introductory videos to explain blogs, wikis, RSS, and social networking to name a few. They are great ways to explain the very basics in a quick, easy to understand format. The homepage for specific videos contain the actual video, a section under that tells you “what it teaches”, and other related videos (as well as the creation date). My favorite example however isn’t educational. It is a “Happy Halloween” video that explains how to avoid zombies. Take a look:
2. Along the same lines I have gone to Videojug on many occasions as well. Videojug has thousands of videos and articles on just about all of life’s topics. Educationally I have used it with my Dell TechKnow students to explain to them what components are found on the inside of a computer. This video coupled with additional websites allowed my students to acquire the background information they needed before they actually dug into their computers. A word of caution, however. I linked directly to the video I wanted them to see. Didn’t feel it was necessary to have them go to the home page and find out “how to paint a portrait of a nude woman”…
3. The third depository comes from my own site Nicole Zumpano.com. As explained in previous blogs, my Wednesday Web provides a list of links that center on specific topics such as holidays, web 2.0 educational tools, and subject-specific topics. I’m proud of the fact that I was able to publish this every Wednesday this school year and never repeated a topic. Feel free to share the lists. I’d appreciate a shout out (or an email) if you do.
4. The Wednesday Web concept isn’t new. For years teachers have been posting links like this. One excellent example is the awesome Lucy Gray. See her site for ALL things tech-ed related!! http://elemenous.typepad.com/weblog/
5. Finally, I have to imagine many of you have seen the inspirational (yet slightly humbling) “Pay Attention” video (linked below). The home of the video is Jordan School District, located in Utah. We should all strive to have a site so rich in content.
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Thanks for the heads up on these sites. And your repository is a nicely arranged means to get to some good sites. Managing links to all of the useful sites out there is quite a challenge, and then making sure that the teachers we support can get to the sites that are really useful is important. Balancing between connecting them with useful sites and not overwhelming them...
ReplyDeleteFor my own education, I have been impressed with how much stuff is on YouTube -- and also seeing how other people present concepts is useful for me. I mention this not because I think you overlooked YouTube, but because there are uses to the online video besides the content itself.
Also I beg to differ about the zombie video. This could be very useful information. And life-saving. I direct your attention to the documentary film Night of the Living Dead. DON"T GO TO PITTSBURGH!!!!
jd
Hi Nicole!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing all of those resources. I had seen the "Pay Attention" and Zombie video before (love the monsters!), and had heard you talk about your wednesday website page before. Videojug is new to me! I love, love, love it!
As we all know, YouTube is blocked through the CPS firewall, and lets be honest, can easily get off track and lead to inappropriate sites. It is not well organized at all, and the main features are the search bar and the affiliated videos that pop up on the right sidebar.
I am also not impressed by TeacherTube, another messy and disorganized site. I frequently direct teachers to the site mainly because it is not blocked.
What I most appreciate of Videojug is the clarity of the site! So well organized into categories! Seems very user-friendly. I also imagine that nothing inappropriate will pop up here.
Thanks for sharing!