Monday, August 6, 2012

Tool III: Online Videos and Images

Videos are always a popular idea with students.  Anytime I have the lights off when they enter the room, their first question is, "are we watching a movie today".  On the days that we are watching something, I always correct them and say, "Yes, we are watching a VIDEO today".  I then explain the difference between a video and a movie.  Once they learn we are not watching Finding Nemo or Osmosis Jones, they are typically less excited about what's coming next.  They confirm with the question, "Is it boring", or "How long is this thing?".  Never the less, I find that videos are a good way to reach students of all levels.  The video sites I use the most are; BrainPOP, Discovery Education, and TeacherTube.  Below are two examples of videos that I may show the students for a Biology class.
This was a Discovery Education video on the human body and how it pushes itself to the limit when called to.
Next, I am going to create a hotlink to a video from BrainPOP.  Click on the hyperlinked "BrainPOP" to view.

The copyright and fair use information was very informative.  I learned the importance of citing your source while in high school and college but didn't think about needing to cite my source as an educator.  What it provides, though, is a chance for the students to become familiar with where I get my information so that they may have a dependable source to go back to for more information.  It is also important that our students know that work that someone has created is not always just anyone's for the taking.

A Dropbox is an extremely useful tool for the classroom.  I have my students do computer based projects which can now simply be placed in the dropbox to turn in.  This allows the file to be accessed regardless of the computer that is being used.


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