While I was off exploring New Zealand big things were happening within my class at Curtin. Mathieu and Simon gave an inspiring presentation on Youtube and Teacher’s TV. I am so sorry that I missed it as all the reports I have heard said they did a magnificent job. Not only did they cover the educational uses of these sites they also covered copyright and told everyone about Keepvid. As I had missed the presentation I had to check it all out for myself.
Youtube covers the whole spectrum of videos – I think it would take more than one lifetime to even watch what is loaded on the site at the minute. I like the way you can search for topics and how you can set up your own account. As far as use and access in schools I think that teachers should have the only access so they can select and identify videos that are relevant for their classes. There are too many unsuitable videos for students to have access. It’s back to Duty of Care.
Teachers.tv is a fantastic site covering every area of school life. It is great that people can set up their own login. This is definitely a site for teachers to access with podcasts, lesson plans, tv shows and videos. It is a British site and an Australian version would be even better.
Keepvid is the answer to using Youtube and other videos from the internet with your class. It is Freeware to download which enables you to download and save videos directly from Youtube and other internet sites. Takes the risk out of the equation in a classroom. And it’s easy to use.
I believe all these resources will help bridge the digital divide as they as easy to use and relevant to classroom teaching (I mean, just how long have teachers been using videos as a teaching tool!). Thank you Simon and Mathieu
