PPS Instructional Technology

For a printable copy of this tip, click here . There is a wealth of great educational videos on YouTube which make it a wonderful resource in the classroom.  However, if we are not careful, YouTube can also be a giant black hole for our students. One way to help mitigate the issue is to use a “scrubber” like the one found at youtube.portageps.org .  Another way is to insert the video(s) into a Google Slide presentation.  By using these methods, you eliminate the advertisements before the video, the suggested videos at the end of the video, and all the extra videos that show up along the side when you go directly to youtube.com . Scrubbing YouTube Videos with Google Slides Using Google Slides is a quick and easy way to scrub a video for students.  Below are the easy steps you will need to take in order to use Google Slides to scrub your videos. Go to YouTube.com Find the video you want to use in your class. Copy the website address for the video from the U...

Many of our students have a hard time learning their multiplication tables, but have no problem learning the lyrics to their favorite songs.  Well, what might happen if we were to rewrite their favorite songs so they sing their multiplication tables to the tune of their favorite pop song?  Well apparently this isn't a new idea...Mr. DeMaio has beat us to it!  Check out his Multiplication Song Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb7Q5jsm9eh_fdDPQmVpyp4XRu-raUbHc Using music to help with learning is not a new idea.  We have shared many posts with you on this very subject.  Some of our favorites include: Dr Lodge: 50 State Project and Kinesthetic Learning Videos Flocabulary: Think before you Post (Digital Citizenship) Scholastic StudyJams Also, remember that PPS has our very own YouTube scrubber that will eliminate all the distractions that accompany a typical YouTube video. What are your favorite learning resources that incorpora...

YouTube has become a household name throughout the country and the world.  According to YouTube , "YouTube has over a billion users — almost one-third of all people on the Internet — and every day people watch hundreds of millions of hours on YouTube and generate billions of views."  That's a lot of videos!  Because of the vast quantity of content on YouTube, people - especially young people - turn to YouTube for entertainment, as well as to learn new skills.  If you ask your students to research how to do a task, the first place they will look is, most likely, YouTube.  I was working with Michal VandenBerg's third-grade class at Lake Center on their Genius Hour projects last week.  The students were researching everything from how to do snowboarding tricks or playing the piano,  to how to design and build a video game.  Each of the students was, at one time or another, on YouTube, watching videos explaining how to do the task or skill they w...

Trouble viewing this tip?  View in this Google Doc . As many of you are finding out, we switched to a new Lightspeed web filter this summer.  As with any web filter, it will take a while for the new filtering system to learn what sites are okay for PPS and what needs to be filtered.  Because of this, there are bound to be sites that are not working as expected. In regard to staff web access - if you are a staff member and are having trouble getting access to a web site or service you had access to before, follow the instructions below.  If you, as a staff member, are trying to use YouTube and are "trapped" in YouTube EDU, it means the web filter doesn't know who you are and you need to try these steps first: Go to  http://www.pandora.com If Pandora is blocked, there will be a link on the block page to provide login credentials.  Click this link. and login with your portage username (NOT your full email) and password. This should resolv...

Videos are a great way for students to learn and be exposed to content. YouTube, TeacherTube and Vimeo have a lot of wonderful video for teaching and learning. What if you could turn these videos from passive, sit and get learning to interactive education? It is now possible with eduCanon. Click the image below or the link in step 2 to check out an eduCanon lesson - eduCanon offers 10,000+ interactive lessons for you to plug and play into your class tomorrow, or the ability for you to easily make your own. Want to see how easy it is to add a lesson?  You can use the lesson below as-is or edit the questions to your students' needs. Either way, download this shared lesson to your account following these easy steps: 1. Go to http://www.educanon.com/signup/teacher/ to sign up (for free). 2. Click the interactive video link: http://www.educanon.com/public/9464/23623 3. Click the copy icon in the top right corner of the lesson as you watch it and select OK when it asks you if...

One of the key components of a flipped/blended classroom is providing video based content for your students to view at home.  However, as educators, we know that a lot of students will just turn on a video and multi-task until they get to the end of the video, not really understanding the content.  What if we could make the videos more interactive?  Using Zaption, teachers can include multiple-choice questions, continuous polls, discussions and more to videos they pull from Vimeo, YouTube or their own computer. Cost: Free for a 30 day trial.  $49/year after that. Uses for the classroom: Use Zaption to annotate and make your videos interactive while engaging students. Learn more about Zaption and watch some examples at:  http://www.zaption.com/

Having students create videos and podcasts is a great way for them to demonstrate their understanding of a concept. Unfortunately, finding music tracks for these types of class projects can be tricky because you need to use songs that are not subject to some form of copyright. This becomes an even bigger problem if you want to share your project online, and it gets taken down by YouTube for copyright infringements. To help with this issue,  YouTube have just released a library of tunes that you can download freely and use in your multimedia projects. There are over 100 songs and melodies to start with from different genres and styles. You can access the library at www.youtube.com/audiolibrary This great tip was found at:  http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/2013/09/youtube-launches-library-free-use-music/

Sometimes you want to embed a YouTube video directly into your PowerPoint instead of having to leave the presentation to view the video.  This can be a challenge, but here are the steps to make it happen. Like with 2003 you do have to edit parts of the code...here is what you need to do: Step 1 : Go to YouTube and click on Share, then Embed.  Make sure you check the box that says, "Use Old Embed Code" Step 2 : Copy the code Step 3 : Open your powerpoint.  Go to Insert.  Click on Video, then Video from Website. Step 4 : Paste the embed code in the box. Step 5 : In the code: find where it says "//www.youtube.com... and change it to "http://www.youtube.com...  You will need to do this twice. Step 6 : In the code: find where it says version=3... and change it to version=2.  You will have to do this twice as well. Step 7 : Click Insert. Now your video should play inside your PowerPoint.