Since YouTube was unblocked I have created multiple software tutorials and placed them online. Students love them. In the beginning I would try and show students how to do something but students would get distracted by whatever is on their screen. So I asked everyone to turn their monitors off while I show them a demonstration. It was easier to keep their attention, however, some of my demonstrations were a little lengthy and the students would miss small, but important, steps. I decided to record the demonstrations using Camstudio, which is a free screen capture program, and post them on YouTube. The two greatest student benefits were they could watch the demonstration if they missed class and they could pause and resume the video at any time. I would still do the demonstration in class and that would be enough for some students, but not all.
Posted demonstrations especially benefited my special needs students as well as my audio and visual learners. Not only was it cool they could watch me on YouTube, but they could see and hear what I was doing multiple times. Audio or visual learners, like Josh, could now obtain the same results by watching shorter segments of video or repeat the video more than once. Some students even reported watching them at home to refresh their memory.
YouTube can also serve as a motivator for some students. Last school year, and recently this school year, I had students create a wiki about computer hardware and videos showing the installation process. Last year the wikis and videos were very good. The students knew the video would only be seen by fellow students. This year I told students they will be posting them on YouTube. The quality of work was even higher. Students not only wanted to get a good grade, but they wanted theirs to be the best and they took pride in their published work. After talking with students about publishing their work, the question was, why work hard on something that will only be seen by a teacher? Students wanted to show their hard work to others and they loved the idea that not only would our class see it but anyone in the world could too.
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Thanks for the good information. I am very interested in branching out into video posts for my lessons. I have not yet gotten there. But, I plan on researching it. I really want to use it for kids who are absent or go on vacation. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThe only problem that I see is the schools that will not let their students get on to YouTube. My district will let teachers but not students, so my suggestion is to put it on TeachrTube or SchoolTube. I don't think these sites would be blocked but then I could be wrong. I do like the idea and will do this along with puting my videos on the student share drive.
ReplyDeleteOur school is one of those schools...YOUTUBE is blocked. Even teachers are denied access. I have been able to show videos from teachertube, which I find to be a valuable resource. On this website, teachers can also upload students work. I haven't had a chance to do this, but I am hoping to employ a project by the end of the year for my eigth graders where they create their own video reflecting on a science concept.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your ideas on demonstrations. I love that students have access to the demonstration outside of class so if they forget the material, they can sego back and look at that. A great way to refresh on learned concepts. Also, an amazing way to keep absent students up to date while they are out of class.
Students can get to YouTube at my school. I haven't posted anything, but I thought that was a good idea to put things there so that students could review or get the information if they were absent. I will have to work on this idea to see if I can come up with anything that I think would work.
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to update old directions for shop work from binders to PowerPoint presentations. I really like the idea of putting up lesson plans that are accessible to students from home. This is my third year teaching and so far two out of the three years I’ve had a student come down with mono. It would be great if they could follow along with the class from home.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea to post demos on You Tube! I agree that it is nice to have something like this accessible from home, especially for absent students.
ReplyDeleteI am fortunate because our textbook company (Holt) has little videos already online that go with each example in every section (math). Most of them are done with this goofy professor named Ed who the students love to watch. Sometimes I even show them the "Ed videos" in class, or leave directions for a sub to show some of these videos if I need new content to be taught while I am gone.
How long would you say it takes you to make one of your demo videos?
I used youtube first a couple of years ago for my forensic science class. I found some great clips that I was able to use, then talk, then go to another clip. Students buy into the use of youtube because that is what they are comfortable with. Instead of putting in a dated video youtube is a reliable source for my science class.
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