Adobe Voice is now Spark and it is on the Desktop!

With the latest update to Adobe Voice, the tried and true video creator for the iPad that our teachers have loved has become changed names and added browser access. 

Adobe Voice is now Adobe Spark and the browser allows teachers to use their chromebooks and desktops to create awesome multimedia projects with their students.

The one link: spark.adobe.com  gives students free access to creating videos with voice narration, graphic images, and easy flowing pages to create web stories that are shareable via links and through social media to add to your teaching tool box!
 
The apps are still there, just the names have changed and updated.  If you have iPads these are must have apps for any grade level:

• Adobe Spark Video - Easily Create Videos in Minutes
• Adobe Spark Post - Create Stunning Graphics 
• Adobe Spark Page - Create Stunning Web Pages from your Words and Images

I created a recap of my BreakoutEDU sessions quickly through the desktop version to try out the features...just like the apps, it is clean, easy to use, and no ads!

KidKam - Videos for Kids

I hear this debated topic often, do we allow students access to Youtube?  Some say sure, as it's a great opportunity to discuss many digital citizenship topics while the other side of the coin prefers to regulate what is available for students to view.

KidKam is a free online website that allows students to search through videos without the worry of accidentally coming across the inappropriate.  The videos will be tailored to elementary aged students from Pre-k through 6th grade.

The first step is for the teacher or parent to create an account. Once logged in videos can be searched for under a variety of categories, or tagged by specific age groups.

While searching you won't run across any comments by Youtube viewers.  Just instructionally appropriate comments by peer teachers recommending the video.

As a teacher you can create playlists of similar videos for students to quickly retrieve and watch.

As a parent or teacher you can go into parental controls and tighten restrictions to the website, like only allow the website to be viewed for a specific amount of time during the day or only allow videos in a particular grade level.

Basically, this is Youtube for kids, Youtube for the Elementary Classrooms.

ViewPure - a Clean YouTube Experience

The title of this post describes this site perfectly.  Yes, watch YouTube videos without the ads, comments, and suggested videos.  Great for the classroom.

Prevent accidental inappropriate suggested videos suddenly appearing when showing YouTube videos with your class.

If you create hyperlinks to YouTube videos inside a lesson, link to ViewPure instead.

If you want to search for a video in front of your class to demonstrate an on the fly quick point, searching ViewPure with Strict Safe Search provides much more comfort and appropriate results.

Try ViewPure, as this is a great tool for your classroom.

EDpuzzle : An Interactive Video Resource

A lesson containing a video I've facilitated many of times typically went like this:  teacher will project the video in front of the class as the entire class watches the video, with those in back squinting because they forgot their glasses, in a darkened room because the lumens on a projector aren't strong enough to provide a bright enough video thus students start nodding.  Wake up I say. 

What about assigning videos that are interactive, where students watch them at their own pace with periodic engaging questions and activities throughout the video? 

EDpuzzle is one of several online free tools that allow teachers to create these video environments for their students.

Teachers can choose to import videos from a wide range of websites hosting videos, or even upload your own video if you show choose.

 

Whichever video you select, you are do not need to force the students to watch the entire video, but just the portion that is meaningful for your lesson using the crop tool.

You may insert your own audio intro and/or concluding remarks at the end of the video.  Maybe you would like to record over a video using your own voice.  This creates a more personalized feel of the video for your students.



You may insert questions, either multiple choice or free response, at any point within the video.  These questions can be self grading, or graded at the end by the teacher.

Teachers set up a class, then students create an account and join the class.  The teacher assigns video tasks to the class, and students in that class complete those tasks.  All work is saved so the teacher can monitor student understanding and progress through the material.

For a higher engaging type of assignment teachers can have students find a video themselves and use the appropriate tools, crop, add audio, or embed questions to demonstrate their understanding of a topic and submit this finished video back to the teacher.  The teacher can then save this video into their My Video section, and share it back out with the rest of the class.

EDpuzzle is a great tool if you are looking to flip your classroom, or just to provide more engaging personalization of videos for students in your regular classroom.  Teachers can embed their video lessons onto other platforms, including Edmodo, Schoology, Moodle, and more.

Another interactive video resource to check out would be eduCanon.

Snagit - Screenshots and Screencasting on Chrome

TechSmith Snagit for Google Chrome is a handy free extension and app that allows nice integration between taking screenshots or screencasting and your Google Drive account.  This is great for those that utilize the Chrome browser or have Chromebooks.

For screenshots, the extension allows you to choose the section of the screen you would like a image of. Once the image is taken there is then the option of using a variety of annotation tools and a variety of color options.  The image then saves into the Snagit App library as well as into a folder labeled "TechSmith" in the Google Drive account.

The screencasting tool is in the Snagit App.  By pressing the + symbol, a new recording will begin, giving you the option of recording the screen or a specific tab.  Adjustments to audio can be made in the settings of the app.  When finished, the recording can be uploaded to youtube and saved into the Google Drive account in the TechSmith folder.  

To make Snagit work, you must install both the extension and the app from the Google Chrome Store. There are a few settings in your chrome browser that may need to be adjusted, which TechSmith does a great job explaining in the two video chops below.  Original Hang Out from TechSmith announcing the new screen recording feature can be found HERE (15 minutes total viewing time). 

Granted, if I am using my Windows 7 computer, I do have access to the snipping tool in the accessories folder for quick screenshots.  The benefits of using the snagit extension over the snipping tool are the extra annotation tools to mark on the image with and the fact that it is automatically saved into a folder in my Google Drive. I use my Google Drive for a lot and this makes pulling in images easy.    

Cue Up Videos Using VideoNotes

Have you taught a class and had plans on using a video for part of the content? Yet the problem was you wanted to use a 30 second clip inside a 20 minute video. Thus, you get it all cued up ahead of time. Without needing to refresh the browser, this ends up working, until you need to repeat the cuing up for the next period.

What is videonot.es?

Videonot.es is an online tool that collaborates with your Google Drive, so all your videos and annotated notes are saved in your Google Drive.

Videonot.es creates it's own folder in your Google Drive, so you can share your folder, or just a particular notes file, like any other Google Document.

The steps to using this tool are quite easy. Load a video, start watching the video, and when you type a note on the side the time is automatically recorded. Thus, after your video has been noted, you can simply click on any noted line and the video starts playing at that specified time.

Who can use this tool?

This tool can be great for teachers that would like to show portions of videos for a lesson. A teacher can load more than one video in the notes file, and by clicking on the line, the chosen video at that time slot is cued up and ready to play.

An administrator can video a lesson completed by a teacher, then go in and create a notes file shared with the teacher containing comments about what the teacher did positive, and what they need to work on in the future.

A coach can record a game and create a notes file for athletes to watch and learn from what they did or didn't do well.

Finally, have students create a video notes file which contains cues to their research for a particular project, and the teacher would have an easy record verifying student information.

Need a Math/Sci Video - Khan Acadamy

There is an amazing collection of short videos explaining many, many math and science concepts across the curriculum. These segments are short, focusing on one concept with a few good examples to clarify the lesson.

As one digs deeper into the website, teachers will find a link to "watch" videos, and a link to "practice" concepts taught from those videos. To practice concepts you will need to login with an account, and Khan Acadamy accepts current Google accounts. This becomes a very nice implementation for schools that are integrating Google Apps.

Practice includes answering math questions from a selected level, levels starting at basic arithmetic up through Calculus. Khan Acadamy monitors student progress through their online practice. As a teacher you can sign up as a coach, allowing you to monitor your students progress through their individual practice. You need to have students associate their logins with you as their coach.

Khan Acadamy is great for supplementary materials supporting students that need additional explanations, or those absent from a given class. It is definitely worth the bookmark.

Screen Casting with Screenr

Often times I am asked how to complete a computer related task. Screen-casting is a great way to provide the answer because it is saved and can be repeated. There are several software approaches to screen-casting like Camtasia, Camstudio, or Quicktime10. However, I've been using an online tool called screenr.

Screenr is paired with twitter, so you'll need a twitter account to save any screen-casting you complete. There is an option to tweet the finished screen-cast, or post and share like other Web2.0 tools. Go to screenr, find the record option, and follow onscreen instructions. You are limited to 5 minutes, but isn't that a long enough time to watch a "how to" video?

Follow up on 3/23/11: Screenr is now allowing you to pair your login identity with Twitter, Google, Facebook, Linked-In, Yahoo, and Windows Live.

QuietTube

Have you ever watched a Youtube in the classroom and had increased levels of anxiety because of anticipating what advertisement image will be displayed when the video is over?

Have you turned beet red because of the image that displayed when the video was completed? I call this Youtube Roulette.

Ah, I learned of a new tool to eliminate such anxiety. Quiettube. This tool will work differently depending on your browser with the bottom line objective, the only thing on the screen is the particular Youtube video of interest. No suggested alternative videos nor any ads.

In some browsers simply drag n drop the quicktube button onto a browser toolbar. Other browsers like chrome have quicktube installed as an extension.

In any case, check this out. A great little tool.