Classroom Videos With YouTube

Why YouTube? Because that's where my kids are anyway.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have started a classroom blog (Room 755). It is a daily post of our activities in class, with a little commentary at times. Hey, I'm the writer, publisher, and editor - I can do what I want, right?

Well, today in class, my students began putting pencils to poster board (computers will come later Web 2.0 folks). I interviewed each group about where they were in the process. I asked several questions before my Flip Camera began recording, so the students knew what I was looking for when I came to their table.

I took my Flip to my MacBook, converted the .AVI files to .MP4 files using iSquint, then uploaded the videos to YouTube. Most videos were between 15-25 seconds. It took about a total of 90 minutes to do all this and post the links to my Room 755 blog.

Yes, that is time intensive. But my students were excited to know that they had the opportunity to be "seen" online. No faces are shown...just voices and poster board.

If you would like to take a look, you can go to my YouTube channel or Room 755.

P.S. - My kids think it is pretty cool that Miguel and Steven have commented. Thanks guys. Any others who want to drop by?

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Note:Publications of professor-marvel.com or associated works (unless specifically labeled with another copyright notice) are licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
The views expressed here are my own and reflect only my opinion.
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Sacrilege To The Filter gods

Anyone who knows me, knows I whine too much about how our (and too many other) Tech Departments block sites in schools. Simply because an outsource company (who seeks only to make money - not protect the chillldddreeennnn) tells Tech Directors that they must block things first, then open when there is a possible reason.

Well, it's time to see what has happened this week.

COPA has been found to be unconstitutional (again). Schools won't care about that though.
CIPA, DOPA, and any other restrictive measure will serve them in their fear of information access for all people.

Jim Gates is ticked off by the control-mongering techies who oppose learning for censorship and power. Welcome to the show Jim.
[NOTE: You probably won't see Jim's post if you're at school - he uses the demonic Blogger and Blogspot for his communication ;-) So do I.]

All this is well and good. I have vowed to get off my filtering is the new book burning, neo-nazi, anti-education rants. Now I really can.

Why?

Because, Apple is making everyone's life better. If you have been one of those "I'm not sure I should get an iPhone (original or 3G) and/or MacBook" (whatever kind), "Windows is far superior" (for what I don't know - other than accumulating viruses), then it is time for you to change your ways...for the American Way!

You can use your iPhone as a tethering devise to get internet access to your computers!

NetShare, by Nullriver, Inc., that allows your iPhone to serve as your computer's Internet connection. Guess what? I can work at my workplace again! It's been over 7 years since I had that ability.

C'mon educators. It's time to drink the Apple Kool-aid - again.

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Note:Publications of professor-marvel.com or associated works (unless specifically labeled with another copyright notice) are licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
The views expressed here are my own and reflect only my opinion.
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