Tag Archives: video

Inspiring Example of embedding lessons as videos on a Class Blog

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SBEC Chemistry and Physics blog Meet Tammy – a high school science teacher with an outstanding class blog which you can visit here.

Tammy serves as an inspiration to all of us that are interested in creating an online environment that is a natural extension of our classrooms.

She is amazing when it comes to recording her daily classroom notes and embedding them in her class blog as a video.

We thought that you might like to get to know her a bit better and how she does what she does, so we asked her a few questions and she was kind enough to reply.

What were the main reason(s) why you started recording videos for your students?

For years I taught my chemistry and physics students by using dry erase markers on an overhead projector.

When interactive boards came along, I was excited, but I needed to be able to see my students while they worked with me.  When I went behind my demonstration station to work problems on the board, it was like my students thought I’d left the building!

Another challenge was the missing student – students gone on mission trips, students out with the flu, students in tournaments, or students who missed the concepts in class that day and just needed to hear the lesson again.

Everything came together when, from all different directions and just about all at one time, I discovered Edublogs, eBeam Interact (an interactive projection device and software), and the Wacom Cintique Tablet.

Tools used with the videos

How do you create your videos?

I’m able to write on the tablet while facing my students and record both my voice and pen strokes with eBeam and a cordless mic.

At the end of the day, I upload the videos to blip.tv, and then embed them on our class blog.  In addition to blip.tv, other online resources that have been really helpful for me as I post the lessons to the website are compfight.com and Flickr.com

Screenshot of one of Tammy's videos

How are you using your class blog?

I use our class blog for posting videos of daily lectures, reviews, and help sessions, but also as an online filing cabinet of sorts for just tons of resources for my students – the weekly syllabus, project information, assignments, interactive websites, tutorials, etc.

So many wonderful teachers and organizations have put such incredible resources for learning chemistry and physics online,  and now my students can access them though our blog.

Another very important way I use our class blog is to keep in touch with my students, and for them to keep in touch with each other, outside of class.

I’m working on helping them learn how scientists across the world communicate by having them share lab results, collaborate on projects, etc., through comments.

They also use the comments to ask me (or their classmates) questions they forgot or might have been hesitant to ask in class.

My chemistry students recently finished the huge end of the year research project, and, oh, my word, I thought someone from Edublogs was going to call and tell us we were overloading the system.

How class blog is used

What has been the benefits of your class blog to your students?

Our class blog has proven to be a tremendous resource for my students who for one reason or another have to be absent from class.

From their homes or hotel room, while waiting between races on their lap top, or on iTunes, my students can watch the day’s lecture, watch videos that I might have shown in class through the VodPod, get copies of assignments, learn about upcoming projects, and then ask me or their classmates questions by posting comments.

My students love to see themselves in action, but I could never seem to keep up with getting all the pictures I took printed for everyone to see.  With our class blog, I’m able to use Flickr and post picture and videos on our blog so the students can see all of them, any time, and not just the ones I can afford to print. I also send pics and video to Facebook and Twitter, and I’ve had former students comment on, “I remember when… .”

My kids would never have this kind of interaction with me, with each other, and even with the world without our class blog.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Thank you, Tammy, for all of your kind and informational words!

We would love to hear from others of you out there that are using your blogs in exciting ways to improve the learning experience of students.

Feel free to leave a comment if you would like to share and possibly be part of a future post such as this one!

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Help! Missing Flash and Embed Media Buttons

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Some of you have realised today that your Embed Flash swf Button flash1.jpg and Media button media2.jpg in your Write Post Visual Editor are missing from your Edublogs dashboard.

Worse still you’re wondering what’s happen and how will you embed flash files and videos.

Why The Flash and Embed Media Button Are Missing

Since we can now directly paste video and flash embed codes directly into our blogs, we don’t need to use Embed Flash swf Button and Media button anymore. Which is a good thing because using them really slows down the loading of our blogs.

You can read more about this change to the Edublogs dashboard here in the Edublogs forum.

I will be slowly working through previous posts that show how to embed using these buttons to make amendments. But what this means is we can copy and paste pretty much most ‘embedding’ code we pick up around the web directly into our Edublog posts using our Code Tab.

How To Embed Flash Files (swf)

Say for example you wanted to embed a Animoto into your post:

  1. On your blog dashboard, go to Write > Post
  2. Completely write your post adding all text and images including adding your categories, tags and post title.
  3. It’s best to add any code you want to embed as the last step just before you click publish as you’re less likely to have problems.
  4. Click on Save and View this Post to do any final edits on your postImage of how to View Post
  5. Now copy your embed code from Animoto

    6. animotoembed.jpg

  6. Click on your HTML Tab
  7. Paste the embed code from Animoto into your post where you want it to appear then immediately press Publish.

Image of pasting code HTML Tab

How To Embed Video into Your Posts

There are two ways that you can embed videos into your posts:

1. Upload your videos directly into your blog posts.

You can upload and embed videos directly into your blog posts provided they are less than 20 MB. This is an excellent option if your organisation blocks video sharing websites.

Read this post to learn how to Embed Videos Directly Into Your Blog Posts (you can also upload audio files using the same method).

If you’re planning on uploading lots of video and audio files directly to your blog it is worth paying the $25 per year to become an edublogs supporter to recieve extra storage capacity.

2. Embed from Video Sharing Web site using the HTML Tab

Embedding from video sharing web sites using the HTML Tab is the same process used for embedding Flash files (swf).

Read this post to learn more about Video Sharing Web Sites and how to customise YouTube videos so they don’t include related videos.

FINAL THOUGHT

Remember embedding some objects into posts can be a bit touchy.

If you press Save and View this Post when embedding or go back into the post after it has been published it may break the code and you will need to re-paste the code back into your post. Breaking the code means the post will look really weird on your blog.

So at the moment it’s best to add any code you want to embed as the last step just before you click publish as you’re less likely to have problems.

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Embedding Videos From Video Sharing Web Sites

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Our last post showed how to upload videos directly into your blog plus linked to tutorials on creating your own videos.

I love teaching people how to create digital stories and videos because it’s a skill that most learners, regardless of age, enjoy learning, experimenting with and are more likely to spend time perfecting their skills in their own time. Great way of engaging even the most reluctant educator to use technology.

However there are so many videos available online, on so many different topics, that it’s sometimes more effective to use ‘others videos’ than create your own video.

Locating Videos Online

I find the fastest way to locate videos is to search video sharing sites. These are my favourite sites:

1. Google Video

When you search Google Video it searches videos that people have added using Google’s services (YouTube, Google Video) as well as videos from other third-party video sites (e.g. Blip TV, Yahoo Video, Expo Television).

2. YouTube

YouTube searches only videos uploaded to their site. The same search term may give different results for Google Video and YouTube, even though Google owns YouTube. This is why I often search both Google Video and YouTube (check out results for aquaculture – Google Video compared to YouTube).

3. VideoJug

This video site has lots of great “how to do” videos with written transcript of the videos. Here are examples of their video tutorials on using ipods, podcasting and itunes. Only downside of this site is you definitely don’t want to send your students to the site to check out the videos. You may be better downloading videos from this site and showing from your computer.

Embedding Videos

  1. On your blog dashboard, go to Write > Post
  2. Completely write your post adding all text and images including adding your categories, tags and post title.
  3. Make sure you tell your readers that you have embedded a video below as many feed readers such as Google Reader may remove the video).
  4. It’s best to add any code you want to embed as the last step just before you click publish as you’re less likely to have problems.
  5. Click on Save and View this Post to do any final edits on your post
  6. Locate video you want to embed from Google Video or YouTube. Copy the embed code for the video.
    Image of Locating Embed Code on Google Video
  7. Click on HTML Tab
  8. Paste the embed code for the video into your post where you want it to appear then immediately press Publish.

Image of Embedding Code into post

I’ve added the Jurrasic fart video below using this method (apparently it’s funny).

[kml_flashembed movie="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=3953709505775506774" width="400" height="326" wmode="transparent" /]

Customizing YouTube Videos

The related video links at the end of YouTube Videos is an issue for educators who don’t want their students to checking out the other videos. YouTube now allows you to customise your player which means you can choose not to show the related videos.

  1. Locate video you want to embed from YouTube
  2. Click on customize
  3. Change to Don’t include related videos
  4. Copy the Embed code
    videoyou.jpg
  5. On your blog dashboard, go to Write > Post
  6. Write the contents of your post i.e. add all text and images plus your tags and categories. Make sure you tell your readers that you have embedded a video below as many feed readers such as Google Reader may remove the video).
  7. Just before you are ready to publish your post click on the HTML Tab.
  8. Paste the embed code of the video from YouTube in the desired location then immediately press Publish.

At the moment embedding objects into posts are a bit touchy (when you embed a YouTube video like this you are embedding an object). If you press Save and View this Post or go back into the post after it has been published it generally will break the code and you will need to re-paste the code back into your post.

I’ve embedded Evolution of Dance below to show you what a customise YouTube Video Player looks like. It’s also funny and I thought we could all do with education on the evolution of dance.

Final Thought

What is your favourite video sharing web sites? How do you use video with your learners?

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Embedding Videos Directly Into Your Blog Posts

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Let’s be honest video’s are cool. Fun to create and enjoyable to watch. Unfortunately video sharing websites such as Google Video and YouTube are often blocked by schools which causes problems if you want to embed videos from these sites into blog posts.

The good news is you don’t have to upload your and/or your student videos to video sharing websites and then embed the videos from these sites into blog posts; instead you can upload and embed them directly into your blog posts.

Benefits of Videos

Videos offer so many benefits for learning:

  • Great for illustration purposes; can be supported by text and interactions
  • A 20 second video can easily replace a full page of text, especially when trying to explain a detailed process or activity (i.e. “How To”)
  • Fantastic for recording excursions e.g. video the excursion and edit into a movie of less than 5 minutes. Get students to view the video and reflect on what happened during the day, what were the high points etc
  • To show others what the students are doing so that the community can feel part of the learning environment
  • Highlight, freeze-frame or slow-motion an event can be of incredible benefit e.g. playing a musical instrument
  • Pictures in a textbook seem quite boring compared to real scenario shown in videos
  • Subtitles, on-screen labels or voice-overs are of immense benefit to the language deprived learner and second-language students
  • Videos stored on-line allow students to review at their own pace on demand

Creating Videos

Free desktop applications for creating/editing videos include:

1. PhotoStory 3

PhotoStory 3 is downloaded free from Microsoft (if you use Windows Operating System). However you will need to also have at least Windows Media Player 10 on your computer (you can download Media Player 10 here!). It’s really easy to use; allowing you to create videos from photos and images.

For information on how to use PhotoStory 3 check out David Jake’s:

2. Windows Movie Maker 2
Movie Maker 2 is free software that comes with Windows Service Pack 2; so if you have Windows you should have it installed already on your computer (you can download it from here). It’s fairly easy to use and movies can be created from importing videos, pictures, audio and music. Here’s my instructions on how to use MovieMaker 2.

3. iMovie

iMovie is free software that comes with Macs. It’s fairly easy to use and movies can be created from importing videos, pictures, audio and music. Here are video tutorials for using iMovie.

Uploading Videos Directly To Your Blog

Edublogs allows you to upload videos, up to 20 MB in size , directly to your blog. Supported video formats include mov, mp4, 3gp, wmv and avi. Ideally it’s best to keep your videos short (i.e. less than 10 minutes) to ensure they load quickly when your readers view them.

  1. On your blog dashboard, go to Write > Post
  2. Click Add Video button and navigate to the area of your computer that has the video file you wish to upload
  3. Select the video you want to upload and click open. Be patient –will take time to upload depending on size i.e. several minutes
  4. Once uploaded click on Insert into Post.Image of Embedding video directly into posts
  5. Your video will appear as a link in your post.  Your readers just need to click on the link and your video will start playing — there will be some delay while your video is buffered.

videoembed.jpg

Below is an example of a video I’ve uploaded directly to this blog.

podcastingtips_0001.wmv

Uploading m4a Video Formats

Read Ken Pendergrass’s Getting your Garageband podcasts to work with Edublogs and other video hosting sites post for excellent explanation and instructions of how to upload m4a files to Edublogs. Here is a video tutorial on how to use Garageband to create podcasts.

Thanks Ken for sharing your great tips with us.

FINAL THOUGHTS

We hope you enjoy creating/editing your own movies. Let us know how you go uploading to your blog. We would also like to hear your tips for creating movies.

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