Sunday, January 22, 2012

Downloading Videos from YouTube

This post is an update of a tip I provided last year. YouTube is an excellent resource for teachers looking to add multimedia content to their PPTs, flipcharts, or other presentation formats. Since YouTube contains videos that range from educational content to the bizarre to videos that are offensive, it is understandably blocked in school districts. But a teacher can still include worthwhile content discovered at home in a lesson for students by downloading the video and inserting it into the lesson content. Probably the easiest way to do this is to use Zamzar.com. In order to download the video you only need the URL of the video in question (ex. http://youtu.be/IbLz9-riRGM) and an email address. Visit Zamzar.com and click on the “Download Videos” tab and paste in the URL of the video. Choose the format you want to convert the video to since YouTube uses Flash Video as default, and enter your email address. You will shortly receive an email from Zamzar.com that contains a link to download the video. Now you can insert the video into your presentation software and watch your students become more engaged in your lessons.



2 comments:

  1. Thank you! I will be flipping my class this year and needed help knowing how to include videos. Question? I have a Mac book at home and want to make sure that videos are viewable by students at home and school. Also, where would be the best place to store lessons for students to access? I have students on Edmodo.com and know I can post the links but not enough space to keep daily math lessons. Do I need to create a website outside of the district?
    Hopefully you are enjoying your summer!
    Kim Knight
    Brookside Elementary

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  2. Kimberly if space is the problem, you could use Dropbox to store the files and then post a link to them on Edmodo. You can read my Dropbox tips for posting links to files. Or you could upload videos to SchoolTube and thenhave students access them from there. You can also post links on your Schoolloop teacher website. If you have further questions, just shoot me an email via district mail, Skype me, or stop by Mt. View some time.

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