Boclips is the world's largest library of education-specific video content, according to the company. This is essentially a school-safe version of YouTube, designed specifically for teaching.

At a time when video learning is becoming more powerful, more useful, and more in-demand than ever, Boclips is the natural answer to the question of how to make sure videos are school-friendly.

The result is a single place with a huge range of videos that are made from more than 650 trusted content creators. It features ad-free, safe, and non-distracting video alternatives to YouTube.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about Boclips and how it could serve your class needs.

What is Boclips?

Boclips is a curated, education-specific, video platform. Hosting around 1.8 million educational videos, this aggregated collection is ideal for schools.

The 650+ trusted content providers include SciShow, PBS, CrashCourse, Bloomberg, TED, and others. The key here is that this content is available without the adverts or distracting linked video suggestions that may cause students to go off topic, such as when using other systems.

Teachers can quickly find and share videos that students are able to access and view, distraction free. These are all curated and aligned for class use, making it a safe and risk-free video teaching tool that's ideal for schools.

How does Boclips work?

Boclips is a stand-alone library of video clips that can be accessed by teachers and shared easily.

Crucially, all these videos are organized with educators in mind. Consequently, it's possible to search using categories such as age, subject, pedagogy, and even standards such as Common Core or Next Generation Science Standards.

Using filters and tags, it's possible to find the relevant videos fast that are educationally relevant.

Teachers are then able to share using links, embedding in an LMS such as Google Classroom, or by curating playlists for units or projects.

Students then only see the video that was sent to them by the teacher, so no linking distractions or ads getting in the way.

What are the best Boclips features?

Boclips has around 1.8 million curated videos available to be used and viewed by teachers and students. Since all the content creators are vetted, everything in the library is education appropriate.

The fact everything is ad-free and there are no other linked videos means that students can use videos while staying focused solely on the task at hand. That makes this ideal for a wide range of ages and abilities.

Teachers can filter results not just by topic but by curriculum standards, pedagogical use case, age level, and language proficiency level. All that results in an efficient process for educators and the end result should be the most relevant materials, quickly.

Playlists are a helpful way to build materials around a subject area. These can work collaboratively allowing teachers to work together but also for students to do so, perhaps as part of a group project.

Integrations with tools such as WeVideo and BenQ Boards make this even more accessible, and the company is continuing to expand and integrate in this way, making it easier to access.

How much does Boclips cost?

Boclips offers free trials to educators but then there are fees.

Since this uses institutional licensing, pricing is offered on a bespoke basis to suit use cases.

This generally includes unlimited teacher access, admin dashboards, usage analytics, professional development and support, plus integration assistance and custom solutions.

Boclips best tips and tricks

Start with subject collections
Use Boclips’ curated subject collections when short on planning time. These pre-built collections make it quick to find relevant videos for common topics.

Map videos to curriculum standards
Filter and search by specific curriculum standards so video content aligns directly with learning objectives, rather than just being engaging.

Clip segments for focused learning
Use the segmenting tools to share only the key portions of a video that match your lesson aim. This keeps students focused and saves instructional time.

Video provides a great way to capture attention and convey information, but for many educators, the time, tools, and tech skills required to make a video have made it feel out of reach.

Enter Google Vids: A game-changing tool that puts AI-powered video creation into your hands, no filmmaking experience required.

Google Vids is part of the ever-expanding Google Workspace, and it's designed to help you transform written content into compelling video narratives. Whether you're flipping your classroom, promoting PD, or providing a visual version of text, Google Vids makes it simple.

Google Vids: From Article to Video

Let’s start with a real-world example of a Vid that I created after writing Navigate AI with New Risk Assessments from Common Sense Media for Tech & Learning. I wanted to share that piece in a way that was accessible and visually engaging for busy educators who may prefer video over text.

Using Google Vids, I created this short 2-minute video version of the article that highlights the key points with narration, visuals, and music. No need for complicated software or video editing skills. It took minutes, not hours. This is what the future of educational communication looks like. Wondering how you can use it in your practice? Here are some ideas.

7 Ways to Use Google Vids in Education

Here are some ways educators can start using Google Vids:

1. Create A Template For Student Videos
   Build a Google Vids template that students can copy and customize. The Google Vids interface looks just like Slides, so adapting to the interface should be easy and students will love seeing their work as polished videos.
2. Promote Workshops And Professional Learning Opportunities
   Instead of sending a static flyer or email, create a short promo video highlighting what educators will learn, who it’s for, and how to register. This adds excitement, increases engagement, and makes your PD stand out.
3. Communicate With Families
   Turn text-heavy newsletters into videos that walk families through updates, field trips, or tech tutorials.
4. Blended And Flipped Learning Made Easy
   Create explainer videos for key concepts that students can access anytime, anywhere, perfect for asynchronous learning.
5. Turn A Student's Writing Assignment Into A Google Vid
   Bring written work to life by helping students transform their essays, narratives, or opinion pieces into visual presentations. This deepens their understanding of audience and purpose and enhances their communication skills and pride in authorship.
6. Showcase Portfolios
   Students or educators can create videos of digital portfolios or capstone projects, making reflections and achievements more powerful. A QR code can be added to the portfolio or project that links to the video.
7. Repurpose Existing Content
   Already have a blog post, article, or newsletter? Turn it into a video to expand its reach and make it more accessible to different audiences.

Get Started with Google Vids Today

You don’t need to figure this all out on your own. Here are three easy ways to learn how to use Google Vids like a pro:

• Easy Video Creation for Teaching and Learning (Google Skillshop): Provides an educator-focused training designed to help you bring lessons to life with video.
• Google Cloud Skills Boost: Offers a self-paced course to walk you through the ins and outs of Google Vids with hands-on practice.
• Google Help Center for Vids: Access detailed articles and how-tos for specific tasks or troubleshooting.

Currently, Google Vids is now generally available on all Business and Enterprise Workspace plans; see plans and pricing for organizations. Vids is not currently available to consumers.

Videos have a maximum of 10 minutes, and currently can only be created and edited via desktop, although finished videos can be viewed on any device.

Google Vids empowers educators to communicate ideas with clarity, creativity, and confidence. Whether teaching, leading professional learning, or driving education transformation, this intuitive, collaborative platform makes it easy to turn your writing into compelling visual stories.

• Navigate AI with New Risk Assessments from Common Sense Media
• Google’s NotebookLM: An Innovative Educator’s New Best Friend (and Podcasting Powerhouse!)

PlayPosit makes video interactions far more rich and engaging thanks to an easy-to-use setup. This is designed for use in education, and as such, can be picked up by teachers and students with ease.

The company behind this tool, WeVideo, is a video-editing specialist and consequently offers some very powerful tools designed to be used by those with little-to-no experience. The idea being that nearly any video or audio file can be used as a base from which to build learning experiences.

PlayPosit can be used both digitally, sharing online for example, as well as in the class as something to work through as a group -- or be re-used multiple times as needed. But it's so much more, which this guide aims to explain.

What is PlayPosit?

PlayPosit is a video-editing tool that works as a way to take pre-created video content and mold that into a structured learning event. That can mean for use in the classroom or digitally from wherever a student is.

The idea behind this tool from WeVideo is to offer videos that are less about the students being talked at and more about being interactive. When a student knows they could be asked a question about what they are listening to, it can help to keep them more focused and engaged, aiding in uptake of learning.

This tool works using a browser for both for teachers creating content and for students interacting with it, so no special equipment is required, making it very accessible.

How does PlayPosit work?

PlayPosit lets teachers login via a browser and upload videos or work with links to get started. That can mean uploading your own videos or using pre-created options from websites such as YouTube.

It is then possible to edit these videos, or audio clips, by inserting interactivity along the way. That could be as simple as creating a pause at a certain point with the intention of discussing it in class, or adding in a multiple choice question for students to answer on their own time.

Teachers are able to see student responses live in real-time or use the analytics tools that can provide an individual, group, or class-wide view of data at a glance.

What are the best PlayPosit features?

PlayPosit not only lets you make all the many videos of YouTube interactive, in a personalized way, but also offers already created content. To save teacher time it's possible to search the already-created resource list and find interactive videos that may suit the needs of your class. If these are not quite right, you can always simply edit what is there and share as needed to still save time on the bulk of the creation.

The ability to control playback is a powerful tool. For example, you may wish to remove the ability to skip forward through a video to ensure all students watch every part. Usually by adding in quiz-style questions as interval points, this is enough to compel students to watch and take it all in, but it's helpful to have these extra measures if needed.

The option is available to add in multiple choice questions, open-ended written responses, or polls. A poll can be a useful way to assess where the class is and help spark discussion as you work through the videos as a group.

How much does PlayPosit cost?

PlayPosit is free with unlimited videos to use but that is limited to 100 learner attempts at working through these, per month. If you want more you'll need to pay to unlock that option.

A K-12 specific pricing tier is available with a few options that include Single Teacher at $89/year, which gets you 50GB cloud storage, a single seat of control, Google Docs integration, and more.

Go for the Classroom option at $374/year and you get all the above plus use for up to 30 seats, as well as interactive elements with real-time feedback, project management tools, analytics per users, more security and customization options, LMS integrations, and more.

The District plan option is charged at a quote basis and offers wider admin controls and enhanced security.

PlayPosit best tips and tricks

Start a discussion
Use the video breaks to hold discussions about what's been seen and either move back or keep debating as it progresses.

Assess
Create a video on something you've learned and use questions to asses knowledge within that video and of what was learned in class.

Poll up next
Use polls to assess what is of interest and in which areas students want to learn more about before planning future lessons.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

Nawmal is a video creation tool that can be used in education to enhance multimedia communications by letting educators and students access animations.

The company offers this tool as a means to help elearning with the creative freedom that animation offers. Nawmals are the characters you can use and it is their ability to express emotions that is a big part of why this is offered as a way to help with SEL and in other areas.

According to Nawmal, there are millions using the tool to create and share videos. So could it benefit your classroom? This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about Nawmal and show how it could be of use to you.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

What is Nawmal?

Nawmal is an animation creation tool that allows users to create videos featuring digital characters that can be used in scenes.

Nawmal offers text-to-speech so it can be a useful way to animate the written word in a way that may be more engaging for students. Since this has a variety of language options it could also be a helpful way to communicate one message to a mixed class of language speakers.

This does keep things relatively simple, so anybody can get up and running with the tool without the need for any prior experience. As such, this is useful for educators and can also be used by students of a wide range of ages.

Use this as an SEL tool but also as a way to communicate messaging in class or for students to pick up at home, as sharing videos is easy to do.

How does Nawmal work?

Nawmal is a software tool that works on Windows PCs after you download and install it, so it can be used offline. Once you're signed up, or trying the seven day free option, you can begin creating videos.

Nawmal starts with a video that offers guidance and can be edited in and of itself -- a bit like a template. Then you have the option to also create your own videos from scratch. More than 250 Nawmals are available to work with as well as a variety of sets and audio to use with the videos.

Once you've created a video, you input written speech to animate the characters vocally. You can select the language you want to output with availability that includes English, Arabic, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. That makes this a viable foreign language teaching tool also.

Once done you can pick camera angles, select included audio, or record and add your own, and then save the finished version. This is stored locally so it can be edited offline on the machine that has the software installed.

What are the best Nawmal features?

Nawmal is easy to use since it's tailored to total beginners. This does mean it's all  relatively minimalist but the end result can still look impressive depending on how creative you are.

Nawmal does store offline so if you want to share with the class digitally you will need to upload it first, either to a shared drive or to YouTube, to then share as a link.

The ability to create a talking avatar character can offer a great way for less confident students, or those who need assistive technology, to express themselves in a meaningful way.

A selection of character collections and sets is available that can be used to suit whatever the topic or subject that is being communicated. This can offer a decent level of consistency for students, helping them drop back into topics more easily as they recognize the digital space, or characters, from previous learning.

Characters include robots, historical figures, animals, superheroes, presidents, and more. Sets include the moon, a holodeck, historical sites, labs, and beyond.

How much does Nawmal cost?

Nawmal is initially free for a seven-day trial then you will need to pay for the software.

Despite this being software you download and install on your machine, it does require an ongoing subscription to continue use. This has pricing that starts at $166 per month; if paid annually, it's $1,995 for the year.

An option to vary this pricing based on your needs is available so the company has you complete an enquiry form with what you require before coming back to you with a final price.

Nawmal best tips and tricks

Teach languages
The selection of languages lets you teach between different languages in a virtual scenario, or have students create responses as part of their task.

Use for SEL
Have students create videos that show emotional attunement to be shared either privately with the teacher or with the class.

Share digitally
Use a YouTube channel to upload videos so they can be easily shared and viewed from anywhere -- including for students to share with you too.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

The online video and social media behemoth YouTube is not only a repository for millions of free videos, but also the second-most visited website worldwide. 

For educators to make the most of YouTube, they first have to screen out content that’s inappropriate—or simply not educational. Then the task becomes finding and curating engaging and relevant educational videos. Fortunately, YouTube learning channels feature thousands of educational (and often fun or quirky) videos on every possible academic subject. 

The following safe-viewing tips and best YouTube channels will help teachers take advantage of the fantastic free educational videos YouTube provides.

How to Watch YouTube Videos Safely

YouTube restricted mode
In restricted mode, YouTube search filters out potentially inappropriate videos and automatically hides comments below videos. Click on your account icon to find the restricted mode toggle setting at the bottom of the menu.  

Safe Share TV
Create a “SafeView” video simply by entering the video URL of any YouTube or Vimeo video. Then watch videos free of ads and distractions. Includes editing function to trim videos to any length and the ability to share directly to Google Classroom. 

VideoLink
Enter a YouTube video URL in the search box, and VideoLink generates an ad-free, safe URL that can be shared easily via QR code, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and other social media apps. Includes the ability to quickly edit the title, background color, length, and other features.

The Best YouTube Channels for Teaching

TeachEngineering
What’s better than a free standards-aligned digital library chock full of engineering and design-thinking topics? How about brief, engaging videos to demonstrate principles ranging from solar power to drifting continents to musical images? From the nonprofit TeachEngineering and the University of Colorado Boulder, these videos are lively, fun, and highly educational. Use videos as stand-alone mini lessons or combine them with TeachEngineering’ free lessons on its website.  

Learn Bright Videos
A wide variety of diverse educational videos, from four to twenty minutes in length. Topics include history, science, math, nature, art, astronomy, geology, and more. If you’re not sure how to choose from among the hundreds of videos, check out the playlists, where you’ll find content arranged according to topic. The playlist of narrated videos featuring American Sign Language are ideal for Deaf viewers.   

The Brain Scoop
Led by Emily Graslie, the “Chief Curiosity Correspondent” of Chicago’s Field Museum, The Brain Scoop’s videos feature stunning live footage of animals in the Amazon, the joy of cooking with bugs, as well as investigations of museum exhibits, from mummies to dinosaurs to fishes. Have you ever wondered how a museum prepares its animal exhibits? That’s covered too!

KLT (Kids Learning Tubeshop)
Kids love music, which has long been associated with activating learning centers in the brain. KLT’s educational videos combine knowledge with catchy tunes and singing. Will your students learn more? Maybe, maybe not. But they will definitely pay more attention! Subjects sung about include the adorable tiny sea slug, the geography of Michigan, astronomy, produce, and more.  

Art for Kids Hub
Goofy and delightful, the family-run Art for Kids Hub won’t share the secrets of Renaissance painters, Cubism, or Expressionism. What it will do is show kids, in line-by-line action, how to draw fun characters, whether familiar or strange and hilarious (cartoon avocado toast, anyone?). Rest assured that the drawing instruction provided is top notch as well as entertaining.  

Khan Academy Kids
The renowned education nonprofit Khan Academy populates its Khan Academy Kids YouTube channel with hundreds of videos aimed at kids aged 2-8 that explore subjects such as literacy, math, art, phonics, and dinosaurs.  To narrow down the topics, browse playlists including Halloween Learning Fun, Baby Animal Storytime, Colors, or Reading Comprehension, to name a few. 

Vihart
Super fun and eccentric videos about music and math, with appeal to kids of all ages. Using animated sketches and slightly sardonic narration, Vihart turns math topics such as the many flavors of infinity, visual multiplication, or a Möbius strip into weirdly engaging videos.

CrashCourse
Crash Course offers more than 32 free courses on subjects including literature, philosophy, organic chemistry, world history, biology, theater, and ecology. Each topic comprises dozens of videos, delivered with a breezy tone that nonetheless dig deep into the specifics, whether it’s “How We Make Memories” or “Venice and the Ottoman Empire.”

SciShow
With more than six million subscribers, it’s clear that SciShow’s science videos go beyond basics into the realm of the unexpected. Browse videos with curiosity-provoking titles such as “5 Beautifully Complex Ways to Fly,” “Do You Need a Copper Pot?” or “Without Volcanoes, Earth Might be Dead.” Playlists feature topics including COVID-19 updates, historic women in science, the Apollo moon missions, and many other compelling subjects.

Numberphile
With nearly four million subscribers, Numberphile is one of the top YouTube math teaching channels. Down-to-earth video journalist Brady Haran can turn any student into a math lover, with hundreds of entertaining and educational videos exploring the scientific way to cut a cake or perplexing paperclips. Great fun. 

Veritasium
Cool STEM videos that will have you wondering what the fatal flaw of math is and what the longest-running evolution experiment tells us. Be sure to check your reasoning skills with the Test Yourself! Playlist, featuring physics and biology experiments. 

• 6 Ways To Access YouTube Videos Even If They're Blocked at School
• Flip vs Padlet: What is the best video tool for your class 
• Best Free AI Image Generators 

TED-Ed is an education-specific part of the famous TED talks video platform aimed directly at schools and other educational institutions. The idea is to offer engaging videos across a range of subjects to help support teachers in their classes.

While these are excellent stand-alone videos, with engaging talks on interesting subjects, they go further than the YouTube competition. These videos, specifically created for education, also offer follow-up questions that need to be answered by students, in class or at home, to show they have not only watched the videos but have taken in what was said and learned.

Teachers can use these lesson videos as part of the curriculum or can search for a wider range of options, perhaps to support what they're already teaching. The option to create customized lessons is available, allowing teachers to curate a section of videos that could cover a subject, introduce a topic, or even supplement lessons learning over time. These are made public so you can also find those created by other teachers for quick options.

Read on to find out everything you need to know about TED-Ed for teaching.

What is TED-Ed?

TED-Ed follows on from the original TED Talks speaker platform that pioneered the perfectly presented talks of big thinkers from around the globe. Standing for Technology, Entertainment, Design, the TED moniker has grown to include all areas of interest and now spans the world with an ever-growing library.

TED-Ed similarly offers very polished videos that have gone through a strict process of checks before earning that TED-Ed logo in the top right. If you're seeing that then you know this is student-friendly and accurately fact-checked content.

TED-Ed Originals content is made up of short, award-winning videos. These are animated to make often difficult or potentially heavy-going subjects highly engaging for students. These come from leaders in their fields, including animators, screenwriters, educators, directors, academic researchers, science writers, historians, and journalists.

At the time of writing, there are more than 250,000 teachers involved in the global TED-Ed network, creating the resources to help educate students, of which there are millions benefitting worldwide.

What's new in TED-Ed?

One of the great features of TED-Ed is that the list of videos available is always growing. Consequently, new content is available to suit most subjects and to cover the curriculum and beyond. 

But it's not just the official video lists that are growing. As teachers and other users build more and more playlists, these too are available for use by others. As such, this should be ever evolving and worth checking back on regularly to find new ways to supplement your teaching needs.

You can head over to the TED-Ed newsletter section of the website and sign-up to have lessons sent to your inbox daily, with new and inspiring ideas ready to use as you need.

How does TED-Ed work?

TED-Ed is a web-based platform that offers video content that is primarily stored on YouTube so it can be easily shared and even integrated with Google Classroom. 

The TED-Ed difference is the website's offering of TED-Ed Lessons, in which teachers can create a lesson plan with personalized questions and discussions for students, remotely or in the classroom. This not only ensures the videos are watched by students but also that they are absorbing the content and learning.

The TED-Ed website, where all these options are available, breaks the content down into four sections: Watch, Think, Dig Deeper, and Discuss.

Watch, as you'd imagine, is where the student can bring up the video to watch in a window or full-screen, on their device of choice. Since it is web-based and on YouTube, these are easily accessible even on older devices or poorer internet connections.

Think is the section in which questions can be posed to students to see if they've assimilated the video messages. It allows for multiple choice answers so as to facilitate a trial-and-error based approach that can be navigated independently, even remotely.

Dig Deeper offers a listing of additional resources related to the video or topic. This can be a helpful way to set homework based on the video, perhaps to prep for the next lesson.

Discuss is a place for guided and open-ended discussion questions. So unlike the multiple choice Think section, it allows students to share more fluidly how the video has affected their thoughts on the subject and areas around it.

What are the best TED-Ed features?

TED-Ed goes beyond the video content to offer a wider platform of engagement. TED-Ed Clubs is one of these.

The TED-Ed Clubs program helps students to create TED-style talks to encourage research, discovery, exploration, and presentation skills. These videos can be uploaded to the platform, and twice annually the most compelling speakers are invited to present in New York (under normal circumstances). Each club also has access to TED-Ed's flexible public speaking curriculum and the opportunity to connect with others in the network.

Educators can register for the chance to be part of a program, which, if picked, lets them give their own talks to share their unique knowledge and perspective. 

The only obvious downside is a lack of sectionalized standards-based curricula content. Having a section that shows this, in search, would be a very useful feature for many teachers.

How much does TED-Ed cost?

TED-Ed is totally free to use. All of the video content is made freely available and is both on the TED-Ed website as well as on YouTube.

Everything can be shared freely and lessons created using videos can be shared with other users of the platform. A host of free planned lesson content is also available for use on the TED-Ed website. 

TED-Ed best tips and tricks

Setup a watchlist
The TED-Ed videos are also available on YouTube where it's possible to create watchlists -- use this to combine these videos with others for a comprehensive list to share with your class.

Use Google Classroom
Again you can use the YouTube versions of the videos to pull them right into your Google Classroom where follow-up quizzes can be created, carried out and marked right there in your system.

Customize lessons
You can access a wealth of pre-built lessons to use as they are but also to customize to suit your specific needs -- a much faster way than building from scratch.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

At the recent ISTELive23 conference, generative AI was definitely the hottest topic on the agenda. Microsoft presented their take on this provocative topic at their packed session on “Unlocking AI’s Potential: Transform Learning Experiences and Prepare for the Future.” 

The conversation was facilitated by Lydia Smyers, Vice President of U.S. Education for Microsoft, who invited a series of speakers to the stage to share their experiences with generative AI.

Find highlights of this fascinating conversation in the video above, which included: 

• Zeeshan Anwar (Chief Product Officer) and Tara Carrozza (Director of Digital Learning Initiatives) of New York City Public Schools discussed how the nation’s largest school district has embraced generative AI, presented the early work they are doing in the district, and offered a sneak peek at the future plans the district has with Microsoft. 
• Sean D’Arcy, VP of School and Home at Kahoot!, presented the impressive results they have already seen by integrating generative AI into their product suite to save time for educators.
• Devendra Singh, PowerSchool’s CTO, reviewed the new features to help deliver personalized education pathways made possible through their collaboration with Microsoft.
• Mike Tholfsen, Principal Group Product Manager at Microsoft, demonstrated new AI-powered features including passage generation in Reading Progress and tools like Bing Chat. 

Lydia Smyers concluded the discussion with a link to a new course designed to help educators navigate the world of AI in education by covering essential AI concepts, practical applications, and Microsoft AI technology. Find it here: aka.ms/AIforEducators 

More here: Collaborating to bring AI innovation to education | Microsoft EDU

Intel showcased its latest innovations at Bett 2023, focusing on the Intel Skills for Innovation program. The program aims to provide teachers with the resources and support they need to prepare their students for the "fourth industrial revolution." It offers modules that cover four main skill sets: AI and machine learning, programming and coding, data science, and simulation and modeling, as well as computational thinking and design-thinking mindsets. 

At Bett 2023, highlighted activities included hands-on robotics, which allow students to see the results of their work immediately on the screen. 

"We're seeing coding with just using an Android phone," said Director of U.S. and Canada EDU sales strategy Snow White. "Students can program a car to follow a track. Not only is it a tangible thing for them, but it's building skill sets that are going to be critical to get that job when they graduate."

The program has been implemented in over 40 countries, with some adopting it country-wide. Teachers can become certified and Intel continually provides updates to reflect technological advancements. Educators who would like to learn more can register for a free trial on the Intel Skills for Innovation website Once they've thoroughly tried it out, they can reach out to Intel to open the program for their entire district. 

"We're excited for teachers to try it and let us know what they think," added Snow White. "Hopefully one day we'll see it in every school in America."

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At Bett 2023, Philips showcased its display solutions for education, including the E-line interactive touch screens with built-in features such as an interactive whiteboard, wireless screen sharing, mirroring, casting, display chaining solutions, Android app compatibility and web browser. 

Patrick VanTreese, Educational Sales Manager for North America, describes Philips' approach to interactive technology for the classroom. "We really want the teacher or the educator to have the ability to turn it on and immediately start to make an impact," he says. "That's why we made it so it's compatible with many of the other software options and peripherals out there on the market today."

"With distance learning and hybrid learning being a massive focus," VanTreese continues," having a camera and microphone allows kids outside of the classroom to be part of the classroom and that's huge. Our E-line accomplishes all of that."

Philips is a "total solution display house," providing everything from desktop monitors to digital signage, interactive whiteboards and large format video walls. One of its newest products showcased at Bett 2023 is the Tableaux, a digital display board ideal for environments without close access to power. Tableaux can be positioned and repositioned, displaying colorful static content in the same way as paper posters, requiring a power connection only when loading new content. This e-paper 25" tablet features 60,000 colors, 16GB internal memory and connectivity via USB, LAN, WiFi and electric power. Remember, power is only required when loading new content! Use the Tableaux for everything from menu boards to paper-free directional signs and posters.

Descript is a do-it-all video and audio editor that wants to make the whole process as easy as possible. As such, it's a useful place for students and educators to begin, or to use ongoing as a helpful tool to create.

Crucially, this platform also offers quick tutorials that allow even novice users to get the hang of how it works. That does make it suitable for students, and also helps to make it accessible for educators as part of their teaching toolkit.

Descript, as the name alludes, also offers automatic transcription of audio. This can be very helpful if creating audio recordings or podcasts that are going out to those who may not be able to hear and could benefit from reading the transcript.

The features of this tool go far deeper, with a special skill when it comes to group podcasting and screen recording, so read on to see if Descript could be for you.

What is Descript?

Descript is an audio and video production and editing platform that specializes in podcast creation, specifically for groups.

Descript crams in a host of helpful features, including screen recording, audio recording, multitrack editing and mixing, publishing, and even some AI tools for text-to-speech creation.

Coming in both web-based and desktop versions, this is easy to access across a host of devices. It also offers several tiers of pricing so it can be used for free but also with more complexity for a premium.

The screen recording feature, which records from the screen as well as webcams, is a particularly useful tool for teachers looking to create guidance resources for students. The ability to partially add automated speech from text, in your own voice, is a really powerful way to stay personal and engaging while saving time on recording audio perfectly.

How does Descript work?

Descript requires you to sign-up before downloading the software to get started. You are then also required to complete a short survey on how you will be using the tool, before moving forward. It's a pretty swift process and is, initially at least, free.

Once up and running you are able to record audio, for podcasts specifically, as an individual or as part of a group. The ability to collaborate, remotely, is a really powerful feature that students working on a project across locations outside of school hours could find very useful.

Students can easily record audio or screen record right away. It is then possible to layer the audio and video to edit in a timeline style that is very professional yet straightforward to use. As mentioned, there are some helpful guidance tutorials to make sure even less confident users can get going with relative ease. 

It is then possible to output to various formats for sharing as needed. You can also use the tool to publish, making it helpful for those looking to share to social media directly, for example, or for anyone publishing a regular podcast.

What are the best Descript features?

Descript is easy to use, offering deep and intuitive levels of control without getting too complicated in the process. 

One of the best features has to be the transcription, which is done via AI. You can record an audio recording and the written transcription is automatically available -- ideal if students are watching in public and want to follow along without audio playing, or if they are unable to hear.

Another smart feature is the premium overdub voice cloning. This allows you to offer quality voice over corrections to podcasts or audio recordings simply by typing the correction. A very clever way to edit without spending lots of time re-recording. Although for this to work you must read a 10-minute script out, just once, so the system can learn and clone your voice.

You can also easily remove noises and enhance audio with a single click. This makes for near professional level audio quality with just a laptop mic. A great way to cut out any "ums" or "ers" from a recording to give it a more polished finish.

Live collaboration is helpful for students working on a project together, however, it's worth noting this data is stored in the cloud so any recordings are exposed as far as the protection of the platform offers with its own server security. 

A helpful option to add in-line notes to audio recordings and videos is available -- ideal when offering feedback on a collaborative project or for educators giving students direct responses. 

How much does Descript cost?

Descript offers several tiers of pricing, which can be paid for either monthly or annually which are: free, creator, pro and enterprise.

The free plan gets you one transcription per month in 23 languages, detection of 8+ speakers, one watermark-free export, 720p resolution, dynamic captions, unlimited projects, animation and transitions, filler word removal of "um and "uh," overdub voice to 1,000 word limit, studio sound to a 10-minute fill limit, background sound removal to 10-minute limit, stock media library of first five search results, stock template library, collaboration and commenting, plus 5GB of cloud storage.

Go for the Creator plan, at $12/month, and you get all the above plus 10 hours of transcription per month, unlimited exports, 4K resolution, one hour of studio sound, one hour of AI background removal, first 12 search results of the stock media library, creation and sharing of templates, plus 100GB of cloud storage.

Up that to the Pro level, at $24/month, and you get the above plus 30 hours of transcription per month, unlimited studio sound and AI background removal, removal of 18 filler and repeated words, unlimited overdub and stock media library access, custom drive and page branding, plus 300GB of cloud storage.

A custom plan with bespoke pricing is available, which gets you all the Pro features plus a dedicated account representative, single sign on, overdub enterprise, Descript service agreement, security review, invoicing, onboarding, and training.

Descript best tips and tricks

Group cast
Set a podcast creation project in groups so that students can learn to work collaboratively, outside of class hours.

Publish
Show the class how publishing works so they have the ability to create and share their own podcasts in their own time.

Overdub your own
Educators can use overdub to help create audio to go with guidance videos without actually spending lots of time audio recording everything perfectly.

• Podcasting for Educators
• Best Digital Tools for Teachers

This post is sponsored by HARMAN

Technology expectations for teachers are high, particularly when it comes to the media they incorporate in lessons. High-quality video and audio that supports lessons are not just luxuries; they are the standard. Providing teachers with the resources they need to deliver this media is vital to student engagement, helping provide a bridge for unfinished learning and student creativity. 

This student engagement is the aim of Harman’s new AMX Jetpack, a tech management system designed specifically for K-12 classrooms. Using a keypad and wall-plate, teachers can access content and media from a variety of sources using high-quality video and audio, saving precious instruction time and ensuring that every student in the room can follow along with the lesson comfortably.

We recently spoke with Colin Mahoney, product marketing manager of video & control at HARMAN Professional Solutions, about how the new AMX Jetpack is helping educators meet their teaching goals and enhance the learning experience for students. Here is what he had to say about this classroom tech:

Question: In these challenging times, educators need tech tools that save time for what really matters – engaging their students. How can the AMX Jetpack make it easier for instructors to interact with the technology in their classrooms?

Answer: We understand that every second spent fiddling with equipment detracts from the student experience and makes it more difficult to keep the class connected and engaged. The durable, simple user interface makes controlling the system very straightforward, and conveniences, like a USB-C laptop input, which removes the need for easy to lose cable dongles, are engineered to ensure that instructors spend as little time and effort as possible getting their content on the screen.

Q: The ability for a school district to configure and manage large numbers of AMX Jetpack systems remotely is a key benefit of this system. Is the installation process as seamless as the ongoing management?

A: That’s true. Jetpack Manager is a free software tool for PC or Mac that enables an administrator to discover, configure, manage, and control multiple Jetpack systems over the network. Once the systems are connected to the network, administrators can auto-discover and organize them into a logical, hierarchical structure, and configure the audio, video, control, and security settings all at once, or in groups of any size. The keypad, input wall-plate, and receiver are daisy-chained together with only a category cable and a single power supply at the receiver powers the whole solution, making for a simple install.

Q: Is the AMX Jetpack appropriate for educators to incorporate media from existing smart boards, online video or streaming options or even from their own personal device?

A: We included a USB-C input and two HDMI inputs as well as USB pass-though on the input wall-plate for maximum flexibility. Room PCs, document cameras, or streaming devices could be connected to the HDMI inputs and the instructor’s laptop, phone, or tablet may connect through the USB-C port. Devices connected to the wall-plate with either the USB-C port or the USB Type B port can be used with USB smart boards or displays with touch overlays that are connected to the receiver. Jetpack also supports a technology called HDMI ARC. If the classroom has a smart display with a built-in streaming app that the instructor is using, audio from that app will be sent back over HDMI so that it can be played over the speakers connected to Jetpack.

Q: Budgets have always been top of mind for administrators. How does the AMX Jetpack system help keep costs manageable?

A: One of the biggest issues that educational facilities and integrators asked us to solve was that some of the competitor’s packages include too much. No one speaker is ideal for every classroom and if rooms are pre-wired, you shouldn’t be forced to pay for wire you don’t need. Jetpack includes a keypad, input wall-plate, multi-function receiver, and the management software. The multi-function receiver has a lot of built-in technology like an amplifier, microphone input, control ports, and remote mute, but our package does not include speakers, cables, or display mounts. With Jetpack, you only pay for what you need and have the freedom to choose what’s best for your classroom.

Colin Mahoney is the Product Marketing Manager for Video and Control Products at HARMAN Professional Solutions. Colin has over 20 years of experience in the AV industry in technical, sales, and marketing roles. He spent his first few years in the industry as a manufacturer’s rep and has been with AMX and HARMAN since 2007.

About HARMAN

HARMAN is a global leader in audio, video, lighting and control systems for the classroom and beyond. Learn more about the AMX Jetpack and how it creates engaging environments where instructors and students can communicate productively.

Even during the 2021–2022 school year, Lexia^® programs helped accelerate literacy learning. 

In this Lexia^® video, Senior Education Advisor Kerri Larkin shares data and explains how:

• Lexia^® Core5^® Reading helped students in grades K–5 exceed benchmarks 
• Lexia^® PowerUp Literacy^® helped more students in grades 6–8 engage in grade-level texts
• Lexia^® programs incorporate adaptive blended learning, Assessment Without Testing^®, and the science of reading for better literacy outcomes

Tune in to find out how instructional technology can support your educators in reaching each and every student, so that all learners can achieve their full potential.

At Paper, we’re on a mission to help every student reach their potential by partnering with school districts to provide unlimited, on-demand, 24/7 tutoring. Paper provides 1:1 virtual tutoring at no cost to students and their families. Students get help in every subject, or feedback on any essay, from highly qualified educators through Paper’s secure online classroom, available via any device. Paper’s instructional framework emphasizes inquiry-based learning that empowers students to pursue lifelong learning and prepare for college and career success. Paper's multilingual tutors provide support in English, Spanish, French, and Mandarin.  

As of June 2022, Paper supports approximately 250 unique school districts across 30 U.S. states and Canada through the Company’s virtual tutoring and essay review platforms. Recently, Paper launched its first statewide deals, including a partnership with the Mississippi Department of Education, to support over 200 additional districts. In total, Paper now supports over 2.5 million students in North America. Learn more or request a demo at www.paper.co. 

Most of us remember at some point in our education a teacher who would wheel a TV into class, pop a video in the VCR, press play, and then take a literal or proverbial nap for the remainder of class time. 

That’s exactly how not to utilize film, documentaries, or other video presentations in class, says Britton Barnes, a 7th and 8th grade social studies teacher at Clement Middle School of the Redlands USD in California. However, when used correctly – in short clips with educator-provided context – videos, films, and documentaries can be a way to enhance lessons while giving students a deeper understanding of topics ranging from science to history to media literacy. 

Use Video To Support Not Replace The Lesson 

Incorporating video brings multimodality into your teaching, however, videos should be introduced with proper context, says Karen Beerer, Discovery Education's Senior Vice President of Teaching and Learning. “I’m not necessarily sure that a movie by itself is a good enough learning experience for students,” she says. “So what are you doing with that movie? How are you handling the before, during, and after?”

Videos are best used to build on already existing lessons by providing another way to understand or connect with the material for students. “It’s one thing to see the photosynthesis process on a worksheet, or on paper, it's another thing to visually see it,” Beerer says. 

Barnes uses video to help his students form a deeper connection with history through historic clips and recreations that can help them connect with the material. 

Keep Videos Short and Model Good Viewing Habits 

While extended screenings may work once in a while, you generally want to keep it short, 15 minutes or under, and almost never want to devote an entire class session to a screening. 

Beerer says research shows shorter clips are better, and it is easier to align a shorter clip both to your existing lesson plans and to students’ attention spans. 

Some of the clips Barnes uses in his class can be as short as a minute or two, and rarely exceed a quarter-hour on a video or a single activity of any kind. “I don't like to go over 15 minutes on anything. I like to keep moving,” he says. 

Barnes also teaches students how to take notes and helps them keep an eye out for key takeaways. He’ll stop after five minutes and go over important bullet points or use an app such as EdPuzzle, which automatically stops the video to ask viewers questions. EdPuzzle can be used when students watch something at home, but Barnes also likes using it in class and having his students explore the questions as a group. 

Examine the Source and Accuracy of Films and Videos 

When screening documentaries, Barnes has his students source the video by asking questions such as:  

• Who made this? 
• Why did they make it? 
• Is it relevant? 
• Can I corroborate this information with maybe something I've read? 

“Then I always tell my students, we're going to learn to be historians rather than learn history, right? Because those are skills you carry across all disciplines,” he says. 

He has a similar approach when showing historical films. 

“When we are using a Hollywood film, we'll even play games like, ‘Is it history? Or is it Hollywood?’” Barnes says. 

After guessing which film segments are real and which are created by screenwriters, students then research and confirm the changes Hollywood made. “The way you present [video] can create a lot of excitement, and a lot of tension or drama, and interest,” he says. 

Make Sure The Video Screens on Your Class System and Licensing is In Order 

Many educational services provide videos to teachers specifically for the purpose of screening in class. In general, showing a film at school for students is permitted under U.S. copyright law, but holding a public viewing with parents or other community members is not allowed. Check with a school librarian or with your technology or AV teams for best practices and institution policies. 

In addition, many streaming services are blocked at schools, which might prevent you from streaming content on a school device. Remember, different devices within the same school may have different blocks, and permissions are constantly updated by schools and streaming services. So just because you successfully screened a clip using your Netflix account last semester, it doesn’t mean it will work this spring, especially if you switched classrooms and/or devices. 

Empower Students to Share Their Reactions to the Video and Film  

Educators can all too often influence how students react to a film screened in class, says Arnold Blumberg, an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who regularly incorporates film into his classes. “It's an easy pitfall, particularly as someone who's probably far more steeped in the material than the students are, or has seen a given movie many more times than they're likely to have seen it, to start imposing your perceptions on them,” he says. “And it's important even as the teacher to not dominate the immediate reactions, and to allow these things to happen organically.” 

That means establishing an environment in which all students feel comfortable reacting to the film in the way that they experienced it. 

“It's important to be open to the fact that students are going to have a lot of different reactions,” Blumberg says. “Their emotions are valid, and you want to talk to everybody and have a productive conversation, and not try to tamp down any of those reactions, and not try to tell them, ‘Okay, but here's what you should think about that,’ or ‘here's the right way to interrupt this.’ There's no right way.’”

• Research: Video Learning May be More Effective Than In-person Lectures
• 5 Best Movies About Teaching

123 Homeschool for ME
Free printable worksheets and educational activities, arranged by grade or subject.

Ableton’s Free Synthesizer Learning Tool
Fee and easy way for anyone to learn to play a synthesizer- right in your browser window. 

ACMI
In response to live public events being postponed to curb the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), ACMI is running virtual programs for screen lovers and providing free online talks, workshops and education resources. 

Actively Learn
This web-based reading platform aims to help students read deeply and think critically, offering thousands of texts and instructional aids in ELA, Science, and Social Studies. 

AdmitHub
AdmitHub developed the first student communication platform powered by artificial intelligence,  designed for higher education. To support the educational community and government institutions during the coronavirus pandemic, they are offering free access to the AdmitHub platform.

Adobe Creative Cloud, Portfolio, Distance Learning Hub
Adobe is offering Creative Cloud application access at no additional charge to all students and teachers from August 24, 2020 through January 31, 2021 for current U.S. K-12 volume license customers. For higher education and 2020 college graduates, Adobe is granting free access to Adobe Portfolio for one year. Adobe’s Distance Learning Hub provides practical teaching and learning resources. 

AllSides for schools
Teaches middle-schoolers and above about news literacy, respectful dialogue and critical thinking. Great classroom activities and lesson plans. 

AMAZE
AMAZE is a free online resource that teaches about puberty, reproduction, relationships, sex and sexuality. 

Amazing Educational Resources
Amazing Educational Resources facilitates access to and sharing of free high-quality resources among teachers, parents and students.

American Chemistry Society
The American Chemical Society offers its ChemMatters magazine articles for high schoolers online. Biographies of chemists and historical articles are also available.

American Panorama
This free digital atlas of America uses online GIS to explore and visualize data with maps.

Animaker
Create presentations, posters, animations, and infographics.Free account for up to two teachers and 25 students. 

Animoto
A drag-and-drop video creation site, Animoto offers a free account allowing unlimited videos. Great for beginners. 

Aperture Education
Aperture Education is offering a collection of free resources to support SEL, including downloadable strategies that educators can send to their students while they are out of school, professional development resources (such as the EdSERT Optimistic Thinking Guide), and additional resources for families.

Arcademics
Boost student engagement & fact fluency with this free multiplayer educational games, math games, language arts games, and more.

Audacity
Audacity is a free, open-source audio editor and recorder for Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux and other operating systems.

Bark
Free online safety education for families.

Bark for Schools
Student and school safety product that detects potential problems across G Suite, Office 365, and Chrome to help protect students — at no cost. Bark looks for potentially harmful activities that may indicate online predators, adult content, sexting, cyberbullying, drug use, depression, suicidal ideation, and more.

Bedtime Math
Bedtime Math helps families introduce math as a fun part of their daily routine, like a beloved bedtime story. 

Beed
BeED is a Finnish certified platform that provides curricular and teaching needs. Features include a mobile experiential learning app, multi-blocking Curriculum Builder and interactive mapping. BeED will extend its services to schools affected by Covid-19 with a complimentary free six months' subscription to the mobile learning platform. 

Belouga
Belouga is a digital platform providing K-12 teachers and students with a personalized learning journey through connection, communication and collaboration with peers around the world. Teachers can sign up for a free account. 

Best Valentine’s Day Digital Activities
Fun activities that combine learning with one our most beloved holidays.

Best Women's History Month Digital Resources
Explore the top teaching and learning resources for women's history, any time of year. 

Better Explained
A different way to understand math concepts, for students and teachers. 

Better Chinese
Better Chinese, publisher of Mandarin curricula for students from pre-kindergarten to college, is offering free online materials for schools and families with lesson plans and COVID-19 worksheet. Better Chinese materials have been officially adopted by nine states in the United States and are used in 1400+ schools worldwide.

Bibcitation
Easy to use website serves as a free online citation generator for students and teachers. Choose from dozens of styles, from MLA7 to Zootaxa. 

Big History Project
Big History Project is a free, online social studies course that emphasizes skill development such as writing and critical thinking, as students draw connections between past, present and future. 

Blooket
Blooket's game-based learning platform is fun, free and customizable by educators.  

Boardmaker
Boardmaker is a collection of standardized picture symbols used for communication with students who are strong visual learners, including those with autism spectrum disorders, Down Syndrome, speech and language disorders, and behavioral disorders. A thematic series of units called Boardmaker Activities to Go are free, and ready to download, print, or copy.

Bomomo
Fun, simple art site that allows kids to create art using their computer mouse.

BookCreater App
Boor Creator is now offering 90 days free use of real-time collaboration feature, a premium feature usually only available with a paid subscription. Additionally, it provides a list of ideas for using Book Creator for remote learning.

Bookshare
An ebook library serving people with barriers to literacy such as dyslexia, learning disabilities, visual impairments and physical disabilities. Free for qualified students.

Britannica Digital Learning
Britannica is offering consultations with local education experts  to guide district and school leaders in planning and implementing online learning curricula. 

Bunk History
Digital archive of a variety of media produced about current events, public history and government. Bunk shows connection both spatially and across historic eras. Thoughtful articles explore  the current Covid-19 pandemic in a historical context. 

Campus Difusion
Provides free resources for Spanish teachers. With a free account, students and teachers can access selected videos, online activities, and training resources.

Canvas
Always free for teachers to sign up and run an online course. Offers an online community of K12 and higher education teachers who share course templates and resources in a common repository.

Casio America, Inc.
Free resources to help with distance learning, including Downloadable Math Activities, Technology support and lesson videos.  Free access to ClassPad.net, and Emulator Calculator Software has been extended to December 31, 2020. 

Centervention
Game-based interventions that focus on improving social and emotional skills in K-8 students. Educators can get a free 30-day trial and have as many students as they'd like to play the programs at school or at home. Free SEL lessons/activities and printables.

CHALK Academy
Offer multilingual, Chinese and Korean learning resources. 

Chart It
Create and share professional-looking charts for free, or explore interesting charts and graphs made by fellow users.

Chartle
Fully free and easy-to-use site for creating, saving and sharing 10 types of charts. 

CheckMathBeta site offering feedback on user-supplied math problems. Free iOS
app available 

Chrome Music Lab
Chrome Music Lab is a website that makes learning music more accessible through fun, hands-on experiments.

CiscoWebex
Cisco Webex offers a free video/meeting software plan.

CK-12 Foundation
Offers free lessons in math, science, English, social studies and more. Each lesson has a reading passage, videos, optional review questions, and self-graded practice questions. The lessons can be assigned to Google Classroom. Free School closure webinar: How to teach online and learn from home with CK-12

ClassDojo
ClassDojo is a free tool for parent communication, sharing information, and portfolios, provide a platform for teachers to assign and students to complete and submit work online.

Classroom Cereal
Grammar practice in free, printable short stories.

Classtag
Teachers use Classtag to communicate with parents and send lessons/assignments home

Classtime
Classtime helps teachers make home-based learning effective with its interactive  assessment solution. The company offers free access to Premium features for individual teachers and schools during the period of school closures due to Coronavirus / COVID-19. Classtime also offers a comprehensive free account that does not require any application.

Cloud Stop Motion
Cloud Stop Motion is free for individuals, schools and organizations. For schools closed due to the virus outbreak, the company offers extra cloud storage for the duration of the disruption. Sign up for a free school account and contact the company to request more storage.

CMU CS Academy
Provides a free, online, interactive textbook for high school and middle school teachers to use to teach computer science in their classrooms.

CommonLit
The CommonLit Literacy Model is built on a foundation of over 2,000 high-quality free reading passages for grades 3-12, complemented by aligned interim assessments, growth-oriented data, and expert-led teacher development.

Compassion Project
The Compassion Project is a national initiative to provide compassion education to elementary school students across the US. This year's Compassion Project Challenge will take place in November. 

Computer Science without a Computer
Free activities, printables and ideas for computer science curricula. No computer required

Conjugemos
"Use without account" option has vocabulary, grammar, listening activities and games in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Korean, and Latin. Free student account offers unlimited access to public games, activities and printables and more. 

Council of the Great City Schools
The Council of the Great City Schools has published a free report, "Addressing Unfinished Learning After COVID-19 School Closures," which reviews essentials to improve access to learning when students transition to higher grades and topics in mathematics and English language arts. The document also provides six strategies for addressing unfinished learning overall.

Course Hero
Free study guides provided for a range of subjects. Each core topic is broken down into smaller sections which contain videos, infographics, vocab words, reading recommendations, and practice problems. 

Coursera for Campus
Available at no cost to any university impacted by coronavirus pandemic.

Crash Course
Amazing free YouTube channel offering educational videos in diverse subjects from biology to literature to philosophy. 

Cube for Teachers
Cube For Teachers is a free global community for educators to share OERs.

Curriculum Associates
Free printable K-8 Reading and Math activity packs (available in English and Spanish) and guidance for teachers and families to support learning at home.

Curriki
Curriki offers digital learning content—curriculum, lessons and on-demand content —that is free, open, and accessible to all. Be sure to explore CurrikiStudio, their suite of free interactive learning tools. 

Data Classroom
DataClassroom is a web app that allows students in grades 6-12 to make graphs (line, bar, box plots, dot plots, etc.) and do basic statistical analysis. This activity uses data from the 1918 influenza pandemic to illustrate why schools are closing in an attempt to flatten the curve. Free basic account.

Data Nuggets
Data Nuggets are free educational resources, co-designed by scientists and educators.  When using Data Nuggets, students learn about authentic science research projects, and work through an activity featuring real data from a real scientist, providing practice developing explanations about natural phenomena using data from the study.

Deck.Toys
Interactive lesson creation site, offering a free account for up to two classrooms, three private decks and up to 100 public decks.

DeltaMath
Delta Math is a free website for teachers and students covering a wide range of math content from middle school through AP Calculus.

DemCast
A non-profit site for left-leaning activism. *Good resource for high school students studying political science and history.* 

Diigo
Social bookmarking site offering free teacher and student accounts, plus how-to guides for using Diigo in the classroom. 

Discovery K12
Discovery K12 provides a complete online curriculum for pre-k to 12th grade. All main subjects are covered, plus extra curriculum courses. Curriculum is free to use and available worldwide.

Ditch That Textbook
Provides 50 elearning activities, templates and tutorials

DreamScape
Reading game for grades 2-8 that combines strategy, engagement, and imaginative reading passages to create a fun, curriculum-aligned literacy game.

Dr. Roger's Math Neighborhood
This is a free online video series with detailed solutions to more than a thousand publicly-released College Board SAT Math, Subject Test Math Level 1, and Subject Test Math Level 2 problems.

Duolingo
Provides foreign language instruction. Free basic content

Dyslexia Academy
Free basic account provides dyslexia teaching and learning resources.

Ecoballot
Scholastico is offering free Ecoballot election software to help educators do remote paperless elections. “We'll keep helping schools for free as long as the pandemic is affecting them, “ confirmed co-founder Warren Apel in January 2021.  

EdConnect
EdConnect is a free video messaging tool that brings the classroom environment online.

Edmentum
Edmentum is offering free classroom resources, including a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Classroom Resource kit, printables and more.

Edmodo
Teachers, students, and parents can use Edmodo to communicate and continue education— for free—even when in-person learning isn’t possible.

EdPuzzle
EdPuzzle, which lets teachers create lessons from any video, offers a free basic plan, which includes access to more than 5 million videos, ability to create interactive video lessons, analytics, and storage space for 20 videos. 

Educandy
Easily create and share fun interactive games for students to play and learn from. 

Educaplay
Gamify learning with a free account to create engaging learning activities. Choose from over a dozen templates to create your own individualized activity. 

Education Elements
Education Elements is providing K-12 leaders with open-ended learning and sharing opportunities, including free, real-time support that includes webinars, facilitated open dialogues, and 1:1 office hours to meet the diverse and unique needs of each community. 

Eduflow
Eduflow allows users to run online courses with things such as peer review and other learning activities. Free accounts available 

Edulastic
Edulastic is an online K-12 assessment tool that allows teachers to make their own assessments and assignments or choose from over 35,000 pre-made assessments. Edulastic continues to offer free-forever teacher accounts.

Elementari
Elementari is a K-12 online platform to read, write, code, share, and remix interactive stories using professional illustrations and sounds offering free basic accounts. 

Emile
Free access to Roman numeral and multiplication table games-based learning resources.

Empatico
Empatico is a free all-in-one platform for educators of students ages 6-11 to connect their classrooms with others around the world. New! Empatico for remote Learning

Epic!
Epic! provides online learning resources such as books, learning videos, quizzes & more. Free classroom access for all educators.

EverFi
EVERFI’s no-cost digital resources cover topics such as social emotional learning, STEM, financial literacy, career readiness, and health & wellness. Its standards-aligned resources have assessments embedded into them, enabling teachers to see measurable outcomes from student work in real-time.

Facing History
Collection of educator resources includes a wide range of flexible, multimedia materials, from primary sources and streaming videos to teaching strategies, lesson plans, and full units. All resources free with creation of online account

FeedbackFruits
The FeedbackFruits Educators Initiative offers lifelong free access for selected educators who want to innovate together and share their learnings. Tools include activities for peer feedback, activating study material, interactive classrooms, and discussion.

Firefly Learning
Firefly is granting free access to its Parent Engagement & Learning Continuity platform until the end of April 2021

Fiveable
Free resources for AP students include live reviews, live trivia, and study guides.

Flipgrid
An always-free site for video learning discussions, Flipgrid is designed for the digital classroom and therefore perfect for pandemic instruction. 

Fluency Matters
Free resources, downloads and webinars to help teachers of second languages.

Fluent Key
FluentKey helps language teachers make listening meaningful by turning real-life videos into an interactive game. They have hundreds of videos in Chinese, English, French, and Spanish. Free basic account includes videos, transcripts, quizzes, and games.

Follett
Free resources for elearning include articles, lessons and activities.

Formative
Formative enables teachers to build their own assessments and assignments, or pull and customize “formatives” from its library of thousands of pre-made materials. Educators can always sign up for free accounts.  

Freckle
Freckle.com has a free level that includes differentiated activities in Math, ELA and Science, and a basic teacher dashboard. 

Free Math
Free Math is free software that allows collecting digital assignments from students and enables quick grading by grouping similar student work on each question. 

GameChangineer
From the Virginia Tech College of Engineering, this free site helps students learn computational thinking and logic, in order to create their own games and understand the computer science principles behind classic games like Downhill Ski, Pacman, Space Invaders and others.

Gamilab
A platform where anyone can find or create their own simple learning games. Free for schools.

Genially
Create presentations, infographics, and more in seconds. Premium templates now available for free.

GIMP
Powerful open-source image software, frequently cited as the best free alternative to Photoshop. 

GIPHY
Create original GIFs in a few minutes, or explore the library of GIFs provided on site. 

Gnowledge
Free education platform for creating, taking and sharing tests and class assignments. 

GoNoodle
GoNoodle® offers movement and mindfulness videos created by child development experts. Available for free at school, home.

G Suite for Education
Free teaching and management tools for teachers and schools include Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Meet, Google Classroom, Google Forms, and many more. 

Handwriting Heroes
Handwriting Heroes is a multisensory handwriting curriculum that teaches children how to form their letters through animations, stories and song. Letter formation videos are always free.

Hand2Mind
hand2mind has launched a new website focused on K–5 students, which offers free daily lessons and activities created and delivered by teachers.

HHMI Biointeractive
Seven free virtual labs, designed for high school and college students, include built-in quizzes, notebooks, and references.

HippoCampus
HippoCampus.org is a free, core academic web site that delivers rich multimedia content--videos, animation, and simulations--on general education subjects to middle-school and high-school teachers and college professors, and their students, free of charge. Over 7,000 free videos in 13 subject areas.

Hour of Code Teaching Tools
The free Hour of Code computer science teaching and learning resources aren’t just for December. Build your curriculum with detailed guides and hundreds of free videos and activities.  

ICivics
iCivics, inc. is a non-profit organization in the United States that provides free educational online games and lesson plans to promote civics education and encourage students to become active citizens. Now offering a free remote learning toolkit. 

iComputer
Free fun computing home learning activities for children aged 5-11.

IDEA
Free mini-courses in subjects such as research, blockchain, e-safety, virtual reality and more. 

Infogram
Create charts, maps, and infographics for free with a basic account, with the ability to access up to 10 professional templates.

Interactive Constitution
Explore each section, article, and amendment of the U.S. Constitution, with guidance from differing scholarly views. 

Izzit.org
Always-free educational videos, quizzes, interactive courses and other teaching and learning resources. 

JacksonPollack.org
Paint like Jackson Pollack on this fascinating digital canvas created by Greek artist Miltos Manetas. 

Kahoot
Kahoot! offers  a free basic plan that allows teachers to create, play, and host games outside of the classroom and in-class. 

Kami
Always free basic plan includes no-ad service, toolbar functions, view documents and images through Kami, autosave, and file conversion. As of January 2021, Kami offers every teacher in the UK a free Kami license for the rest of the school year. 

KET’s PBS Learning Media
Videos, games, lesson plans and supplemental materials can be searched by grade level, subject area, keyword and standard. PBS Learning Media's Google Classroom integration makes it easy to share resources. 

Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a fully-free comprehensive resource for students, teachers, and parents offering free lessons in math, science, and humanities

Khan Academy Kids
Khan Academy Kids is a free online education program for children ages 2-7. The mobile app was designed by child development experts at Stanford University and engages kids in core subjects like early literacy, reading, writing, language, and math, while encouraging creativity and building social-emotional skills. Always free, no ads, no subscriptions, with an offline version available for when internet access is difficult.

Kinderlab Robotics
For educators (or parents with kids at home) who want to teach building, engineering and design, and coding without an actual robot, KinderLab Robotics is offering its “No KIBO? No Problem!” booklet for free.

Knowledgehook
Knowledgehook has published "We're in this together: Supporting High-Quality Math Teaching in Uncertain Times," a practical report providing a narrative on research-based best practices across four categories: technology, assessment, curriculum, and pedagogy.

KRITA
This free, open-source digital painting software download for Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux, focuses on illustration, concept art, matte painting, textures, comics, and animations.

Lalilo
Lalilo is an online literacy program built by teachers for teachers and their students. Students work on adaptive exercises in phonics, word recognition, and comprehension. Free basic accounts. 

Learning Apps
Free interactive learning modules in subjects from arts to vocational education. 

LessonPix
LessonPix has many free sample resources including low tech communication boards, visual supports, articulation games, math, and books and activities to address literacy skills. 

Libby App
Free Overdrive app for digital books and audio books. Access through libraries.

ListenWise
Listenwise supports listening comprehension with podcast lessons and listening comprehension quizzes. Free basic teacher accounts.

Loom
Loom is a work communication tool that helps users create instantly shareable video. Capture your screen, record your front-facing camera, and narrate it all at once, then share with a simple link. Loom Pro is now free for teachers and students at K-12 schools, universities, or educational institutions. 

LucidChart
Featuring graphic organizing and mind mapping, Lucidchart is a cloud-based tool to make learning visual and collaborative. 10 free Lucidcharts

LucidPress
Lucidpress is a cloud-based tool for creating documents such as infographics, posters, magazines, and school newspapers. Free basic plan includes 100 professional templates.

Maged - School App
Quickly, securely and from any PC send regular and urgent messages to Parent/Students for free via this app. Free extended trial with a No-Cost price plan after that. App demo here http://maged.cc/demo

Make Beliefs Comix
A fully-free award-winning comic creation site that provides teacher tools and lessons plans, a Coronavirus Comic diary, ESOL/literacy help, and special needs sections.

Manga High
Mangahigh.com is a game-based learning site, where students learn mathematics via casual games that balance fun and learning. Free math games and curriculum-aligned activities without account required.  

Mark Kistler
Selected free lessons and downloads to help kids learn how to draw in 3D.

MathCelebrity.com
Automated online math tutor, like a Google for math. Enter your math problem or search term, press the button, and it shows you the step-by-step work and answer instantly. 2nd grade through college.

Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams offers unlimited chat, video calling, file sharing, storage, and more.

Mindful Poetry Moments
Mindful Poetry Moments, a collaboration between Mindful Music Moments and The On Being Project, is a free program that offers a chance to pause and reflect on poetry's ability to encounter ourselves, the world, and each other. Participating schools, individuals and organizations will be offered recordings of poets reading their work, accompanied by mindful prompts and questions such as "Does this poem encourage gratitude? How?” and "What’s a line in this poem that brings a strong visual image to your mind?"

Minecraft: Education Edition
A game-based learning platform that aims to promote creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving in an immersive digital environment. The company provides a free guide to using Minecraft in remote learning.

MIT App Inventor
This free cloud-based service lets students create their own mobile apps using block-based coding. Extensive tutorials support instruction. 

Monsters vs Fractions
Fun site for gamified fraction instruction is simple to use and enjoy and learn from. Teacher guides provided.

Mote
Mote is a Chrome extension that allows educators to record feedback of their students' work. Free basic account. 

Musicshake
Students of any musical talent levy will enjoy this music creation site, which lets users select from a variety of instruments and genres to make their own musical magic. 

Music Theory
Introductory and intermediate music theory lessons, exercises, ear trainers, and calculators. Free online content

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
In partnership with NCSM: Leadership in Mathematics Education, NCTM has released  "Moving Forward: Mathematics Learning in the Era of COVID-19," a document for education leaders sharing best practices for equitable access to learning. 

National Geographic Learning for K-12
National Geographic Learning (a Cengage company) is providing free resources and lessons for online learning and delayed payment terms for its paid products.

National Emergency Library to Provide Digitized Books to Students, Public
Visit archive.org to sign up for free access. 

NearPod
NearPod's free plan allows up to 40 students per session, essential assessment and lesson creation tools and multimedia content.   

NEO LMS
A US-based company that offers learning management systems for schools, universities, businesses, and entrepreneurs. Free for schools with up to 400 students. The free plan includes beautiful dashboards, graphical class catalog, gamification, automation, competency-based learning, GAFE integration and more. 

New American History
Digital learning resources and tools developed by Dr Ed Ayer for American History/Geography/Current Events. Fully free

New Jersey Center for Teaching & Learning
NJCTL helps teachers to effectively teach K -12 mathematics and science to all students with the Progressive Science Initiative® (PSI®) and the Progressive Mathematics Initiative® (PMI®). The site provides free teaching resources for a variety of STEM subjects.

Nimbus Capture
A Google extension that works similar to screencastify. Allows you to screen grab, record over presentations or record a "live" lesson. Many features are free but expanded features can be purchased as well for a modest price.

NoRedInk
NoRedInk is a free online curriculum that includes diagnostic tools and assessments, targeted skills practice, a writing platform that guides students through the drafting and revision process, and instructional resources for teachers. Always free

Novel Effect
Novel Effect provides music, sound effects, and character voices as users read aloud from print books (or ebooks).  Aways-free app.

Olive Book
Test prep for visual learners - no screen scribble, no tripod teachers, comprehensive content. Courses are free for students demonstrating need (eligibility for free reduced school lunch) and for teachers at Title I (under-resourced) public schools and their classes.

Open Culture
Extensive collection of free online learning resources, including courses, movies, podcasts, ebooks, audiobooks and more. 

OpenShot
Free, open-source video editor boasting powerful features.  

ORIGO Education At Home
Collection of free math learning resources featuring weekly digital plans with activities and digitally accessible or downloadable resources.

Osmo
Osmo's new, free Projector App helps teachers project their real word notes onto a professional-looking, virtual blackboard.

Otus
Otus is a free LMS, Assessment Management, and Data Analytics platform designed  for K-12 remote learning. The platform is free for an indefinite period of time for teachers, students, and families.

Outschool
Live online classes on Outschool are available for free to low-income families.

Parlay
A discussion-based learning tool and global community of educators who aim to reimagine class discussions for the 21st Century. Free teacher trial with no time limit. 

PBS Learning Media
PBS LearningMedia is a free, PreK-12 digital media service available to educators nationwide, offering teachers access to more than 30,000 learning materials aligned to state and national standards, including 25,000+ videos, interactive lesson plans, media galleries and more to enrich classroom instruction. Always free.

PBS: Nova Labs
Free standards-aligned virtual labs. 

Pear Deck
Basic free accounts integrate with Google and Microsoft tools and allow users to create interactive lessons, polls, quizzes and formative assessments. 

Pecha Kucka
PechaKucha helps teachers, students, and researchers create short, powerful talks that are engaging, memorable, and easy to share. Basic free plan includes unlimited presentations. 

Phet
Amazing interactive simulations demonstrate principles of physics, chemistry, math, biology and more. Always free.

Pixilart
Remember the old video game graphics? Now you can create your own retro pixel art for free. Start drawing without account.

PlayPosit
An interactive, distance based learning software that allows instructors to imbed questions into videos. The basic account is free and it comes with access to a lesson library.

PresentationTube
Billed as a “Global Network of Video Presentations,” Presentation Tube provides free screen recording and presentation software for students and teachers to record and share top-notch video presentations easily.  

Prodigy
Award-winning curriculum-aligned math practice site offers free accounts for students and teachers. 

Project Gutenberg
Over 60,000 free ebooks, available for download or reading online. Includes books in Chinese, Dutch, French, German and many other languages. 

Pronto
A communication hub connecting users via chat and video. Free teacher access provided.

Quill
Quill.org offers online literacy, writing, grammar, and ESL/ELL resources for teachers and students. Free for educators and students, paid premium reporting features. 

Quizlet
Quizlet offers curriculum-based materials, interactive study methods and games Always free for students and teachers.

Quizizz
Free fun gamified quizzes for math, language arts, history and more. No account required to play.

Reading Rockets
Research-based strategies and tools to help young readers, especially those who struggle with literacy. 

ReadWorks
ReadWorks is an online resource of research-based reading passages and lesson plans for students of all levels K-12. Check out their remote learning resources here. Always free.

Remind
Remind offers communication solutions for teachers, students and parents. A free Remind account lets educators create up to 10 classes with up to 150 people each. Always free.

RiseUp! An American Curriculum
Rise Up! uses creative inquiry to explore Hamilton: An American Musical. Always free.

Rockalingua
Music-based Spanish learning, with online free and premium content.

Rock Hall EDU
Free classroom resources such as videos, playlists, essays, lesson plans, writing prompts, and more. Teachers can sign up for a free account, download the resources, and use temporary authorization links to share materials directly with their students online. From the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 

ScienceWerkz
Get five free interactive science ebooks. Students can use the online reader or NODMA App to read the claimed title.

Schoology
Schoology brings together a K-12 learning management system with assessment management to foster collaboration, and personalize learning. Offers free, basic version.

ScreenCastify
Chrome screen recording extension offers a free basic account.

Seneca
Offers free certified teaching resources with topics by subject and exam.

SEPUP
Free science simulations, scientist profiles, and other digital resources for middle school science and high school biology. No log in required. 

Seterra Geography
All quizzes and printables on the website are free to use. 

SFUSD Mathematics
The Elementary Curriculum, Grades PK–5, is available to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY) that permits anyone to copy, revise, remix, and distribute the work, as long as SFUSD is credited for the original creation.

Shmoop.com
Free study guides, videos, Shakespeare in modern English, and quotes. 

Showbie
Free basic account allows unlimited classes & students, document annotations, voice and text notes, assignment scheduling and access on any device.

Sight Reading Factory
Free sight reading exercises for piano, guitar, woodwinds, strings, ensembles and more. No signup is required. 

Sketchpad
Free online tools to create, export, and share digital paintings and drawings, with a comprehensive User Guide included.   

Slido Education
Free basic plan includes up to 100 participants, unlimited audience Q&A, and three polls per event. 

Snapplify
Snapplify offers a library of 50,000+ free e-books. Teachers can sign up for free and also share their own resources on the platform. Integrates with Microsoft / Google for education. 

Solfeg.io
Online music lesson plans. Free plan includes 20 free songs, unlimited students, lesson plans and more.

SplashLearn
SplashLearn is a curriculum-aligned learning program that covers pre-kindergarten to grade 5 math skills through engaging games. Available on iOS, Android and the web, it offers a free-for-life teacher account. Assignments can be accessed at home for free through laptops, iPads or smartphones.

Starfall
Starfall.com uses animation and sound to engage children in the learning process. Always free.

Storyline Online
The SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s award-winning children’s literacy website streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creative illustrations. Always free.

Studyladder
Free basic home plan for students with a school set up login and password and if parents register for an account. Studyladder offers learning that includes videos, interactive activities, worksheets and assessments.

Sumdog
Offers personalized math & spelling practice, curriculum-aligned. Free account includes six games, standards alignment and personalization.

Sumo Paint
Sumo Paint's well-organized interface makes it easy to start creating digital art right away. 

Sutori
Sutori is a collaborative presentation tool for the classroom for all age groups and content areas. Free basic accounts provide the ability to create and share stories, collaborate, slideshow view and more.

Tailor-ED
Lets teachers create differentiated lesson plans. Free basic accounts include K-8 standard-aligned math & ELA resources, differentiated lesson tool, insights, grouping and more.  

TakeLessons TV
Offers a rotating schedule  of free daily online classes for kids and adults each week; lessons are then uploaded to TakeLessons YouTube channel for users to view anytime.

Teachermade
Made by teachers, for teachers, this site is great  way for teachers to "translate" paper material into digital activities. Bonus: Autoscore student work to save time. 

The Choices Program
The Choices Program has a library of more than 1,700 free short videos (most are 1-4 minutes long) with leading scholars, journalists, practitioners, artists, activists, policy makers, and others addressing topics relevant to its curriculum units. Also available are free up-to-date lessons on current events. 

The Good and the Beautiful
Free homeschool curriculum with course sets (Levels 1–5) that combine and thoroughly cover phonics, reading, writing, spelling, literature, grammar, punctuation, art, and geography. Always free.

The OT Toolbox
Free occupational therapy resources for teachers, therapists and parents designed to build skills in children through movement and play. 

Thrively
Free starter account provides Strength Assessment, Career and Interest Exploration, Journals, Digital Portfolio, and Classroom Management.

Top 10 Free Sites for Creating Digital Art
These top-quality sites for teaching and practicing digital art are not only free, but also highly educational and engaging. 

TopHat
A free Top Hat Basic account allows users to host and record live classes, take attendance remotely, poll and quiz students, and facilitate live chats and discussions.

Toy Theater
Free simple art creation tools along with a large collection of educational games.  

Truth or Fiction?
Non-partisan fact-checking site helps users distinguish between real news and eRumors, fake news, disinformation, myths, and hoaxes.

Twig Science Reporter
Twig Science Reporter is a free weekly science news service for K-6 classrooms, designed to connect classroom lessons with real-world STEM news and events through high-quality video, images, activities and suggestions.

Tynker
Free teachers accounts provide three free coding courses, over 35 hours of K-12 code activities, unlimited student accounts, and professional development.

Typing Club
Free edition allows unlimited students, three classes, two instructors and the ability to create and customize lessons.

Typing.com
Always free, Typing.com provides lessons in typing, tech readiness, career prep, coding basics, and more. Full district and administrative tools.

Unsilence
Through storytelling, the arts, and serious games, Unsilence creates interactive, research-based learning experiences that help communities learn about social injustice, human rights, and genocide. Unsilence's online interactive features are free to use and include choose-your-own-pathway stories, webquests, human rights poetry and stories, interactive exhibitions, and companion education resources.

Unsplash for Education
Over 1 million free images for safe and legal education use.

Van Gogh Museum’s Free Interactive Lessons for in the Classroom and Online
Free online teaching materials on Vincent van Gogh for primary and secondary schools. The interactive lessons can be taught on classroom smart boards, but are also suitable for online schooling, covering subjects including crafts, drawing, cultural and artistic education, languages, history, and geography.

Vectr
Think streamlined, simplified and best of, free, Adobe Illustrator, and you'll understand what Vectr offers. Fully free.   

Vernier
Vernier Software & Technology is providing free remote learning solutions to keep students engaged in STEM during school closures. These free online resources include trials to Vernier Video Analysis™ and Pivot Interactives, the Vernier Physics with Video Analysis e-book and extended demo of the LoggerPro software needed to complete the experiments, Scratch coding activities, experiment content and access from ADInstruments and LabArchives, and more than 200 experiments with sample data covering a large range of subjects.

VEXcode VR
Free computer science/coding instruction, offering three ways to code: block-based, blocks + text, and text-based coding with Python. Students code a virtual robot using a block-based coding environment powered by Scratch Blocks

Vroom App
Free educational tips and science explanation for parents of children 0 to 5 available by app, text, and printables. Always free.

Wakelet
A free tool that lets educators bookmark, organize, share and curate top educational content. 

We Video
Free plan offers 1 gGB cloud storage, 22 songs from the music library, five minutes per month video time. 

Wizer
Wizer's free version of its program, Wizer Create, allows teachers to create self-grading customizable worksheets for their students.

White House Historical Association
Free virtual education resources for learners of all ages, including classroom resource packets, reading lists, virtual tours of the White House, videos, historical essays, and a digital library of White House.

Wonderopolis.org
Short videos and readings that answer various intriguing questions for students. There are vocabulary challenges and comprehension questions. Free

W3Schools.com
100% free and non-commercial site providing tutorials in HTML, CSS, Javascript, Web building and more. No account required.

XtraMath
Helps kids master basic math. Aligned with Common Core State Math Standards, the site targets K-6 elementary school students but is also used by older students for review or intervention. Free

Youth Code Jam
Free bilingual, hands-on coding activities for K-8 that can be used in school or at home, teaching basic computational thinking and computer science concepts. Adventure Mode helps drive student-centered learning. 

YouTube Learning
Explore free educational videos, sorted by age and subject.  

Zearn
K-5 curriculum aims to build deep understanding and a love of learning math for all students. Always free for all children, individual teachers and families.

Zoom
Zoom is temporarily removing the 40-minute time limit on free Basic accounts for primary and secondary schools affected by the Coronavirus.

Zotero
Free open-source software that allows users to collect, organize, cite and share research. 

Zoom and similar video-based platforms make it easy to record a lecture or class discussion. Making these recordings available can allow students to review material and, if they missed the live session, catch up later. 

But there are some questions instructors should ask and answer before hitting that red button, especially if students are being recorded in addition to the professor. 

Should live class sessions be recorded in the first place? 

“There’s a tension here around privacy and availability of content,” says Soraya Okuda, education and design lead at Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit with a mission to defend civil liberties online. If a student misses a live session, it can be beneficial to have talks recorded to listen back on later. “But in video calls, students’ faces, names, voices, and home environments can be captured,” says Okuda. “This can create a tricky privacy circumstance for instructors.” 

She adds that before recording a class, instructors should consider how the data will be stored, if it will be publicly accessible, and if and/or when it will be deleted. 

says that Students should be informed of recordings, says Troy Williams, managing director of University Ventures, a higher ed venture capital firm. “Not all students can connect in real-time,’ says Williams. “Many students are struggling with inadequate bandwidth or are having to share it with family members. They may be having to share the computer itself as well.” 

“Even outside of the current COVID-19 issues, there have always been good reasons to record class hours for students, which is why there is a whole lecture capture industry,” says Williams, a former senior executive at Macmillan where his focus included university systems and student performance outcomes. “The fact is that some students will watch the class hour multiple times to pick up things they missed the first time.” 

How do you record sessions and respect student privacy? 

“An instructor may want to think through a few things in setting up their call,” Okuda says. “A big one is not requiring students to have their video turned on during classes, and providing other ways to participate. For example, by voice, chat, or filling in a shared notes doc.” 

Some of this is about teaching policies but there are also technical questions. “Can the instructor only record themselves, rather than including students in the video?” she says. “What notice can instructors give prior to recording a video of a class? Are there opportunities for students to opt out?” 

“All students should be made aware that class is being recorded and have to acknowledge that they are aware. In this way, students are not caught off guard,” Williams says. 

In order to protect privacy, institutions should make sure that only registered course students have access to any recordings that include student participation. Policy should also be set around how long any recording should be archived and when it is destroyed. 

Do students really mind? 

Tanya Joosten is director of Digital Learning Research and Development, and co-director of the National Research Center for Distance Education and Technological Advancements at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has been recording students as part of her work as a social scientist since the 1990s, and although student privacy issues are often brought up, it’s not a huge real-world concern of students in her experience. “I’ve recorded hundreds of students,” Joosten says. “It’s very, very seldom that I’ve ever experienced student privacy issues where they didn’t want to be recorded.” 

Even so, Joosten says instructors, in general, should consider what class activities actually need to be recorded and would be beneficial for students to go over later. “A lot of times we gravitate to video because it replicates face-to-face so much, and sometimes video is just not the best for learning,” she says. 

Ultimately, whether online or in-person, “We shouldn’t be lecturing,” Joosten says. “There’s research that shows that that’s not a good teaching method and very outdated.”

Will recordings make live instructors obsolete? 

Joosten says she has long heard a concern from fellow professors that recording classes will lead to professors becoming obsolete. 

“‘They’re going to take all of our recorded lectures and they’re going to get rid of us.’ ‘They won’t need us anymore if our lectures become this digital content,’” Joosten says the complaint goes, but professors will be happy to hear those fears appear unfounded. 

“In the research that I’ve done, it’s absolutely the opposite,” Joosten says. “Students are asking for more from their instructors and not more lectures, but more interaction with the faculty members.” 

Schools today – from the primary level on up – are increasingly utilizing live video technologies to provide hands-on coursework. The ability to provide such offerings is being fueled by technological innovation across the broadcast and streaming industry. The traditional barriers of entry to live video production have been lowered. Studios that would have once cost well into the six-figures to construct are now available for a fraction of the price.

Consequently, schools can now offer additional coursework that prepares students for specialized jobs (or future, collegiate-level coursework) in A/V, live performance, and broadcast. Curricula is being augmented with media content once thought inaccessible to budget-conscious entities such as K-12 schools. 

To quickly and effectively build out an AV system that is not just operational for staff and students, but which also empowers the educational components of a school, consider the following:

Step 1: The Infrastructure

The great enabler here is IP-based technology. Just as with other industries, the future of media is one in which video is transferred easily and efficiently in the IP space for creation, production, and distribution. This shift to using IP to transport audio and video as just another form of data is making media integration in educational institutions much less complex and less costly as implementation utilizes standard IT networking rather than a separate dedicated transport infrastructure.

For schools, this is a massive boon as many tend to be some of the best-networked locations currently in existence! Even for those that need to build out infrastructure further, adding standard network cabling is among the most cost-efficient installations available. 

One of the keys to using this transport layer is finding a method that is free to the end user. One option is NDI (network device interface), which enables applications and devices from all suppliers to work together and is provided entirely free-to-use for end users such as schools and districts.

By using a capable network protocol, you enable systems, devices, and applications to identify and communicate bi-directionally with one another over IP. This allows for users to encode, transmit, and receive multiple streams of high quality, low latency, frame-accurate video and audio in real time.

The integration of A/V systems that are IT- and IP-based is foundational to implementing media creating and distribution solutions in schools. Look for flexible systems to create, produce, and deliver content without technological hurdles and costly components.

Step 2: Media Production Systems

Flexible and easy-to-use media production systems are a critical element for creating and delivering rich digital content – be it for courses, performances, sports, assemblies and seminars, or student news productions. What these systems provide is a centralized hardware component of the workflow that brings in video signals, allows for hundreds of production capabilities, and then supports the broadcast or recording of content.

There are production systems that support video, audio and data transmission over IP with near-zero latency. These platforms accept IP input sources and mix/source IP output signals to provide instant access to and seamless interchange with essentially unlimited IP devices from anywhere across the network in real time.

Step 3: The Software Layer

Augmenting the live production systems are software apps that will execute production actions based on writing a script and using a teleprompter. Static and moving graphics can be inserted from pre-set templates for show openings, title animations, and lower third titles with timing, speed, and duration control. 

For teachers and students who may not have media production experience, it is often preferable to create a custom interface that limits system functionality to just what is required to create specific types of programs. Software-based control panels can be accessed from compatible desktops or mobile devices, and can be used for remote video mixing, media playback, audio mixing, and automation.

Using IP connectivity, users do not even need to be in the same location, as they take control from anywhere on the network. The system workspace is simultaneously output as an interactive IP video source.

Step 4: Video Sources

One of the most common video inputs for the education market will be cameras. PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) cameras can provide video, audio, control, tally, and power over a single cable that simply connects to an ethernet port on a standard IT network. Different PTZ cameras are assignable as external sources on production systems. Cameras are operable directly from the user interface, including camera orientation, zoom, focus, and iris, with position presets, speed control, and preview images.

Production systems also provide a wide variety of choices for acquiring content to create educational programming. Multiple configurable external sources – be it a computer screen, mobile phone camera, or other display – can be recorded for playback, replay, and archiving. In addition, the system output combining all production elements can be recorded, so saving and exporting the programs for later use is not a problem. Audio processing and tools are typically included and audio is also available over IP networking.

Final Considerations: Delivery and Flexible Creativity

Since mobile devices are now commonplace among students, media production should not be limited to traditional video displays. Courses often need to be delivered to tablets and smartphones. Some production systems will deliver programming in non-standard video aspect ratios – like 9:16 and square video – along with non-standard video frame rates and resolutions for delivery to digital screens.

A related aspect is the delivery of digital content to social media platforms. Publishing media to multiple popular social media accounts directly from a production system to Facebook, Imgur, LinkedIn, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, and others is easily possible.

Producing a variety of educational programs requires flexible approaches to work in a range of institutional environments. Utilizing advanced equipment and agile workflow tools connected with standard IP infrastructure enables the production of great content – be it instructional, institutional or student-made – while minimizing both the barrier to entry and the amount of technical expertise needed. 

Thanks to continued digital transformation, schools are now becoming the great enablers in making it possible for anyone to create and deliver consistent and high-quality shows – with no training or experience needed – through effective and elegant production workflows.

Matt Allard is Product Marketing Manager at Vizrt Group

While all video platforms for education are designed to enhance and support the educational process, a platform that also supports live streaming will greatly enhance the connection between learners and instructors. Video platforms such as Echo360, Kaltura, Mediasite, Panopto, and YuJa all offer live streaming. 

Even if you’re just setting out but know that you eventually want to livestream lectures, it’s important to take the time to investigate the robust solutions specifically designed for higher education that can integrate with your learning management system (LMS). These video platforms are designed to enable comprehensive video workflows including lecture capture, video management, live streaming, flipped classrooms, blended learning with video, video analytics, and much more. 

“We recommended that faculty host their class times synchronously,” says Ernie Perez, Director of Educational Technology, Digital Learning, and Innovation at Boston University. They asked that instructors not change the day or time from the original course schedule. “If the class was Monday, they hold it at the same time, synchronously, via Zoom,” says Perez. They also recommend recording the class. “After they record, they post into Blackboard in Kaltura, which we call My Media,” he says. This maintains rights management, so only the students in that class have access to the recordings, and no one has access to download the materials. 

“We can also do accessibility [captioning] through Kaltura,” Perez says. “We can do machine capturing for all the videos, and for accommodation requests we can do ‘person captioning,’ which has 99 percent accuracy.”

Beware Zoombombing

As if the many ramifications of COVID-19 weren’t bad enough, internet trolls have been invading unsecured online Zoom classes and streaming violent and pornographic videos using Zoom’s screen sharing feature.

“When you move fast, you’ll skip essential steps and not think everything out,” says Joe Way, PhD, CTS, Director, Learning Environments at the University of Southern California. “Due to a Zoom-bombing incident, we had to institute a university-wide ‘waiting room’ policy, auto-muting of participants and auto-recording of sessions, and we turned off the ability to screen share without permission from the host.”

How to Avoid Being Zoom-bombed

• Don’t post links on social media to a Zoom class, because anyone with a link can join. 
• Require passwords to join a meeting. 
• Institute a waiting room for anyone not using a university log-in. 
• Use the lock meeting feature to prevent new participants from joining.
• The instructor should control who can share screen.
• Disable file transfer, annotation, and private chat for participants. 

Check out these resources from Zoom and USC for more detailed recommendations on how to prevent Zoom-bombing.

Video Continuity Tips and a Worksheet

Both Echo360 and Mediasite, two well-established companies that serve higher education online video needs, are helping institutions make the overnight transition from face-to-face instruction to remote teaching and learning. Following are their top tips for facilitating this transition.

Tips from Echo360 

Echo360 supports several online learning methods, including remote video learning with active engagement and video embedded into the LMS/VLE for online courses. 

1. Re-use recordings from previous courses. Many instructors teach similar courses across multiple academic terms and have saved recordings from previous courses. Since these videos are likely still available in your LMS library, all you need to do is publish them to your current course and you and your students can engage in active discussion linked to each video.
   
2. Create discrete video learning objects. While repurposing previous class videos can get you started, the best practice for remote delivery is to break instruction down into shorter videos that cover a single topic or related set of topics.
   
3. Livestream your classes. When classes are live streamed, students can participate fully during classes and even ask questions and answer polls. In the event of a full campus closure, keep in mind that livestreaming alone might not be your best option as students return home to many different time zones and may not all have stable internet access. In such cases, providing both live streaming and on-demand playback options may be more beneficial for your students.
   
4. Use engagement analytics to identify struggling students. An engagement score is a key indicator of student success, and monitoring engagement for remote learners is critical. Instructor dashboards will identify students who are most at risk, and you can sort your entire student list by least-engaged to most-engaged on the student tab for a more holistic view.

Check out the full Echo360 Guide to Academic Continuity During Campus Disruptions.

Tips from Mediasite 

Mediasite video capture, management, and streaming solutions support online and remote teaching and learning. Below are excerpts from a worksheet created by Mediasite for video continuity planning.  

Take Inventory: What video do you already have? 

Prioritize: Find a video initiative that gives you the biggest bang and gain for your video buck. 

What video will be most valuable? Who needs to capture knowledge or create video? How frequently? What’s the most effective and engaging way to share the content? From where will video content originate? 

Video streaming and management: From what screens or devices will users watch video? 

Infrastructure: What resources do you have?

For content creators: It's important to be able to create content anywhere, on any device.

For viewers: Viewers need to be able to watch content anywhere, on any device.

For administrators: A complete platform for capture and video management will be most useful for administrators.

Download Mediasite’s complete Top Things to Consider When Developing a Campus Continuity Plan

Tech & Learning interviews Doug Levin, founder of the K–12 Cyber Incident Map, which has been instrumental in drawing attention to cybersecurity threats facing U.S. K–12 public schools and districts. Levin discusses the most recent research updating the threat map; lessons learned through these incidents; issues around evaluating the harm of a data breach; specific incidents of breaches, including ransomware, malware, and vendor breaches; and challenges and policy implications for the future.

Christine Weiser of Tech & Learning interviews Dr. Amy Warke, Superintendent of LaGrange Highlands District 106 in Illinois, to learn how the district quickly ramped up their elearning program to meet the needs of longer term remote learning. Find a sample of one of their elearning lessons in the Remote Learning Playbook by Dr. Kecia Ray here: https://techlearning.tradepub.com/free/w_futa01/prgm.cgi?a=1

[Sample eLearning Lesson]

Christine Weiser of Tech & Learning interviews Ryan Imbriale, Executive Director of Innovative Learning at Baltimore County Public Schools, to learn about how their district is addressing the rapid shift to remote learning due to school closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Presenting through online platforms requires unique skills. Presenters need to be able to multitask and know how to troubleshoot in the moment. Below are some best practices my colleagues (ClayCodes, LauraOgando7, PatriciaPaddock)  and I collected which are helpful to keep in mind while presenting remotely. 

Roles

Roles can be combined depending on the person’s skills. If a live audience is present, it’s recommended to have the presenter support those in physical attendance and a facilitator support those online. 

If the presentation is strictly online it’s recommended to have a remote monitor to support questions but the presenter can also build in breaks to answer any questions that may have come up. 

For teachers, think about which students might be good in each role.

Remote participant monitor

• Greets people who enter remotely
• Answers questions
• Provides resources

Tech Support

• Helps people access the agendas and slides
• Helps open application or download extensions
• Helps participants if they’re having tech issues
• Mutes participants
• Pins participants

Facilitator

• Presenting
• Engaging with the audience
• Responsive to questions and feedback

Best Practices

• Start with going over housekeeping 
• Bring the energy!
• Be sure to pause slightly longer than normal for any questions that expect a response.
• People may be struggling with technology and need time to respond.
• Create a check off document of everything needing to be done prior to presenting.
• A checkoff document is a great reference point and inevitably the times it’s not used will be the times something goes wrong.

Lessons Learned

• Set up and test all the tech as soon as you access equipment
• Test sound, microphone and all other components
  Consider having another device that can be used to pick up audio if the main device doesn’t have a working microphone.
• Give yourself enough time to tinker and troubleshoot (at least 45 minutes)

Tech Tools

Microsoft Teams
Directions for set up:

• Schedule the event through teams.
• At the time of the event join from your calendar. 
• Use the present screen button to present your screen or a document. 

Extensions
Prior to session
     

• Check that extensions to be used are installed.
• Log in to any extensions if they require it. 
• Test the extension use as it would be done during a training. 

Tech Specs

Speak close to the mic  

• A headset would be helpful if you want to move around 

Mute all participants so their sound doesn’t interfere with the presentation.

• Remind participants to enter with mics muted. 
• Provide them with protocols for speaking i.e. indicate in the chat you'd like to speak.
• Participants can control their own mic and verbally participate in the session one at a time.

cross posted at The Innovative Educator 

Lisa Nielsen (@InnovativeEdu) has worked as a public-school educator and administrator since 1997. She is a prolific writer best known for her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator. Nielsen is the author of several booksand her writing has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, Tech&Learning, and T.H.E. Journal.   

Adobe Premiere Rush

Create and share professional-looking videos from nearly any device

Pros: Learning materials assist users at all levels, and toggle-on sharing options mean fewer steps from creation to publication.

Cons: There’s no teacher dashboard, so it’s a challenge to keep track of individual student progress.

Bottom Line: It's an intuitive platform for video creation that also prepares students for more complex software.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

When pro athletes want to bring their game to the next level, they go to film. They see what works, see what needs tweaking. Why should teachers ignore such a valuable resource? Edthena helps teachers make the most of professional learning by recording and uploading videos of classroom practice, model lessons, and coaching conversations into a video library.

Who: Justin Taylor, Assistant Director of Educational Initiatives and Innovation, Office of the Deputy Superintendent

Where: Hartford Public Schools, Hartford, CT

What: Using Edthena in “Lab Classrooms” for Professional Development

As a former teacher, I often watched videos of others teaching in order to improve my instructional practice. While these videos rarely reflected the specific context and unique assets and challenges of our district, they were formative tools in my own professional learning. 

This year, our district’s instructional coaches identified 66 K-12 classrooms where teachers were exemplifying high-quality instructional practices. These “lab classrooms” provided an excellent opportunity for us to celebrate and elevate effective practice within our own district by using video to capture best practices.

We first on-boarded a small group of instructional coaches as Edthena early adopters. These coaches were excited about the prospect of capturing and using video for professional learning and also were comfortable with technology. From November to January, they recorded and uploaded videos of classroom practice, model lessons, and coaching conversations. By February, after all 66 lab classrooms had been identified in the district, we provided training to all elementary, math, and Humanities instructional coaches on how to use the platform to record and upload video of lab classroom teachers. Instructional coaches were tasked with recording and uploading at least four videos for each of their lab classrooms.

Biggest Challenge

While we have yet to face any considerable adaptive challenges, our greatest technical challenge to date is determining how to capture high-quality video with low-cost technology. Currently, instructional coaches are using their cell phones for video recording. While generally okay, the audio quality may sometimes be compromised by excessive background noise or distance between the observer and the teacher. Moving forward, we plan to invest in technology that will improve how we capture video and/or audio in classrooms.

Finding Funding

We paid for Edthena and offered small stipends to our lab classroom teachers through grant funding from the Barr Foundation.

Pro Tips

By starting with a small group of instructional coaches as early adopters, we were able to generate interest in Edthena with those who were already eager to capture video of teacher practice. In addition, using instructional coaches absolved teachers of any responsibility in recording video, eliminating a potential barrier to participation. Moreover, since we focused on capturing video in lab classrooms, teachers understood that by agreeing to serve as a lab classroom their practice would be recorded and shared for professional learning.

Tech Tools

Edthena

Chromebooks

IPhones/Android for recording

Edtech in Action is a new series of articles from attendees and speakers of Tech & Learning's events. Click here to learn more about these events and to apply to attend.

Initiative: Antwerp Local Schools “Archers Live”

Location: Antwerp Local Schools, Antwerp, Ohio

Like many progressive schools, we have several initiates in the works as a means of advancing educational opportunities for our students. One initiative that has achieved recognition at the local, state, and national level is our Journalism and Broadcasting program.  

The main feature of our program is the production of daily news and information video segment that is shared with our students and staff and also shared to the world through the ALSTV Archers Live YouTube. 

Student members of the Journalism & Broadcasting class take great pride in producing a high-quality program each and every day. The instructor for the class also takes great pride in the final product.  The instructor realizes the importance that a STEM culture (featuring the 4Cs: creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration) has played in the development and skill set growth of her student members. These skill sets are coupled with an administration and school board willing to provide the financial support needed to purchase high quality, state of the art equipment.  

The most recent video segment that has caught the eye of nearly 40,000 viewers is a segment the class produced this past month for the HGTV Home Town Takeover national competition. Class members and community members worked together to produce the video segment illustrating the plight of our small town and the hope that HGTV will select our town for a “Takeover-Makeover.” The video is viewable on our school website.  Through this video segment, viewers can see firsthand the skills students have developed and put to use for a real-world purpose. Likewise, viewers can see how our staff has found an amazing tool to foster creativity, critical thinking, communication & collaboration in our student body.  

Marty Miller is superintendent of Antwerp Local Schools in Ohio.

Click here for more info and to apply to attend a Tech & Learning Leadership Summit.

Adventure 2 Learning, a video-based learning platform, today announced the launch of its second generation educational technology platform. The new platform offers more on-demand, interactive videos and more supplemental resources from Pre-K to 8th grade. Videos focus on core curricula, social and emotional topics and mindfulness, and were developed or curated in response to educators’ requests.

Adventure 2 Learning has expanded its program portfolio with Digital Life lessons, in partnership with Circle Media, ranging from how to protect user names and passwords to respecting others online to prevent cyberbullying. 

New algorithms suggest videos based upon teachers’ needs, making recommendations to videos they might like and keeping them updated on what’s trending for the grade level and subjects they choose. All Adventure 2 Learning content is vetted by a community of educational advisors and experts.

For more information on Adventure 2 Learning, visit https://www.adventure2learning.com

Mevo Start Camera

Following on the heels of Mevo’s Plus livestream camera, the $300 Mevo Start Camera can make sending HD video and clear audio easy, regardless of whether it’s for streaming a school assembly, sports event or even a perpetual weather cam. The black camera doesn’t require any knowledge of video or streaming sites yet connects to the Internet via the school’s Wi-Fi, Ethernet or an LTE mobile data network. Only three inches tall, the Start camera can sit on its own or be attached to a standard tripod. Look for it by springtime.

Gale and Udemy, have partnered to provide public libraries with an alternative solution to LinkedIn Learning. 

Coming Winter 2020, Gale will be launching Gale Presents: Udemy, a dynamic content platform powered by Udemy for Business, that uses a data-driven curation process to deliver over 3,500 on-demand video courses across more than 75 different categories. With just a library card (no LinkedIn account needed), library patrons will be able to access these courses for free at participating public libraries. 

Read more about Gale Presents: Udemy here. 

 A multimedia approach to instruction and training is now the expected way to teach at all levels and in all sectors of education. Video is a crucial tool for educators, and the better teachers understand how to create and use video content, the more dynamic learning opportunities will become.  

The Video Show is a new event featuring education experts who will tackle these issues and more. The conference and exhibition is scheduled for Dec. 4–5 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

The Video Show will feature more than 100 sessions on all kinds of content creation, as well as a screening room, demo areas, streaming studio and exhibit floor, covering every aspect of video content creation and distribution. Hear from representatives of schools, universities and programs about the technologies and workflows they’re using, and get inspired while learning how video can enrich the classroom experience. 

Find out more at www.thevideoshow.com. Use this link https://bit.ly/2qMnikb to get 50% off registration. 

Produced as part of The Video Show, The Video for Educators sessions are a must-attend for teachers, trainers and other professionals. Find a quick overview of the sessions below:

The Future of Video Conferencing, Lecture Capture and the Remote Classroom — 1 Beyond’s Rony Sebok will explore the latest trends in video and show how automated camera and video production tools can improve the quality of the video conference experience for corporate training, boardroom meetings, remote classrooms and government meetings. Anyone who is designing video into a meeting room or lecture hall space will be interested in this session.

Connecting, Conversing and Collaborating with Video — Video Collaboratory’s Sybil Huskey will focus on making video "more than just watching" as she presents ways to connect, converse and collaborate with this ubiquitous medium that is an increasingly important force in changing our world.

High School Video: The Sky's the Limit for Digital Citizenship — This session reveals the why, what, and how video production at the high school level can and should play a prominent role in educating the youth of the United States in the years ahead. Panelists from Long Island’s Southold Union Free School District will provide a step by step guide as to how to launch a Student Video TV broadcasting program with any budget.

PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs: Building the Next Generation of Public Media — PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Lab founder Leah Clapman and student panelist will highlight the value of student journalism. They’ll share curriculum highlights, research that shows impact on learning and student development, as well as how teens see the future of news. 

When 'Plan A' Fails, Try a Virtual Conference — The Nebraska Department of Education’s Drew Worster will explain how they pulled off a successful online conference with over 1,200 participants and 4,500 session views with only three weeks notice. He will discuss website construction, UI planning, streaming/web conferencing tools, equipment needs, troubleshooting, feedback, branding, and more.

The State of Video in Education 2019 — Kaltura’s Jeff Rubenstein will share information from reports entitled “The State of Video in Education 2019” and the newly-released “Video and Learning at Work: The State of Video in the Enterprise 2019.” Attendees will also find out more about emerging trends that will shape video in the next two years.

How to Leverage Video to Transform the Future of Higher Education — A panel featuring TJ Trochlil McGreevy, Rachel Koblic, Jeff Sironi and Renee Beck of 2U Inc.'s Curriculum & Learning department will discuss how they combine the power of video with empirically-based learning principles to produce content for their university partners’ online degree programs. They will share insights into the strategy, planning, and deployment of video content and best practices. 

Setting Up a Streaming Broadcast for Internal or External Events — Relate Corporation’s Rick Zanotti will teach attendees how to choose the right  streaming and video switching software; which gear you will need to get started; and explain the options for streaming and recording your message. 

Register for The Video Show online at https://bit.ly/2qMnikb. 

Based on growing demand for multimedia products in the education sector, Boxlight Corporation today announced it has entered into an exclusive global reseller partnership agreement with Moovly Media Inc. 

With this agreement, Boxlight will resell the jointly branded MimioMoovly cloud-based, video creation software. With no installation or maintenance needed, the online tool will enable students and teachers to create videos using over 1.3 million royalty-free media assets – including photos, illustrations, video clips, sound and music – to support classroom instruction, flipped classroom videos, video assignments, media literacy workshops, and more. MimioMoovly can be used as a stand-alone video production tool or it can enhance larger interactive projects or lessons as part of the total Boxlight solution.

To learn more, go to http://boxlight.com/mimiomoovly.

The Video Show announces Video for Educators, presentations by educators, journalists, and industry experts that explore the many ways video can be used as a powerful force for teaching and learning. Presentations include:

• The Future of Video Conferencing, Lecture Capture and the Remote Classroom
• Connecting, Conversing and Collaborating with Video
• High School Video: The Sky's the Limit for Digital Citizenship
• PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs: Building the Next Generation of Public Media
• When 'Plan A' Fails, Try a Virtual Conference
• The State of Video in Education 2019
• How to Leverage Video to Transform the Future of Higher Education
• Setting Up a Streaming Broadcast for Internal or External Events

The Video Show explores every aspect of video content creation, showcasing industry-leading brands, innovative tech startups, and the latest products and software. 

Tech & Learning readers are invited to take advantage of the 50% discount off the Studio admission price. Admission to the show floor is free. 

The Video Show takes place December 4-5, 2019 in Washington D.C. To  register for free or learn more, visit thevideoshow.com

Today NewTek introduced the next generation TriCaster® Mini, the newest addition to the TriCaster product line.

The plug-and-play setup and small size allows users to take it anywhere, set up and get started in minutes. Included are production tools such as built-in virtual sets, animated transition effects, replay for sporting events, streaming, recording, projecting, one-touch social media publishing, and more. 

TriCaster Mini’s 8 external video inputs will support any combination of compatible sources in resolutions up to 4K UHD. TriCaster Mini’s four plug-and-play NDI connections with power-over-Ethernet (PoE) makes video, audio, tally, power and control as easy as plugging in an Ethernet cable. Two included input modules with PoE directly connect existing HDMI devices, upgrading them to NDI-compatible sources. 

Exclusive to the new TriCaster Mini is the NDI|HX Camera Application for Mobile Devices available as a download from the Apple store. This allows video, up to 4K UHD from an iOS device, to transmit over Wi-Fi as an NDI source and connect with TriCaster Mini systems on the network. 

For more information about the new TriCaster Mini, visit https://www.newtek.com.

SchoolTube

Video-sharing site offers safe environment for students

Pros: Safe and easy video hosting without advertising and side video recommendations.

Cons: Students may lack motivation since the site is purely educational and removes what makes YouTube so popular.

Bottom Line: A great solution for schools hoping to publish videos in a tightly controlled space. 

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Flipgrid

Pose questions, spark thoughtful video responses with stellar tool

Pros: Customizable video responses push students to plan their responses and speak thoughtfully.

Cons: The social media-style features that make Flipgrid fun can also distract students from the purpose of the assignment.

Bottom Line: A simple way for students and teachers to create online discussion, as long as your classroom culture is mature enough to use it wisely.

Read more here.

By Common Sense Education

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

NBC Learn

Vast video site offers current, historical content

Pros: The archive is truly impressive. Teachers can create playlists or download videos. Integrates with Google Classroom.

Cons: Can't re-arrange videos in a playlist. Learning activities aren't integrated with viewing.

Bottom Line: This is a great source for video-based news, thanks to the huge archive, current events coverage, and teacher-friendly extra links to Newsela articles.

Read more 

Site of the Week picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed byCommon Sense Education, which helps educators find the best edtech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

 TouchCast Studio

Cool tool takes videos to the next level

Pros: Professional video templates incorporate elements from multiple sources, and creative features enhance the video's content.

Cons: Students may discover inappropriate content through some of the vApps; help is outdated and hard to locate.

Bottom Line: It's a creative tool for teachers to make interactive video content and for students to present information, but teachers should monitor use.

Read more here.

By Common Sense Education

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

One of the most impressive broadcast curriculums in the nation is located in Carlsbad, California – not at a college, however, but at Carlsbad High School. The prowess of the school’s Broadcast Journalism Program, branded CHSTV, is seen in its daily productions, its PBS documentary specials, and at the annual STN nationwide student broadcasting competition – where CHSTV has consistently won “Best Daily Newscast in the Nation” since 2008. 

CHSTV’s newscasts are tightly crafted, visually infectious, professional grade, and produced entirely by students. Packed with live studio and field reports, guest interviews, and special interest features, each show delivers information the students feel their peers need to know. The 12-minute high definition newscast is seen live via the web, in classrooms through closed circuit television, and across the Carlsbad area over local cable systems. 

At 7:30 a.m. students arrive with no content prepared and with no idea of what role they will play in that morning’s newscast. A brainstorming session is held with CHSTV Broadcast Teacher Douglas Green, and the students then begin researching topics, writing copy, gathering imagery, creating graphics, and editing video. By 9 a.m., there’s a quick run-through, and by 9:18 am – without fail – the news goes live. 

The students run the entire show. They work as on-camera talent and news anchors, and execute the live show from the control room.

News Training Ground

Green — named 2016 California Teacher of the Year — formed CHSTV in 2002 as a means to give students who were learning video and broadcasting at the district’s three middle schools a continuing education in the trade. Today, 90 percent of the students in the CHSTV program come from those middle school programs. 

Along with working in each technical position—both in front of and behind the camera—during the grading period, students also take turns delivering an interactive presentation using the Magic Window – a giant touch screen monitor. The students are also expected to produce a feature segment on any topic of their choice every three weeks. On deadline day, several student/content producers evaluate the video clips for use in the newscast as well as grade the work. 

The demand for the program is high, and Green teaches two different classes of students according to a rotating block schedule. This means there may be 12 or more students in the studio serving as anchors, interviewers, camera operators, floor directors, teleprompter operators, and production assistants, with many more in the control room serving as technical directors, producers, and graphics operators. The key, Green says, is they must all communicate clearly and effectively with each other in order to have a successful outcome.

“One reason we’ve been so successful is that we attract students who really have a passion for telling stories, and who embrace this concept that, as journalists, we are the voice for the voiceless,” Green added. 

This is especially true for the documentary films the students have produced on such hot topics as vaccines, food banks for struggling military families, and interesting jobs for the new era of work. 

The result of the curriculum’s educational and technical goals is a combination of real-world skills used in broadcasting and video creation with educational information delivered to the students in the district. Upon high school graduation, CHSTV students typically go on to study broadcast journalism and other media arts at the university level.

Building a Broadcast-Quality Facility

The documentary work is commissioned by professional organizations and corporations. The students pick the projects that interest them, and this work generates vital revenue that funds the CHSTV program. Other sources of revenue include grants, fundraising, and a parents’ booster club. Together, this income helps defray the many onerous, on-going production costs. 

CHSTV also has a 501c3 non-profit designation, meaning it’s easier and more appealing for broadcast technology companies to donate equipment to the program since it’s tax deductible. The region is also rich with broadcast news professionals and engineers that occasionally offer their advice and technical expertise. 

This allows CHSTV’s aspiring journalists to hone their technical and soft skills to the point where they are immediately valuable to any broadcast news, sports, or network TV operation. 

Situated side-by-side in the control room, two “dueling” NewTek TriCasters are used to roll live video opens and packages, and to switch and stream the show. A third TriCaster is used to live stream sports and special events from remote locations, while a fourth is kept in storage as a back-up. A companion TriCaster technology, called Live Text, is used to create broadcast graphics, such as lower third supers. 

“The TriCaster is just a wonderful piece of equipment that gives our kids the opportunity to create freely on the fly. It’s sophisticated and full-featured, yet user-friendly for kids to learn quickly,” Green said. “It’s the foundation of a program that lets kids develop their creativity, character, and collaboration skills as they work in partnership to tell stories that they hope will make the world a better place.” 

The adjacent, 900 square foot studio is equipped with two Panasonic P2HD studio cameras on dollies, a Canon C300 DSLR camera on a crane, two Sony XDCAM 4K camcorders, a GoPro, as well as a wireless, handheld Ronin-S “Fly Cam” that serves as a Steadicam to fluidly follow the action. The studio has a large anchor desk, an overhead lighting grid, two large video wall displays at the back of the set, and ample space for students to conduct guest interviews while seated on the comfy furniture or walking around the set. 

Live feeds are brought in from additional cameras at remote locations—such as local events, restaurants, public places and sports venues—via satellite. This equipment, courtesy of a generous donation by ViaSat Corporation, includes two satellite uplinks that reside on the roof of the high school and its nearby stadium. Using this satellite gear, the students can transmit video signals at high-speed via a satellite. At remote locations, the students also use a Dejero bonded cellular transmission system to back-haul their live video signal to the studio for inclusion in the newscast. 

“The studio is equipped with a full editing lab. Each computer contains Final Cut X and the Adobe Production Suite,” said Student Producer/Journalist Kelsey Beekman. “Students can use these computers to edit their stories, do research, and to find upcoming events to cover. Our newsroom is also furnished with four soundproof editing bays perfect for editing stories and recording voice-overs. We’re grateful to have a studio that helps students produce their best work.” 

“When a student first begins to learn the TriCaster system, they partner with more experienced students, and within an hour they’re operating at full capacity for a live show,” said Nick Francis, a junior in the CHSTV program. “When I was in the control room and switching a live show for the first time, I was biting my nails. I was super nervous…but came out the other side alive! And now, whenever I face a challenging new situation, I’m able to handle myself with so much more poise and confidence.” 

While CHSTV Sophomore Miles Fesler serves as a TriCaster trainer to other students, he’s still discovering amazing things about it. After he trains one student, that student pays it forward by teaching other students. “This shows how great the TriCaster is as a new piece of technology that lets anyone pick it up relatively quickly. We can have eight different cameras that can be switched in an instant. This lets us have a lot of flexibility in our show, and really lends itself to a really great broadcast.”

EQUIPMENT LIST

The following gear is used by CHSTV at Carlsbad High School:

• An on-set video wall display
• An interactive “Magic Window” touch screen
• Four NewTek TriCasters (various models)
• Computer Lab/classroom equipped with Adobe Production Suite and Final Cut X at each station
• NewTek Live Text CG software
• Four soundproof bays for editing, audio and voice-over recording
• A large, 900 square-foot studio with anchor desk and furniture
• A lighting grid suspended from the studio ceiling
• Multiple cameras, including two Panasonic P2HD studio cameras on dollies
• Two Sony 4K camcorders
• A Canon C300 DSLR camera on a crane
• A GoPro 
• Ronin-S Fly Cam wireless camera system
• Microphones, including wireless mics
• ViaSat satellite uplink equipment
• Dejero bonded cellular transmission system

Screencast-O-Matic

Create and share high-quality screencasts without breaking the bank

Pros: The intuitive design makes for a fun user experience, and the paid versions are cost effective and include a full suite of editing tools.

Cons: It takes time to build a content library; a gallery of standards-based, high-quality screencasts would be helpful for time-starved teachers.

Bottom Line: A well-designed screen and video recorder that lets teachers and students focus on creating engaging content from the get-go.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Film It

A well-rounded, entertaining, hands-on intro to filmmaking

Pros: Friendly, helpful instruction and videos; a thorough introduction to the filmmaking process; easy to use.

Cons: A few of the links are broken, requires external programs for some of the steps, lacks depth that serious students will be seeking.

Bottom Line: Chock-full of useful advice and hands-on activities that give students a realistic (and really fun!) overview of the movie-making process.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

TED-Ed

Support kids' sense of wonder with outstanding short video lessons

Pros: With fantastic animations, TED-Ed can take even sometimes-boring subjects and transform them into wildly engaging content.

Cons: Non-video lesson content quality varies, so students may need additional ways to demonstrate learning.

Bottom Line: TED-Ed includes excellent, engaging videos and support for flipped-class lessons with an incredible community of thinkers and doers.

Read more.

Site of the Week picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed byCommon Sense Education, which helps educators find the best edtech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

The calendar flips to August, and the countdown begins; the “first day” is nearly here. When the day arrives, it starts with a good breakfast and putting on that “first-day outfit.” This look, for most, has been planned for weeks. Mom and Dad take the “first-day picture” and soon the students will set foot in the classroom for the first day of a new year…then what? Your role as a teacher is to set the culture and tone of your classroom from minute one. It’s essential to make students feel welcomed and relaxed. They spend the majority of their day in the classroom, and the more you can do to make it feel welcoming, the better. Going back to school is an exciting time, and it's essential teachers create a warm and welcoming culture until the day students walk out for summer break. But how? Here are a few low-tech, and no-tech, ideas I always like to recommend to staff on their first day:

Hopes and Dreams Padlet

As the new year begins, students have new or restored hopes and dreams; for the year, for themselves, for what the future brings. Padlet (padlet.com) is a tool where a teacher can create a digital pinboard that can be shared with students and families. Teachers can create and then email the unique Padlet link and families a link it and they are on the page. Idea: Ask students what they “hope” for the year. The answers can give you a baseline for your planning and show students you value them as a part of the class. You could start the year displaying the “Board of HOPES” and have students share theirs to create a culture of togetherness. It may also inspire classmates to help each other reach their dreams.

Suggestion Padlet

Again using Padlet, this time promote student voice in your planning. Idea: Ask students WHAT THEY want in the room. Even ask about the structure of centers or suggestions of books they want to read. Students are walking into YOUR room, but asking them for input in designing the room will allow them to have a sense of belonging right from day one.

Share Your Story

Flipgrid (flipgrid.com) is a wonderful tool for collaborative video posting. Flipgrid is a social learning platform that enables teachers to pose a question and have students respond in a video. The idea is to build a “web” of dialogue in the classroom. Students can even respond to a students answer, using video, if you enable the feature as the teacher.  Idea: You can have a welcome back grid introducing yourself, so students know you and your story before they enter your class. Part of your story could be: Why did you go into teaching? Where did you go to college? What are some of your favorite things? What DON’T you want to see in the classroom? Or just an inspirational message. Then ask your students to do the same with student conversation stories. You can start the year knowing your students, and they’ll know you.

GIF-Me

Anyone with a phone has either used, overused, or seen silly GIFs that make someone laugh or show their excitement. GIFs are so popular that many students might even have a GIF keyboard on their phone. There are many free GIF sites on the web: http://picasion.com/ or http://gickr.com/.  Idea: Pose a question to your students as they get ready to come back to school. It could be as straightforward as What is your back-to-school mood? Email the question to your students and/or students’ families depending on age, and ask them to send a GIF as their answer. Day one could be going through the GIF collection from the students. This is a fun way to start the year and get an inside look, without prying, at how your students are feeling.

Classroom Set-up Day

Taking the Padlet suggestion above one step further, you can send an invitation to students before the first day, inviting them to come in and help you set up the classroom. Let your students bring ideas or something from home, and build THEIR classroom. It never hurts to bring snacks and turn on some music. When you can take the time to plan and laugh together, you build a culture of collaborative learning.

“Drop-off Day”

The first day of school for many students begins with a heavy backpack full of supplies and an aching back. Their excitement to arrive may be more about dropping off their bags rather than meeting their teacher and classmates. Idea: Have a “drop-off day” where students can come in, see the class, and drop off materials or supplies. Allowing students to do this before the first day, let’s them meet you, learn how to find their classroom, find their locker, if appropriate, and not be overwhelmed by a backpack full of supplies on the first day.

All of the above are suggestions as to how teachers can make the students’ first day of school exciting and collaborative. Try any or all if you find them suitable for your own hopes and dreams for the year. That said, a must on the first day is to welcome students at the door, by name, and with a smile.  Students want to know their teacher(s) is/are glad to see them and know who they are. This positive tone will set the stage for a joyous classroom and a feeling that it is THEIR learning space. Rob H. keeps it simple: “I shake every pupil’s hand, welcome them, repeating their name to the class, and share with them that I look forward to working with them, with a big smile.” 

cross posted at techinnovation.live

Dr. Matthew X. Joseph is currently the Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in Leicester Public Schools. He has been a school and district leader in many capacities in public education over his 25 years in the field. Experiences such as the Director of Digital Learning and Innovation, elementary school principal, classroom teacher, and district professional development specialist. His work and experience focus on supporting teaching and learning. Follow Dr. Joseph on twitter at @MatthewXJoseph or read his blog techinnovation.live

Last month, I was part of the Teach with Tech conference. I was asked to give a twenty minute overview on what makerspaces are and how teachers can get started with making. I wanted to share my video here for anyone who may be interested. In this video, I cover the basics of what a makerspace is, show off my makerspace, and give you some tips for starting your own makerspace. If you use this video along with the Edtech List, you’ll have a good idea of what’s in my makerspace, how I use it, and how you can get started with making in your classroom, too.

Enjoy!

cross-posted at Teched Up Teacher

Chris Aviles presents on education topics including gamification, technology integration, BYOD, blended learning, and the flipped classroom. Read more at Teched Up Teacher.

iMovie

Movie editor will satisfy beginner and intermediate creators

Pros: Themes and templates make it easy to get started. Projects can transfer seamlessly from mobile to Mac.

Cons: Students will outgrow the limited options for title editing, compositing, and layering.

Bottom Line: Despite some limitations with editing, it’s the perfect tool to get teachers and students started with digital video production.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Ji Shen, CEO of Hovercam, takes Tech & Learning's Kevin Hogan through an educational technology product that transforms the classroom into a more immersive environment with the Pilot X interactive flat panel allowing wireless collaboration between teachers and students. Find out more details on this and the Ultra 10 product.

How do students share their learning in your classroom? Perhaps there is a bulletin board full of fantastic student writing on display or maybe their are pictures with science experiments featured outside your classroom. There are so many ways to share and celebrate student learning. Video portfolios are an excellent option for encouraging students to reflect on their learning and showcase their accomplishments this school year.

Student Portfolio Tips

In past blog posts, I’ve shared strategies for creating portfolios with students and thinking about student branding and storytelling. As we think beyond a text- or link-based portfolio, let’s consider video. You can use video with students to build a portfolio of their growth over the course of the school year.

Regular readers of the blog know that I’m a big fan of the Adobe Spark tools. Ben Forta and I even wrote a book about it. The book is titled 40 Ways to Inject Creativity in the Classroom with Adobe Spark. In addition to the 15 graphic organizers in the book, I have five extras for you to download for free using this link.

So when talking about video portfolios today, we’ll look at what you can do with Adobe Spark Video. It’s free, easy-to-use, and gives students a space to create. If you’re new to Adobe Spark, I have a blog post full of quick start videos you can check out here.

Video Portfolios

A video portfolio can take many forms, and there isn’t only one way to do it. In this blog post, I’ll take you through one example of how you could use video portfolios this year. The example outlined below shows how each month students add to their Spark Video.

Students can share a success and a goal for each month of the school year as they build a video portfolio. They can update their Spark Video project each month so that it is a living document of their school year. I hope that you’ll customize this activity so it fits best for your students.

First, have students create a title and introduction slides. You might ask every student to respond to the same prompts to introduce themselves. Or you can give students a few ideas and then room to be creative. In the example below, you can see that I’ve set up a title slide. The title slide is followed by a few slides for an introduction.

Then, students can make a slide for each month. They can follow it with more slides that share one thing they are proud of and one thing they are working on during the upcoming month. Imagine a student is proud of a literary essay published on the school website. They can search for an icon to represent their writing. Then they can hold the orange button to record their voice talking about their success from the month.

Updating Video Portfolios

At the end of each month, students can use the Share button at the top of the screen to share their video portfolio. They might share the link to their video just with you. Or students might post the link in an online space where their classmates can give feedback.

As each month of the school year finishes up, have students pause and add more slides to their video. Spark Video lets you publish and update your videos as frequently as you like. So students can publish and share a link to their video at the end of September. Then they can add more slides in October and update the link. The link will then take viewers to the new version of their video.

The screenshot above shows the options students will see when they make changes to their video and want to update the link. This update feature can help illustrate how a portfolio is a living document of student successes from the school year. You might “finish” the video portfolio in May or June but the final product will go through numerous iterations throughout the school year.

Adding Videos to a Video Portfolio

Video portfolios can include a combination of images, icons, text, and narration like you see in the screenshots above. You might also want students to add video clips. Students can use the camera on their device to record short clips where they discuss success stories and goals for the month.

Spark Video lets users add 30-second video clips to any slide. So even if students first submit a video clip using a tool like Seesaw or Flipgrid, they can download that clip as a file and upload it to Spark Video. This combination is an excellent opportunity to make the most of the other tools your students might use during the school day.

If you’re looking for a way for students to capture and chronicle their learning this school year, try making this video portfolio idea your own. You might set a specific structure. For example, you can carve out one afternoon a month on your planning calendar. Alternatively, you can give students the freedom to celebrate their learning in any way they like.

Head over to Spark of Education’s website to learn more about this powerful (and free!) tool for student creators!

I've had the pleasure of working with this company. All opinions are my own.

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Dr. Monica Burns is a former classroom teacher, Speaker, and Curriculum & EdTech Consultant. She is the author of Tasks Before Apps (ASCD) and #FormativeTech (Corwin). Visit Monica's site ClassTechTips.com for more ideas on how to become a tech-savvy teacher.

When using virtual reality in my classroom I found it difficult to engage the entire class when only one student was engaged in a VR experience. One thing that’s easy to do is to cast or stream what the user sees in their VR goggles, but it just does not do VR justice. What’s more engaging is to stream both a participant in the experience and the VR as seen here. 

I can do this through my NewTek TriCaster Mini HD-4i | All in One Compact Multimedia Production Studio with Integrated Screen Tricaster Mini product but that’s an expensive device with very expensive software. I wanted to be able to do it a little bit easier using my MacBook the problem I had is that I needed to be able to stream live two different sources of video one for the green screen which would be what the user sees in the VR experience in a camera on the participant while they’re using the VR experience.

A lot of people got very excited about this when they saw it on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon as seen here, where he and actress Brie Larson, play Beat Saber and you could see her playing it live. This is exactly what I wanted to do and I had done at with my Tricaster with the Anne Frank experience with one of my students as seen here. But again how do we do this efficiently at a lower cost? Through some research, I found that a lot of online gamers stream to Twitch using a free product called OBS. OBS Studio is a comprehensive open-source package for video recording and live streaming the program supports multiple sources including media files, games, web pages, application Windows, webcam for desktop, and microphone, and more. This is just what I needed so this video here explains how to use OBS to stream the participant and the participants’s experience, in this case, using virtual reality. 

What you need:

• MacBook
• OBS Studio (Download OBS Studio for Mac) this link is for an older version of OBS that I have had more luck with
• Webcam or FaceTime Camera
• iPad plugged into your Mac as a Camera Source
• VR Headset (I use my Oculus Go for this one)

The Setup:

1. Download OBS Studio
2. Click + to create a Scene “Green Screen VR”
3. Click + to add Sources
4. Select Video Capture Device
5. Create new “Webcam”
6. Next to Device select the dropdown to find your webcam, click Ok
7. Plug your iPad into a USB port of your MacBook (this will allow you to use it as a camera as seen here)
8. Again Click + to add Sources
9. Select Video Capture Device
10. Create new “iPad”
11. Next to Device select the dropdown to find your iPad, click Ok

You should now see two sources on your Preview Screen, one with a red outline the other with a blue outline.

For the Green Screen

• Right-click on the WEBCAM video source and select ‘Filter’.
• Click the ‘+’ under the ‘Effects Filters’ section, then select ‘Chroma Key’.
• With your Green Screen Set up, adjust the “Similarity” until you get a clear image.

Simply stream this using a projector or TV and it will allow viewers to get a better view allowing for increased dialogue and a shared experience.

Here’s a quick clip to show you how it looks.

cross posted at micahshippee.com

Micah Shippee, PhD is an out-of-the-box-doer, a social studies teacher, and a technology trainer. He works to bridge the gap between research and practice in the educational sector. Micah explores ways to improve motivation in the classroom and seeks to leverage emergent technology to achieve educational goals. As an innovative "ideas" person, Micah likes to think, and act, outside the box. Micah is motivated and energetic, taking a creative approach towards achieving goals. As an Educational Consultant, and Keynote Speaker, he focuses on the adoption of emergent technology through the development of an innovative learning culture. Micah believe that innovativeness is the pedagogy of the future.

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” – Albert Einstein

A green screen in the classroom helps spark student creativity and imagination for any subject! Last year I tried a very basic and cheap green screen with my 2nd to 5th graders. I had decided last minute to use a green screen and didn’t have much time and even with this little effort the students and I had fun creating a news broadcast! I bought green fabric for less than $5 and pinned this on the wall. I didn’t even iron the fabric. The students were then asked to jump in front of the green fabric while I recorded them using the free iMovie app on my iPhone. The video still came out wonderfully and I could use any background image behind my students. What made the video better the second time around was ironing the fabric, making sure students didn’t move too much (this is corrected with lighting due to wanting less shadow), and using a tripod to record the students versus my unsteady hands. With more preparation you can integrate green screen technology in much more imaginative and advanced ways that will send students your students on incredible learning adventures!  Below I have curated some of my favorite green screen examples and tutorials on Twitter using Wakelet, the great free curation tool.

Cool Green Screen Ideas, Examples and Tutorials

Some quick tips and ideas before you view the bookmarks below.

• iMovie is my favorite way to integrate green screen technology.  It’s also free if you have Mac or iOS devices.
• Other cool green screen apps include Touchcast, DoInk and WeVideo.
• Green screen technology is also known as the chroma key effect.
• Add a green screen in the classroom with green fabric, paint a wall green, make a green portable background, or get a normally white screen  that you pull down for the projector that is green.
• You can replace the green areas with an image or video. Students can create news broadcasts, tour guides, digital stories, music videos, tv commercials, book reviews, or DIY/how-to videos.
• Students can also animate their research (posters, book reports, or dioramas)!
• Students can animate their textbooks or books they’re reading.
• Design cool slides to import into your video with Keynote, PowerPoint, Google Slides, or any graphic editor then upload as an image to your favorite green screen app!

Below find several awesome tutorials and examples on how to engage your learners with green screen technology.

Challenge: Engage learners with one of these creative green screen ideas.

cross posted at teacherrebootcamp.com

Shelly Terrell is a Technology and Computer teacher, education consultant, and author of books including Hacking Digital Learning Strategies: 10 Ways to Launch EdTech Missions in Your Classroom. Read more at teacherrebootcamp.com.

Tech&Learning's Content Director Kevin Hogan gets a close look at one of this year's Best of ISTE winner: Gale in Context for Educators. Lemma Shomali, of Gale, a Cengage Company, previewed the newest edition from this suite of products to highlight how easy it is to integrate quality digital content into K12 curriculum that meet state benchmarks, and enhance collaboration between libraries, classrooms and administration while fostering student success. Watch this video to find out more ahead of its launch this Fall. 

Beginning July 1, users of Discovery Education Streaming will have the opportunity to preview the new Discovery Education Experience, which becomes available to schools and educators nationwide at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year.  A new generation of Discovery Education’s Streaming service, Discovery Education Experience provides curated, personalized, digital curriculum resources.

The service’s standards-aligned content is assignable and can be bookmarked and saved for later use and remixed to meet the varying needs of diverse student populations in a safe and secure environment. 

Discovery Education Experience’s content is complemented by a library of research-based instructional strategies for integrating digital media in practical ways.  Aligned to McREL International’s 6-Phase Model of Learning, these strategies foster skill development, complement different types of content, and are paired with content at the point of use. 

The new Discovery Education Experience also offers embedded content creation and real-time collaboration features through the Studio suite of tools.  An environment where teachers and students design, build, and share content in new and creative ways, Studio supports the creation of grab and go lessons that combine multi-modal content and effective instructional strategies that empower educators to dive deeply into targeted topic areas.  To request a demonstration of Discovery Education Experience, visit www.discoveryeducation.com/experience.

Blackmagic Design today announced that High School Nation is using Blackmagic Design’s URSA Mini Pro as their main cameras with the organization’s nationwide high school outreach program. The URSA Mini Pro cameras were recently used by High School Nation to film interviews at the NFL 2019 Pro Bowl and Major League Baseball’s 2019 Spring Training events.

High School Nation was founded in 2014 by Jimmy and Mike Cantillon when their efforts to help their younger sibling’s band find a place to perform evolved into a nationwide effort to support schools and young artists. 

Cantillon and his team regularly takes student broadcasters to such events as the NFL Pro Bowl, NBA Summer League, MLB All-Star Week and more. But their beginnings were much simpler. At the start, HSN focused on radio broadcast by encouraging young, up and coming musical artists to stop by high school radio stations for an interview. Often this was followed by an on campus performance during lunch. From there, it seemed a logical extension to move into digital production.

HSN Videographer Ryan Slattery welcomed the upgrade to the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K, simply because it gave them professional options. “The footage quality is amazing. After shooting S-Log 3 for years, we found codec transition relatively smooth, but the 10-bit color depth is an important improvement. As a package, the URSA Mini Pro did give us an easier set up, by already having a monitor (with LUTS), having the XLR inputs, and the built in shoulder mount already in place,” said Slattery.

Moving from DSLR technology into an URSA Mini Pro was a leap, but one that was welcome by HSN and the students, who had the opportunity to put the systems together and experience the setup as they prepared for their interviews. “They all commented, including the teachers, on how much better their on campus departments would be if they had access to gear like this,” said Cantillon. “They were blown away.”

High School Nation hopes to continue expand their programs, and intends to push further into digital production.  “We want to help schools start classes and eventually full departments that focus on these careers,” said Cantillon.  "We want to help them set themselves up for life after high school, and head off to college or careers with as much familiarity with new technologies and gear as someone who is in their mid late 20's.”