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eMail eric.hall@mmuusd.org with questions or suggestions for this blog.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Where can I find video online?

Here is a brief summary of options for finding and viewing video from the web:

1) Both schools subscribe to Discovery Streaming service, which has thousands of titles that can be viewed by chapter. Signing up for an account is quick and easy - please contact myself, Jen or Nancy for information and assistance.

2) YouTube is a good source for some content, but the page includes other distracting (and occasionally inappropriate) content. For a cleaner page and teacher-selected resources (many of which are on YouTube as well) visit teachertube.com. Another way to avoid extraneous content in YouTube is to use safeshare.tv, which puts a "mask" around the YouTube video as well as allowing you to crop it. Copy the URL of a youtube video and paste it in at http://www.safeshare.tv

3) Other content-specific media sites can be found at http://www.wdsdvt.net/medialinks

Regardless of the source, it is possible to download video in advance from most of these sites. This will always be a "sure thing" vs. relying on an Internet stream. All of our teacher computers have the Download Helper plugin loaded into Firefox - click on the spinning, colorful icon to the left of the address bar to see your download options. Most online video is in Flash format (.flv files) and will play on any of our computers in VLC player. PLEASE do not save video into your network folder: keep them on your computer or use the Media Storage folders on our networks.

As always, please contact Eric with questions or for assistance with any of these sites or applications.