Posting Video From Home

As the use of video discussions in Schoology and elsewhere increases, there have been a lot of questions about the most effective way to do this when home Internet connections are weak.

TRUE: Not all of the file transfer procedures we use regularly are "bandwidth efficient!"

Step 1: Know your bandwidth. Try this test and this test to see what your download and upload speeds are. It is normal for upload speeds to be much lower, because we typically get more information from the Internet that we post.

Step 2: When it comes to Schoology, the phone app is the most efficient option for posting video. Make sure the app is up-to-date! In Schoology you can attach a video file from your Photos directly to a Submission or Discussion post, but you cannot record video directly.

TIP: To make your file transfers as quick as possible, turn your camera settings down so that video is being recorded at 720p/30fps or lower. The lower the settings the smaller the file!

Here's the Math: (derived using this site)

• At 720p, 1min of video = 60MB file size
• A 1MB upload speed will take 8min to upload a 60MB file

Here are additional tips for maximizing your home bandwidth.

"Cleaning Up" YouTube

YouTube can be a great classroom resource, but the comments and "related content" are often distracting and can even be inappropriate. There are two great tools available to help you embed a YouTube video in a clean page with a couple of quick clicks:

1) Quietube (quietube.com) is a button you can add to your browser bookmark bar that "masks" a YouTube video with one click. Done.

2) If you plan to post a video for students to watch, copy the YouTube URL and paste it into safeshare.tv.  This will generate a new "safe" link that shows the video on a plain page. Share THIS link with your students to help them avoid distractions and just see what you want them to see.

 

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.