YouTube Adventure

If you have a question on “how” to do something? YouTube it! Or if you want to learn about something “visually,” YouTube it! I have been using YouTube for a while already. First and foremost, I would use it in my classroom almost daily. I love to show my students short and engaging video clips for science. I feel it sparks an interest, and I’m able to provide them with an experience I wouldn’t have been able to have in the regular classroom.

Additionally, I like its sharing capabilities; just this year, I finally noticed the share button! Please don’t ask me how I hadn’t seen it there before. I don’t have the answer to that, but WOW it has been a lifesaver. Now I can share the link to my colleagues and my students easily.

During our school closures, I also used YouTube to publish videos. I created Screencastify recordings, and I would post them to YouTube as unlisted videos and be able to share it with my class. Most of my students did not have wifi in their homes and used their parent’s phones as a means of internet. So I would send them my “Problem of the Day,” recording via a YouTube link. It was so easy to publish, and I was able to share my videos with them.

All these are great features I had previously used. This week for my Web 2.0 assignment, we had to explore YouTube and create playlists. I created four: Web 2.0 Tools, Twitter, Teaching with Web 2.0 tools, and one for science. Playlists kept my library organized, and if I wanted to rewatch a video, I could easily access it. I was able to explore and learn on PearDeak, a fantastic add-on for Google Slides to make a presentation interactive. Another similar resource was NearPod. I also studied creativity tools for my students to utilize during this upcoming school year. These platforms were Shadow Puppet Edu and Voice Thread.

However, I think my most significant success was finding a YouTube video on how to create a Twitter Widget to embed on my website. YouTube gave steps by step instructions, and now I have my active Twitter Stream on my e-portfolio! Amazing!

YouTube is an excellent resource for educational and personal purposes, and I will continue to explore it due to the grand benefits it has.