ICT Tip: Is YouTube blocked in your center? Here’s a solution!

This ICT tip could be best applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: Do you often encounter YouTube videos that you’d love to show your class but the YouTube site is blocked by your school board’s IT department? The Zamzar website (http://www.zamzar.com) can help! Zamzar will grab any YouTube video and convert it into a offline video file. An offline video file resides on your computer and therefore does not require YouTube or an Internet connection to play.

How can this be used in the classroom: The Zamzar site will allow you to show pedagogically relevant YouTube videos in your classroom. No more worries about blocked sites or insufficient bandwidth! Zamzar enables you to convert an online YouTube video into an offline video file that you can copy onto a USB drive to bring into your classroom. Want to know how to use the Zamzar website? I’ve included a detailed 6 minute video tutorial that will step you through the process.

Video Tutorial: To see an on-line video tutorial of how to use the Zamzar site, click the large play button below:

Workshop: An introduction to the SMARTBoard

This ICT tip could be best applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: This blog posting is a video excerpt from an Interactive Whiteboards workshop (SMARTBoard) that I provide for General Adult Education teachers. I recommend that you watch this video if you are curious about SMARTBoards or would like to see a basic overview of how to use them.

SMARTBoard Workshop: Topics covered in this video include an overview of the SMARTBoard, using the SMARTBoard to view websites, SMARTBoard tools, and other possibilities of how to use the SMARTBoard in the classroom. The video is a 12 minute excerpt from the Galileo Adult Education Centre that was given on November 6th, 2008.

Video Tutorial: To see an on-line video overview of my SMARTBoard basics workshop, click the large play button below:

ICT Tip: The CCDMD site provides FSL resources you can use without an Internet connection

This ICT tip could be best applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: Professionally developed FSL materials that you can download, print, and use without an internet connection in a traditional classroom. Materials on the site have been created for the Quebec classroom with funding from the Ministry of Education, Leisure, and Sports (MELS).

How can it be used in the classroom? The CCDMD site (www.ccdmd.qc.ca/fr) features dozens of extensive FSL exercises that focus on pronunciation, verb conjugation, culture, songs, literature, etc. This site is particularly useful for FSL teachers who do not have reliable access to the Internet in their centre or classroom, but wish to explore FSL ICT resources. In other words, as the CCDMD exercises are intended to be downloaded and distributed printed on paper, they do not require an Internet connection to be used in your classroom. The CCDMD exercises can be utilized in addition to your regular FSL textbooks or even entirely by themselves. (Source: Lise Chartrand, Wakeham Adult Ed. Eastern Shores School Board)

Where do I click? The resources recommended by Lise Chartrand are found in the “allophone” section, see below screenshot:

More information: If you explore the site further, the CCDMD site also contains lots of great materials in “MATÉRIEL INTERACTIF” which will require an Internet connection to use in your classroom. The CCDMD is an acronym for Centre Collégial de Développement de Matériel Didactique. The printable exercises on the allophone section of the CCDMD site are provided in PDF format. If you’d like to know more about working with PDF files, please click here to visit my section on ICT Terminology.

ICT Tip: On-line videos of world famous speakers to spark discussions in your classroom

This ICT tip could be best applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: A website containing over 200 on-line videos of inspirational talks by the “world’s greatest thinkers and doers”. A great site to get class discussions going!

What does it do? The TED website (http://www.ted.com) is an annual conference that features over 50 speakers who are “challenged to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less”. TED is an acronym for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. The TED site allows you to search by themes such as technology, tales of invention, storytelling, business, history, unconventional explanations, education, and so on.. The “sweet and short” 18 minute format works great in a classroom environment and is one of the reasons the site is popular with educators across the world.

How can this be used in the classroom: As a teacher, you could search the TED website a video of a “talk” related to your classroom curriculum. Afterwards, why not show this video to your class in order to spark a debate or discussion? This can be accomplished by bringing your class into a computer lab and exploring the site together with on a digital projector. Alternatively, you could ask the students to visit the site from home or at school, watch a particular video, and then write an essay on one of the speakers. (Source: Ninfa Spagnolo, Galileo Adult Centre, EMSB)