YouTube Adventures!

It's time for a YouTube ADVENTURE!  I've used YouTube before but mostly for random things like how to fold a fitted sheet (I still cannot),  to view reviews on products, beauty tips and occasionally for school.  I honestly didn't realize how many resourceful education videos were out there.

Since I already had a YouTube account my first task was to create a playlist, lets just say I should
have found a YouTube video to assist me.  After playing around with with for a few (maybe 10 or so) minutes I figured it out.  My playlist includes videos about Twitter and Twitter tools, Wikis and Wiki-spaces, using Web 2.0 tools for learning, Maker-spaces and Technology in the Library.  I found it fairly easy to find some very informational videos.  I like how YouTube suggests other videos pertaining to the same subject area.  I found myself drowning in more videos than I knew what to do with.  I typically went with the newer videos thinking that they would be more relevant since these days technology changes in the blink of an eye.  I'm excited to make more playlists and to continue to add to the ones I've made.   

At a conference I recently the attended the speaker talked briefly about YouTube and using it as an educational tool.  He explained that his younger brother, when playing video games, instantly goes to YouTube when he can't clear a level however when it come to his calculus homework he just gives up

with out even trying to find help.  He went on to say that if his brother only used the same tool to help him in his education that he does for his hobby he'd have much better grades.  It's true though.  We often think of YouTube as having fun hobby type videos rather than for education, but there are tons of helpful educational channels to dive into. 

Switching gears, I continued "Tweeting" this week.  Mostly through my library Twitter account.  I do like the options that HootSuite ad Tweetdeck allow for, such as having both accounts linked, but I don't find myself Tweeting much for personal things, but mostly for my library.

Also, I had fun discovering more about Web 2.0 tools.  I was originally going to dig a little deeper into Augmented Reality but with that being such a broad area I decided to narrow in on a presentation tool called BiteSlide.  Biteslide is an online, kid friendly, presentation tool. While it isn’t free, which is a big deal to me, it does offer a 30 day free trial.  It’s also something that I could buy for the whole school to use at the beginning of the year if I feel like our teachers would use it.  Biteslide is VERY user friendly.  Once you create an account the program walks you through the first few step to help you get set up.