100 Best YouTube Videos for Teachers

Smart Teaching has a great listing of the 100 Best YouTube Videos for teachers.

I found the list a great way to sort through the millions of videos on YouTube to find some good ones. And, once you've gone to some of these, YouTube suggests similar videos so you can find even more good ones.

If you can't access YouTube at school, read this article about downloading the videos at home.

Convert Video Files to DVD

I love to use videos and video clips to help explain concepts in my classes and as a teaching tool. Most of the videos I use I get from online sources, whether it is Discovery Streaming, YouTube, GoogleVideo, or even from textbook resources.

The problem is that I don't always want to show them through the computer. It would be nice to show them on a DVD player. Other teachers have asked me to help them put these kinds of videos onto DVD. I found a great way from Online Tech Tips.

Here is a summary of the steps. The post at Online Tech Tips has more details. But it is really simple to do. For information on saving YouTube videos from the site, see THIS article.

1. Make sure video is in Windows Media Player format (WMV)
2. DVD Flick > Add Title to convert to DVD file and folder structure
3. Keep adding video files until done, or DVD is full
4. Select Destination Folder
5. "Create DVD"
6. ImgBurn > "Write Files/Folders to Disc"
7. Browse for folder - DVD with Audio and Video subfolders that you saved DVD files to in step 4
8. Insert blank DVD and select "Build It"

That's it. The detailed instructions are at Online Tech Tips. This article also talks about creating your own video using Windows Movie Maker.

Source: http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/burn-wmv-to-dvd/

Resources:

DVD Flick: http://www.dvdflick.net/

ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/

Playing YouTube Videos in your classroom

Many school system block Youtube because of the multitude of bad videos on there. The problem this causes is that teachers can't show the good videos in class. And there are a lot of great videos on YouTube that teachers can use - lectures, demonstrations, news, and more. I've had many teachers ask me if there is a way to save the video at home and then play it at school. Here is my way of doing it, there are others. Everything I list is free.

Google owns YouTube, so even Google Video is blocked.

1. You need a way to download the video. I use a user script in Google Chrome to do this. You can find the script and instructions HERE. You then go to the YouTube video and click the bookmarklet that you just created and the video will download.

If you use Internet Explorer v7, you should download and install IE7Pro. Then, follow these instructions to set it up to allow you to download YouTube videos. When you go to the YouTube video you will see a "download video" link on the web page near the video information. Click on that and save the video.

2. Now, the videos you just saved are in .flv format (Flash Video). You will want to convert them to play directly on your media player. Since we are talking about Windows (since I don't use a Mac) you should convert the video files into Windows Media Player files. Windows Media Player is on all Windows computers.

To convert the videos I use WM Converter. It can be downloaded for free HERE. The other sites are blocked at my school, but you can also try THIS ONE and THIS OTHER ONE.

Open WM Converter, select your input file (the video) then click on "convert to WMV/Zune" and "quality - Better". Select "convert" and let it run. You should also select your location for your converted files before converting.

You now have a YouTube video file that you can put on a CD, Flash Drive, email to yourself, or post to your site and then download at school to use.

It would be easier to just be able to play the video from YouTube, but, alas, that is not an option at many schools.

Good luck.