YouTube and Twitter Adventures

I have teenagers so at this point in my life I am familiar with famous YouTubers like Jenna Marbles, Daniel Howell, and the Try Guys.  It is a rare incident that my kids share their screen with me as they say “Mom, look at this”. I say rare because too many times the video requires more questions from me than they want to deal with. Most of the time its “Why?” They absolutely always share the cute cat and dog videos. So it is not surprising that up until my adventure this week, I only used youtube as an entertainment platform for myself. I listened to music or watched endless videos of cute or grumpy cats. 

This week I learned about setting up playlists! So the way I would describe this is like a file folder on steroids. So many videos in one place about a specific topic. I see value in this as an educator because I could send my students to these playlists if they want to watch different ways of having a topic modeled. For example, how to add or subtract fractions. If “Math Antics”  or “Khan Academy” doesn’t explain it so great they can watch a homemade video by a teacher in Vermont. Storing them on YouTube is a great way to easily access them as needed. I can add to my educator resource bag and share my playlists with colleagues if they are in need of the same topic. 

Currently, I have playlists set up on Web 2.0 tools for learning, math, and science topics. This is a time saver. At any point in designing a lesson, I can access my curated playlist and have an instant mini-lesson or hook available. I can use my time to curate playlists anytime I have a free moment. Also, YouTube is an excellent way to learn how to implement Web 2.0 tools into your lessons and classroom. Many teachers and Web 2.0 developers offer instructional videos. I found an example of how PearDeck might look like in a 3rd-grade classroom uploaded by a teacher in New Jersey. Instructure offers many videos on how to set up Canvas as an LMS. This would come in handy when I set up my own Canvas LMS this school year. 

Educators looking to save time and professional development opportunities would find YouTube an excellent Web 2.0 resource. 

The Twitter adventure continued…#hashtags.

To my surprise, #hashtags are the perfect way to specifically search for what you need on Twitter. If I want to find out about Canvas a simple search for that hashtag including that word will lead you to many tweets with powerful information. My twitter adventure this week has led me to teachers who excel using technology in their classrooms and professors that have researched educational technology for their doctorates. I have placed them in lists and am eager to find some downtime to read more about their work.