Five-Minute Film Festival: 8 Interactive Video Tools for Engaging Learners It's no secret that I am a passionate advocate for using video in the classroom. When used well, videos can help students make connections to people and ideas beyond their usual frame of reference. That's why I've been really excited to see a wave of new (and mostly free or low-cost!) tech tools recently that enable teachers to take favorite clips and make them more valuable for educational use. Video Playlist: Tools to Enhance Videos for Learning You may notice my playlist below looks a little different this time; I'm embedding using a great tool called Huzzaz, reviewed below. Zaption - Interactive Video for Learning (01:37) With Zaption, transform your students from passive watchers to active learners by adding links, multiple-choice questions, polls, discussions, and more to any video to create a "tour" -- or group a few together for a more complex lesson. More Resources on Using Video in the Classroom Reviews and Guides for Interactive Video Tools
The Healthy Farm: A Vision for U.S. Agriculture Interactive Infographic Industrial food production, which currently dominates U.S. agriculture, is a dead end. It damages air, water and soil, harms rural communities, and limits future productivity. But there's a better way. Scientists call it agro-ecological agriculture. We call it healthy farms. Healthy farms can be just a productive as industrial farms - and a lot more sustainable. Interact with our healthy farm to learn more - and then take action to help make out vision reality! Integrating uncultivated areas helps preserve biodiversity, reducing the need for fertilizers and pesticides and increasing productivity. Plants and animals are good for each other. Growing a variety of different crops increases soil fertility and reduces the need for pesticides. Blanketing bare fields with cover crops in between cash crop plantings is just what the doctor ordered for healthy soil, recycling nutrients, and reducing weeds and pests.
Infographics I have to say I am mildly addicted to finding these great infographics. They are an excellent way of presenting a vast amount of information in a lively, visually interesting way. I am set on finding the best of them and when I get some time in the summer actually creating my own! Click the images below to view the full version/slideshow. [separator type="thin"]
Huzzaz 101 Getting started with the basics Build a collection Links From the Huzzaz nav bar, just click on the "+" and select the "Add a video" option to add your video to any of your collections. Video search Use our custom video search to get results from YouTube and Vimeo and watch all the results from a single page. Bookmarklet Once you have the keys, you can go to any site with an embedded video or link from YouTube or Vimeo and add them to your collection. Just drag the Huzzaz bookmark image to your bookmarks toolbar (or right click and save as a bookmark). videos in other collections Find videos from other people's collections and save them to your own collection by hovering over the video and clicking on the "+". Videos Stream them all Click any video to start streaming a collection with no interruption from video ads. Bigger and better You have the option to go fullscreen and watch all videos in HD. Drag and drop Organize videos in any collection with our drag and drop feature. Shuffle Follow Applaud
Best Infographics of the Day 98 days ago: "Photo" 5 likes A lesson framework for getting learners to prepare and present infographics One of the key aims of EAP infographics, along with examining what it means to teach academic English and presenting useful infographics for classroom teaching, is to enhance learning through learners developing their own visuals. With this in mind, today’s post offers a flexible plan for taking learners through the process of making their first infographics. While my intention is to give a lesson plan that can be used time and again, what you’ll find in today’s post is a thorough, detailed plan for the first time you get learners designing their own visuals. Before we get started, I should mention that the plan below is for a series of lessons; you’ll probably need four lessons of about 50 minutes each to get through this plan. Materials needed One laptop (or mobile device) between two learners or a small groupA reliable Internet connectionAn account with a free online infographic making applicationA projector Lesson 1 Stage one: orientation Advice Stage two: research Stage three: reflection
Travel Infographics | Infographic Journal Exciting Things To Do In Florida Florida, the land of sunshine, has amazing places to see and exciting things to do for every travelers. This infographic showcases fun for kids, romantic places to see and adventurous things to do in Florida. Ireland’s Atlantic Way Top 15 Signature Sights The Wild Atlantic Way is the world’s longest coastal driving route. Which Vegas Hotel Are You? Are you a Caesar’s Palace kind of guy? The Filthiest Tourist Attractions on the Planet Want to know where some of the dirtiest, germiest and grimiest popular tourist spots around the world are? Road Trip: Better to Rent a Car or Drive Your Own? Air travel seems to be getting more expensive all the time, especially for those with large families. The Savvy Traveler Travel is of course a luxury and a wonderful experience but certain aspects can cause people stress. Toronto: Flying Flags for Many Nations Toronto is famous for its diverse range of cultural communities. The Great European Road Trip
The Best Ways To Make Comic Strips Online I decided to create another quick “The Best…” list today rating sites that allow you to create online comic strips. These can be excellent opportunities for English Language Learners to be able to focus more time on developing language, writing, and storytelling skills instead of having to focus on creating drawings. Of course, I’m not denigrating the role of art in the classroom. I’m differentiating “comic strips” from cartoons. The sites here let you tell a story in several frames. My criteria for including a site on this list include it being free, accessible to English Language Learners, and appearing to have some monitoring of its site to help monitor content so it appears to be appropriate for classroom use. I wasn’t really able to rate them in order of preference because many of them are so similar, though I do highlight a few. Here are picks for Category 1: I’d say my favorites in this category are Make Beliefs Comix and Bubblr!. Bubblr! Scholastic’s Captain Underpants. Related
Submit Infographics | Vizual Archive Infographic Submission SiteVizual Archive | The Best Infographics on the Web 10+ No-Signup Collaboration Tools You Can Use in 10 Seconds What do you think of when you hear the word “collaboration”? Do you associate it with the frustrating clunkiness of trying to synchronize everyone’s work? Many collaboration tools require an account to even get started before you benefit from their collaboration features. That in itself negates the act of swift collaborating, with people coming from all ends of the spectrum to combine ideas, talent and work. Many believe that collaboration should be as “painless” as possible. Criteria: No sign-upNo downloadShareable linkQuick to start (10 seconds or less)Accessible from any Internet-enabled device Preferred Features: Intuitive, mobile-friendly interfaceSave to browser cache/local storageRealtimeCollaborative features (e.g. chat, username change) Note: Using a tool without signing up can deny you access to extra features. Visual Creation and Expression Padlet allows you to get started without an account, and come back to your creation later. Collaborative Note-taking and Document Editing
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