There are of course numerous hesitations when the discussion arises over bringing online video content into the classroom, but it can be done. The key to all of this is starting with whether or not your acceptable use policy is…acceptable or not. Are you allowed to…or covered/protected…if you want to use YouTube in your classroom? Are you allowed to create (or have students create) and share videos online?

To safely and successfully incorporate video usage and creation into your classroom and online spaces, consider the following strategies on a continuum of the comfort level of you and your students:

1. Begin with a lesson, or unit that you already have taught successfully in your classroom.
2. Incorporate some video clips or segments into your lesson.  Chose videos that add to the essential question you are using to guide your lesson.  Some online video resources are listed below.
3. Have students bring in video of their own.  They can also use the video resources listed below.  To ensure their selections are appropriate, you can give them a bank of videos to choose from that you have listed on your blog.
4. Work with students on video editing, and creating Mash-ups.  Video mash-ups are videos created using a combination of different video sources, which can critique the original text, or create an entirely different version.
5. Plan, capture and edit your own video versions of text.  Have your students take on the roles of Director, Writers, Talent, and Production Assistants.  You sit back and act as Producer on the video.  Upload your video to your blog.

• YouTube – The king of video sharing sites. More users, and more videos than anywhere else.
• TeacherTube – Modeled after YouTube, but strictly for sharing educational videos.
• Vimeo – A video sharing site where you can decide who sees your videos. Better quality, better interface, better embedding features than YouTube.  Use this upload and create a playlist for your students.
• ChannelOne – Call themselves the “pre-eminent news and public affairs content provider to teens”. Their Livewire section allows you to pull clips from their highly entertaining news broadcasts.
• Creative Commons search, Wikimedia Commons, or the Internet Archive – Three search tools that allow for the location and sharing of Creative Commons (CC) licensed online content.

Create your own videos

In the past, I’ve used screencasting software such as Jing, Camstasia or iShowU to create videos of what is happening on your computer to share with students. Additionally, a new product that has come up and caught my attention is Screencast-o-matic, which runs in your browser.

You can also create mashups, or video remixes of content using video editors to bring various video clips together into one NEW cohesive piece. This can be done with tools such as Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, Animoto or the YouTube Video Editor.

Use the webcam on your machine to save, edit and share video of students reading, sharing, or commenting on classroom content. For more ideas, you can refer to this post on possible uses for screencasting.

Finally, you can use a Flip Video camera, GoPro camera, or another type of camera to collect and move video content over to your computer or straight to the Internet. I’ve also used old cell phones and tablets to record and upload video content. The video capture on most cell phones and tablets is excellent.