Another media converter

Just a quick note to share another resource with everyone.  Although I have found Zamzar to be quite functional there were times when it did not seem to work.  I am not sure what the issues were but ended up trying others and have found one that seems to work as well or better than Zamzar.  You can find it at the following link:

Media-convert

I have also made a link to this service in the resource section of our group resource page.

United Streaming Followup

I am almost through my first assignment created with the assignment builder tool available from Discovery Learning/United Streaming.  So far things have gone quite well.  Students have been fairly successful at working through the materials at their own pace.  The supplementary materials in the Teachers Resource book and the Black Line masters have proved to be quite helpful.  The lab activity was fun for the kids and it was easy to incorporate some math and computer skills into the assignment.  Students have yet to write the quiz so I will have to wait to see the results.

Although I have used united streaming extensively in the past it has been primarily to download videos to the entire class via the LCD projector or a DVD player connected to a TV.  For this assignment I purposely designed it to have students view the videos independently to guage its effectiveness.  It is clear that if multiple students are viewing the material in the classroom at the same time independently they MUST have headphones of some kind.  I was certainly distracting to hear all the other soundtracks playing in the background as I was trying to watch the video on my screen.

This was also the first time I had used video segments instead of showing the whole video.  I certainly see this as beneficial although next time I would probably show the entire video the the class as a whole first and then have them use the segments on their own as a followup.

All in all I am quite excited about my next assignment.  I am interested in the experience of others and am willing to show you the process I went through.

United Streaming

I have been spending some time 'playing' with the United Streaming/Discovery Learning service and continue to be impressed by what it has to offer.  I have discovered that it is certainly more than a video streaming service.  I recently completed my first assignment complete with video segments, weblink assignments, and online quizzes.  My plan is to use this assignment as the core component of the Understanding the Nervous System part of grade 6 science.  My plan is to have the more advance students in class work independently through the assignment while I work with a small group of at risk students.

Anyone interested in viewing the assignment can do so at the following link on my class page:

Nervous System Web Assignment

Of course you are welcome use the assignment if you are interested.  I have set it up so that it can be shared within our division.

Terry