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Florida Virtual Schools – Virtual Open House

Florida Virtual Schools (FLVS) had their virtual open house from August 25-26, which was free. The environment of this virtual open house was like Second Life, but what was interesting was the content shared and how it was shared. Here is a recap of the sessions I attended.

New Innovations
This was an excellent session and very informative. Gaming is a big asset for FLVS for delivering curriculum. At a recent Games Learning Society Conference, a presentation made by individuals all over creating games specifically for education. Whether handheld or mobile devices, game developers are creating interactive instruction for learners rather than one or just 2-dimensional.

Brian Collins and Jeramy Gatza, Curriculum Innovation Specialist for FLVS presented two videos that I found very resourceful that we could share with our instructors and participants.


Click here to watch video
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Some of the resources offered were things such as Games for Change focused on world issues. This interactive site creates Social Studies content to a time in the present rather than just in the past. Also, iCivics is another site providing games for students to learn more about our branches of power and the court system.

There are many interesting math sites they featured. One in particular is MangaHigh.com, where it gives students assignments and games for students to build their math skills. Kind of like a math tutor, but through gaming.

For science, Jason.org provides free online curriculum, games, interactive labs and demonstrations. This was something interesting because it brings the outside environment right to your computer. For those who are unable to go to different parts of the world or various states, this is a great opportunity for students to learn.

Videos for teaching
The second video viewed was looking at how you can make your own videos with tools that are online. The first featured was YouTube’s test tube. This is one online free video editor so you can use edit your videos and save in one spot. However, it was mentioned that many school districts block sites like this due to access to inappropriate content. So, some of the other free resources for videos to use for instruction can be found from the Khan Academy. They have numerous videos for the various subject areas. Also, watchknow.org is another resource that was feature with video content for the classroom. A few other sites showcased were Keepvid.com allowing you to download video resources found on the web and Tokbox.com allowing you to video conference with a maximum number of people of 20 at a time. You can also create video recordings and push them out to Facebook, Twitter and many more. These features are available with a free account; however, they do have paid subscriptions allowing you the more advance features they have.

Watch hear to see the video.
video platform video management video solutions video player

Last, three different sites were shared all targeted toward video editing or storage. The first was Kaltura.com an open source online video editing site. It does require you to set up a trial account, your account never expires and they give you 10GB of storage space. You can load and edit, publish your content, and manage it through your online account. They also give you the code to embed into your own website. This may be a great resource as they provide you the embedding code for adding to your website. Last note on Kaltura, it is a Blackboard Building Block ($$).

Watch here to learn how Blackboard and Kaltura.com work together.







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The last two sites they featured were Edublogs.tv. I checked the site and it doesn’t look like it is up anymore. And, the last one was Screencast.com for storing and sharing your videos. The free account gives you 2GB, but they do have a pro account that allows you more space and customizable templates for branding.

Comments

Christy said…
Thank you for sharing the tool and sending out the Webinar information.
I like the idea of media management as something we need to think about for the long term. The interface for the students is clean and users have the ability to organize information.
It's very applicable to managing campus videos (vs. YouTube) so that the appropriate things are delivered.

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