It’s March already, and many of you are either on Spring Break or about to be. Unless you’re located in one of the few areas that hasn’t experienced much of a winter, you’re still buried under several feet of snow and undoubtedly feeling that the groundhog froze solid! Just seeing the temperature get above freezing is a big thing, but soon, the wildflowers and daffodils will be popping up to remind us of warmer days ahead.
Everyone is familiar with You Tube, but there may be some of you who aren’t familiar with Teacher Tube. I remember it being a place where I could find videos on a variety of topics that were designed to help me in the classroom, both physically and virtually. Now, it has mushroomed into something that I have had to take time to study, all the while trying to keep my jaw in place!
Teacher Tube has become a complete virtual community that reaches out not just to teachers, but parents and students as well. This site launched in 2007 as a You Tube for teachers. In 2009, Audios, Docs, Photos, and Collections were added as additional resources to Videos. In 2014, Teacher Tube was able to integrate all these tools for use in online classrooms created within the site, greatly ensuring security and safety for its users. Each online classroom is a private place in which the teacher is able to create lessons utilizing all the tools and teaching aids that have been made available on the site, and it even uses a Learning Management System that allows the teacher to create tests that can be instantly graded.
This sounds like an innovative approach to combining such LMS tools as BlackBoard, Angel and WebCT with You Tube to allow you to create your unique learning environment. The classroom is also accessible on any mobile device, thereby increasing a higher percentage of participation from wherever the student might be. This is available for any level of grade or specialty—there are no restrictions when it comes to learning.
What does something like this cost?
- Free: Offers a limited package of space, but no email support; must contend with ads.
- Teacher Tube Pro--$29/yr. Offers full functionality of all tools, LMS, email support, design, customization, and more.
- Teacher Tube Campus Pro—Must contact for pricing. Designed to be used by schools, districts, and universities; networking capabilities. Offers complete use of all available tools as well as unlimited data.
You do not need to set up a classroom to be able to use the other video and audio tools, so take advantage of everything you can—it’s free! Teacher Tube’s mission is to make a teacher’s life easier by offering tools that increase as well as enhance creativity and efficiency, again for free. Teacher Tube welcomes you to look around as much as you like and find out for yourself what a great resource this is. Enjoy!
