While every classroom may have different types of technology equipment, the common thread is how to organize the resources you have. Check out the Managing Classroom Technology Resources web site.

The “Hardware” section provides tips for connecting as well as caring for hardware. The “Management” section gives ideas for placement, signage, requesting assistance and more. The “Grouping” category focuses on using technology with whole group, small groups, and partners. The last three sections are geared primarily for teachers in the district hosting the site (Kent School District in Washington state), but you may find a nugget that triggers your creative juices.

There are a couple of ways to do this depending on what Internet browser you use.  The easiest way is to use a website to download the video.  There are a couple out there, this is one I have used most recently because it does many different kinds of video, not just those from You Tube.

Here’s How:

1. Find a You Tube video you would like to save, highlight and copy the URL. (Ctrl + C)
2. Go to this website: http://keepvid.com and paste the URL in the box (Ctrl + V) and click the “Download” button.
3. A new box will open up, click the “Download Link” and save it to a location you can find later. (i.e. your Desktop)
4. The file will download and be called “get_video.flv”.
5. To rename the file, right click on the file, choose “Rename” type a different name, just make sure it ends in .flv (This means it’s a flash file)
6. The file is now downloaded and can be played on your computer if you have a flash player installed.

If you don’t have a flash player, the next post will give you a source for a free one.  If you want to use it in a Power Point presentation, you’ll need to convert it to a .wmv file.  That will be the final post in this series

Now that you have your flash file, you can do a couple of things with it. If you want to simply view or show it, you need to have a flash video player installed on your computer. There are many good ones out there, the one I prefer is called VideoLAN. The reason I like this particular tool, is with it you can view many different types of video files, it’s Open Source (Read: FREE), and with it you can convert a flash video into a Windows Media File.  There is more information about that in the third part of this post.

Here is the link to download VideoLAN.

In order to embed the video you have created into a Power Point presentation, you first need to convert it to a .wmv file. All movies need to be in that format to play well with Power Point.

I have created a video tutorial to show how to do that with a program I talked about earlier, VideoLAN.
Assuming you have downloaded that program, click the tutorial link below, there is also a .pdf file of the steps needed to convert a file using VideoLAN.

Converting Flash Video Tutorial

Converting Flash Video .pdf

When that step is complete, you can simply go to the page in Power Point you want to embed the video and follow these steps.1. Select “Insert” then “Movies and Sounds” then “Movie From File”
2. Browse to the file you want to embed and select “OK”
3. It will ask if you want it to play automatically or when clicked, I suggest “When Clicked”.
4. Test your slide to make sure everything works!