Tech Tip of the Week

In an effort to help bridge the gaps in teacher's understanding and basic skills, I have started an initiative this year that allows for a quick reference to a new skill each week. I create, or borrow, a video tutorial that explains a quick tech tip (no longer then two and a half minutes) and I broadcast it through the school television system in the morning just before the students arrive. This gives teachers a quick tip that they can use immediately, and allows them to continue what they are doing in their own classroom to prep for the rest of the day while listening in.

I first created a webpage using iWeb to create a tech tip of the week online repository. I used the blog template to encourage subscribers as well. Here I add one tip per week from YouTube, or TeacherTube, that either I have submitted or that I have found from another educator that is relevant to something the teachers asked for help with. I also added my email address to the site, so that teachers could email me with suggestions for future tips. Of course, on YouTube and TeacherTube, there is also a place for comments so that educators can chime in and leave feedback for the tip or for future tips.

I then attach my laptop to our CTV box via our DVD/VCR player using the camera 1 input. I have a VGA adapter that allows video out from my MacBook Pro either through the digital adapter or s-video, and a "Y" cable that connects to my headphone jack to send the audio from my laptop to the DVD/VCR player. This way I do not use up all of our DVDs in the school, and yet I can still play them through the CTV system. To check out my tech. tips of the week, just visit; http://www.yorkschools.org/~elawson/teachers/techtip