5 Important Tips on How to Better Annotate YouTube Videos to Use with Your Students

November 5, 2015
YouTube video editor is absolutely a powerful video editing platform to use in your instruction to create and edit videos. It provides almost all the pro features you normally find in a premium video software and all for free. Our YouTube for Teachers series here in EdTech and mLearning attempts to help teachers make the best of YouTube in their teaching by providing them with educational channels designed specifically to tend to teachers educational video content as well as resources featuring  tips and tricks on how to create and edit  instructional videos on Youtube. In today’s post we are introducing you to a very important feature called annotations.

Annotations are those pieces of information that you add to a video in the form of layered text, links and hotspots. As a teacher, you can use annotations to make your videos more interactive, engaging and informative.  YouTube offers five different types of annotations to choose from:

'A- Speech bubble: for creating pop-up speech bubbles with text.
B- Spotlight:  for highlighting areas in a video; when the user moves the mouse over these areas the text you enter will appear.
C- Note:  for creating pop-up boxes containing text.
D- Title: for creating a text overlay to title your video.
E- Label: for creating a label to call out and name a specific part of your video.'

1- Creating annotations
Here is how to access annotations and add them to your videos:

• 'Go to your channel Video Manager
• Next to the video you wish to edit, click the down arrow to the right of the Edit button and select Annotations
• Click the Add annotation button on the right.
• Click Apply changes when you've finished creating your annotations.'

2- Change font, colours, size and position
Using the annotations setting will enable you to customize the size, font, colour and background of your annotations. You can easily drag and drop to place your annotations on any spot within the video player. However, keep in mind that annotations have a limited size and are not allowed to cover over 30% of the player size.

Each annotation type comes with a bunch of setting options to choose from. First select the annotation form you want to use on your video, and you will be shown the available customization options right under it.

3- Change the timing of your annotations
You can easily control when your annotations appear on your video by changing the values in the Start and End settings. Alternatively, you can move the annotations around on the timeline underneath the video to the time spot where you want them to appear.

4-Add links to your videos
Using the linking feature allows you to link to other sources (e.g another video, a website, a blog...etc) right from within your video. Upon clicking on the embedded links, viewers will be directed to the resource page you linked to.

To add links to your video you need to check the ‘Link’ box underneath the ’Start’ and End’ settings. Paste the URL of your link and determine when you want it to appear in the video by customizing the values in from of ’Start link video at’. You can also check ‘Open link in a new window’ to enable viewers to access your linked page in a different window.

Source: YouTube Help.

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7 important YouTube Tips for Teachers

September 11, 2015
YouTube is undoubtedly a great source of educational video content to use with students in class. whether you are looking for subject specific content or generic insights elated to professional development and teaching, YouTube’s video library has you covered. YouTube is also a versatile video editor where you can create and edit your own videos. It actually provides all the editing features you would normally find in a pro video editing software and all for free.

Given the growing educational potential of YouTube, we have created a section in this blog where we share a plethora of resources to help you make the best out of this platform in your own teaching. And in Today's post  we are featuring more interesting tips to keep in mind when using YouTube :

1- Build a playlist of your favourite videos
This is a very interesting feature for teachers. You can build a playlist of educational videos you curate on YouTube and share it with your students. Here is how to make a new playlist

• Click Add to underneath a video
• Enter a name for your playlist
• Decide if you would like your playlist to be Public, Private, or Unlisted. 
• Click Create

2- Embed videos and playlists
If you have a classroom blog or website, you can go ahead and embed videos and playlists in your platform using the following steps:

A- Here’s how to embed a video:

• Click the Share link under the video.
• Click the Embed link.
• Copy the code provided in the expanded box.
• Paste the code into your blog or website.

B- Here’s how to embed a playlist:

• Click Playlists on the left side of your YouTube page
• Click the playlist title you'd like to embed.
• Click the Share link.
• Click the Embed link.
• Copy the embed code that appears in the menu below.
• Paste the code into your website or blog.

3- Videos with captions
Captions automatically transcribe verbal content of YouTube videos. Captions are only available on videos whose owners have enabled this feature and also on a select few videos where YouTube automatically provides them. Captions come in different languages and in case your language is not included you can opt for auto-translated captions which use Google Translate to translate the captions.

Here is how to  to enable auto-translated captions:

• Click on the captions icon at the bottom of the video
• Click Options
• Click Translate Captions
• Click to select a language
• Click OK

Watch the video below to learn more about how to run on and off captions.

4- Create and edit annotations
Annotations allow you to make your videos interactive and draw more engagement from your viewers.  With annotations you can easily layer text, links and hotspots over your videos. Here is how to access annotations and add them to your video:

• Go to your channel Video Manager
• Next to the video you wish to edit, click the down arrow to the right of the Edit button and select Annotations
• Click the Add annotation button on the right.
• Click Apply changes when you've finished creating your annotations.

Watch the video below to learn more about annotations

5- Add subtitles and closed captions
'Subtitles and closed captions open up your content to a larger audience, including deaf or hard of hearing viewers or those who speak languages besides the one spoken in your video. They also act as metadata that helps your videos show up in more places on YouTube.
To add new subtitles or closed captions to a video:

• Go to your Video Manager.
• Next to the video you want to add captions or subtitles to, click the drop-down menu next to the Edit button.
• Select Subtitles and CC.
• In the drop-down menu, choose the language that's spoken most in the video and click Set language.

Note: If you change the setting for the original language of your video, all future translated subtitles will use the new language as the source for translations (your published and draft subtitles and closed captions won't be affected).

• Click the Add subtitles or CC button.
• Choose the language for the subtitles or closed captions you want to create. You can use the search bar to find languages that don't automatically show in the list.
• If you choose a language that you've already started working on, this will take you directly to your draft and you can start adding content again.
• Choose how you want to add subtitles or closed captions to your video.'

6- Add audio track to your videos
Using the audio swapping tool, you can easily add a wide variety of songs to your videos. Many of these songs are available on YouTube’s free Audio Library of licensed songs. Here is how to add audio tracks to your video

• Go to your Video Manager page, and click the arrow next to Edit on the video you’d like to edit
• In the drop-down menu, click the Audio button
• Select a track by clicking on it and preview your video with the music track added
• Search for a track using the search box, or browse by genre using the Featured Tracks tab
• Once you've found a track you like, click the Save button, and the new audio will be applied to your video. Audio tracks can be positioned in a precise part of your video using the position audio feature.

7- YouTube search tips 
There are several handy features and tips that we can use to render our YouTube search much more focused and get relevant search results.  To access any of these features, you need to run your search query on YouTube then in the first search result page, click on "filter".

A- Upload date

YouTube allows you to filter your search results by upload date.You can thus search for videos that have been uploaded to YouTube within :last hour, today, this week, this month, or this year.

B- Search by type

You can also search YouTube for certain video channels, shows, movies, playlists or videos. To do this you need to select what you want to search for from the 'type' column .

C- Duration

If you are looking for videos with specific duration you can select it from the "duration" column. As of right now , Duration feature on YouTube allows you to search for videos that are 4 minutes or shorter, or videos that are 20 minutes or longer.

D- Search for HD videos and 3D videos

The "Features" column allows you to select the kind of videos you want to search for on YouTube. You can for example choose whether you want to search for only HD videos, or videos with subtitles, Creative Commons videos, and 3D videos.

E- Sorting videos

youTube also provides you with 4 different criteria to sort your YouTube videos. You can sort them by relevance, update date, view count, or rating.

Source: YouTube Help page.

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New- You Can Now Trim YouTube Videos on Android

February 27, 2015
Google released today a new interesting feature for its YouTube app on Android. When you upload a video on Android YouTube app, you will be able to trim your videos and select the exact portion you want to upload instead of uploading it all which was the case before this update. This new feature gives users precise control of their trims in a simple and intuitive way.

Android YouTube users can also preview their videos using the new inline preview feature. This allows users to work on their trims and preview them before they publish their videos. to access these new features make sure you update your Android YouTube app.

Courtesy of TNW

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5 Things Every Teacher Should Be Able to Do On YouTube

January, 2015
After the post I shared here on how to create flipped videos via the use of annotations and other interactivity features on YouTube, I received a couple of emails from fellow teachers asking about certain functionalities on YouTube. Instead of answering each one individually, I decided to create this post and include in it the major important things a teacher should be able to do on YouTube.

Here is what you will get to learn from these tips:

• Know how to add subtitles and closed captions to your videos
• Add and edit annotations
• use enhancement features to improve your videos
• How to use YouTube video editor to combine, trim, add music and customize your clips
• How to search YouTube library for copyright-free music to add to your videos
• How to swap the audio track on our videos

Click on each title to access its corresponding resource page.

1- How to use YouTube Video Editor
Get to learn about the basic features provided by YouTube video editor.This page will show you how to customize  your videos using different toolsYou will also get to learn how  to combine multiple videos and images in one video, how to trim your clips to custom lengths, and how to add music to your video from a library of approved tracks.

2- How to Add Subtitles and Captions  to Your Videos
This feature allows you to add subtitles to your videos so that deaf people or those who speak a different language can understand your content.

3- How to Add Annotations to Your Videos
Annotations help you engage with viewers and make your videos more interactive. With annotations you can layer text, links, and hotspots over your video. They help you enrich the video experience by adding information, interactivity and engagement.

4- How to Enhance Your Videos
The enhancement functionality allows you to make tweaks and add effects to your videos. These include things such as:

• Auto-fix: Lets you adjust lighting and colour
• Stabilize: This allows you to adjust the video to correct any shakiness
• Slow motion: This enables you to slow the speed at which your video plays
• Trim: Lets you clip parts off the your video
• Filters: Choose from pre-set colour filters that you can apply to your video to give them a stylish and unique look.
• Face blurring: Protect the anonymity of people in your video.

5- Learn How to Find Music and Audio for Your Videos Using YouTube Audio Library

Learn how to use YouTube Audio Library to access and use sound tracks in your videos. The YouTube Audio Library is a collection of music and sound effects for YouTube creators to use in their videos.

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This Is How to Create Flipped Videos by Adding Interactive Elements and Annotations to YouTube Clips

January 27, 2015
In an earlier post covering the best YouTube resources for teachers I argued that the educational potential of YouTube resides in it being both a free platform that provides a wide variety of educational videos to use in class and also in the powerful editing features it offers to video creators. In today’s post, I am sharing with you one of YuTube’s useful editing feature that allows you to add interactivity to your videos.

Using the interactivity feature, teachers will be able to add interactive elements to their videos to boost students engagement with the  content of their videos. These interactive features can be annotations, links to other videos or external resources on the web, call-for action buttons and many more. James Sanders has this excellent video tutorial in which he explains in a step by step process how to upload your video to YouTube and add different interactive features to it. I invite you to watch and share it with your colleagues. Enjoy.

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Fantastic Resources for Teaching Using YouTube

January 25, 2015
YouTube is definitely one of the best platforms for searching and accessing  educational video resources. We have already covered several ways teachers can leverage the  power of this platform in instruction. In fact, the strength of YouTube is not only in it being a resource of educational videos but is also a powerful tool for creating and editing videos. Several teachers still overlook some excellent editing features and creative possibilities that YouTube provides. For instance, you can use YouTube editor to create beautiful slideshows and presentations to share in class, or create use it to create a Hangout  and invite students to take part. These and several other hacks are all available right in your YouTube account and if you need help discovering YouTube's hidden gems, this section is a good place to start with.

I am also sharing with you this wonderful list created by Teachthought featuring a number of useful YouTube tips, guides, apps , and tools that you can use to tap into the full educational potential of this video platform. I invite you to check them out and share with us what you think of them.

25 Of The Best Resources For Teaching With YouTube

View more lists from Terry Heick

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