Watch.Know.Learn and be Educated
Although it is our instinct to jump
onto YouTube to find a video, many –if not all- school systems have blocked
this site. Luckily, there are other
student friendly sites that we can access to promote learning.
WatchKnowLearn is a fantastic tool
for teachers! It provides an ample
amount of educational videos and songs that can be tailored to your student’s
age level and content. Many of us are
already familiar with Discovery Education and WatchKnowLearn acts very
similarly to Discovery Education. Throughout my teaching experience thus far, I
have relied heavily on Discovery Education for many of my video
references. For those who have access to
an account, whether it is through a school or your own personal account,
Discovery Education is a beneficial tool to help reinforce content in another
way. The only down side about Discovery
Education is that you do need to pay to use this site. WatchKnowLearn, on the other hand, is
absolutely free. The site does ask you
to create a login name and password, but for no additional cost.
On the WatchKnowLearn website,
there is an option to view Press documents.
As I was searching through the list of press videos, I came across an
interview with Tom Pittman the founder of this website and ABC 24 News in
Memphis. Tom Pittman states in his
interview that “technology can be used to engage students” and “when you go
into a classroom you see all children’s eyes on the video and you know they are
learning”. Further on into his interview
he reveals that the site provides a directory of about 14,000 videos. The videos are categorized and approved by a
panel of about 200 teachers before they go on the site. Teachers can find videos that range from ages
3-18 and can narrow their search according to content. Finally, Tom Pittman concludes that anyone
can submit a video. All they need to do
is click “add video” which then goes into a directory for the panel to review. Once it is approved the video will be posted.
WatchKnowLearn is a website that
not only aids educators, children, and parents, but provides a learning
community. Anyone has access to the
information and therefore provides an endless amount of learning opportunities. I have already found helpful videos to share
with my 3rd grade class! You
should take a look too! Click on the
link below to direct you to the website!
Ms. Catapano,
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of this site before, but after reading about it here on your blog, I am so excited about it. I am a huge fan of Discovery Education as well. I use it fairly often in my 5th grade classroom. Reading about a free site that is very similar to Discovery Education, however, is wonderful. The resources out there seem to be endless. Technology this day in age provides so many opportunities for educators to give their students that visual experience. Thank you so much for sharing and I look forward to checking the site out!!
I agree! I am always keeping an eye out for good, FREE, education sites! I hope it is helpful for you! If you find any great videos, please share them!
DeleteMs. Catapano
This site is so cool! Much more user-friendly than Discovery Education! The site gives a directory that is quick and concise for choosing a topic. I also love how the first thing featured when I pulled up the site was an SOL of the week. Sometimes it is very difficult to hit all of the standards listed within one concepts and this website eliminates the hunt. I look forward to using this in my practicum and hopefully a classroom of my own someday!
ReplyDeleteI am very pleased with the SOL feature... especially since we teach in Virginia! It provides a quick and easy find and I find myself referring to this site more than Discovery Education!
ReplyDeleteMs. Catapano
Vicki - After perusing the site a little bit, I will definitely try to use WatchKnowLearn more in my lessons. While I love using Discovery Education videos, it can be somewhat difficult to navigate or skip to the most pertinent parts of videos. Also, the apparently rigorous review process means that the videos will be safe for school as well as enriching. Thanks so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThis site is so great! Before reading your blog, I had never heard of it. I have, of course, used Discovery Education quite a few times during my student teaching and I really enjoyed it. However, I did find that for some reason, when you went to pause some of the videos while they were playing you would lose the sound feature. I'm not sure if this was just a glitch in my CT's classroom, or if it happens to other users as well. When exploring this site, I also thought that the SOL of the week was so cool! The best part about it is that I don't need another teacher's Discovery Education I.D and its no cost for me to use it. Thank you for sharing such a valuable tech tool!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information! I had also never heard of this website before, and after looking through the site, I think I will bookmark it as a resource. My CT uses youtube songs quite often to teach different concepts in her classroom. If they ever blocked youtube for their school district, I know she would not be happy. I will spread the word about this site. I, also, always enjoy free things! One concern I would have about this is the content of information posted since anyone can post videos. However, I read that the videos need to be approved by teachers before they are posted. This would also eliminate all of the "junk" that you can come across on youtube. Using this site, you know that the only hits you will get for a video will be educational, and I think that is great.
ReplyDelete