Video Notes a Must Have Google App for the Classroom

Videonot.es is a new versatile Google Drive app that allows you to watch videos and take notes at the same time. It looks like a great way to get student’s thoughts or questions on a video. The notes you take are synced to your Google Drive. In addition, when you go back to your notes, you simply click on a part of your notes and it will take you back to the relevant place in the video. Currently, Videonot.es supports Youtube, Khan Academy, Vimeo, Udasity, EdX, and Coursera videos.

VideoNot.es does appear to be pretty user friendly. After linking VideoNote.es to Google Drive, students can copy and paste a video link into the box on the left side of their screen and click load. Once the video loads, students watch the video on the left side of the screen and take notes on the right side. Since all files sync with Google Drive, students can easily go back and access their notes at a later time. Google Drive also allows students to efficiently share notes with you or other students. Checkout the ThingLink below to learn more about how VideoNot.es works.



So give Videonot.es a try if you are looking for a way to use video in your class. Using Videonot.es your students can take notes while watching the video, share those notes with others, and review their notes at any time. Check it out at www.videonot.es and let us know what you think or if you need any additional support.

Become a Master Google Searcher

Recently on twitter, someone tweeted out this link to free Goolge courses on improving your search skills. I took the advanced search course last year and learned quite a bit.  Basically there are an assortment of videos that you watch and then complete some type of evidence of understanding. If you have time this summer check it out.  I do believe it helped me become a more efficient searcher and saved me time in the long run.  In the meantime, try out my top five search tips that I learned from the course.  These are definite time savers!

1. Use quotes to search for an exact set of words or a phrase.

• "Abraham Lincoln"

Using quotes can narrow down your search results. For example if I were to search for Abraham Lincoln I get 40,000,000 results, however by adding quotes I cut down my search results to 7,480,000. Still a lot but more manageable.

Note: only use quotes if you are looking for an exact phrase, otherwise you could be excluding results.

2. Search within a site or domain.

• site:www.teachinghistory.org or site:edu

We all have our favorite sites to find lesson plans and teaching ideas. You can use the site: operator to efficiently find things on that site. For example, one of my most trusted history sites has always been www.teachinghistory.org. If I want to find all of the teaching materials on www.teachinghistory.org that involve Abraham Lincoln, I would type in “Abraham Lincoln” site:www.teachinghistory.org. Notice I also included quotes around Abraham Lincoln to narrow my search down even more.

You can also search within a specific domain like .org or .edu. For example I might try “Abraham Lincoln” site:edu

3. Search for a specific file type

• filetype:pptx

Search for a specific file type such as .pptx, .pdf, .xls, or .docx. I use this all the time to find power-points that I can modify to fit my needs. For example, if I were looking for power-points on Abraham Lincoln I would type “Abraham Lincoln” filetype:pptx.  I have also found a lot of success looking for readings that are classroom ready by searching for a pdf.  I might type in "Gettysburg Address" filetype:pdf to find a classroom ready reading on the Gettysburg Address.

4. Search within a specific date range

Google allows you to search for web content by a date range.  You can only access this feature after conducting your initial search and clicking on “Search tools” and then “Any time.” From there you can choose the date range you would like to search. This feature helped me identify why Microsoft office products were crashing after we updated the Mac operating system to Maverick. I searched for Mavericks “Powerpoint” and chose “Past year” because I know Maverick was recently released. This helped me narrow down my results and quickly identify a solution.

You can also use this search trick in class with your students. If you are doing a current events assignment, teach them this trick and require them to find a current event articles published within the last year. It is also great to search for primary sources. Google has digital newspapers dating back to the 19th century! You can search through the newspaper archives for classroom material or even better have students search the database for primary sources.  Below is a screencast I created last year for my US History class.

5. Search for content based on reading difficulty: beginner, intermediate, and advanced

Google allows you to filter your search by reading levels. First type in your search query. Then click “Search tools,” “All results,” and “Reading level.” Finally, click the reading level and Google will filter your results. This is great to find differentiated readings on the same topic.

Do you have any go to search filters?  Add them to the comment section below.