Using Video on Blogs

You can post an occasional video on your blog, but if dedicate your blog to video, it will have to go by another name. This type of blog is known as a vlog.

A vlog is a blog that focuses on video, embedded directly in the post. A vlog should have a theme. Here's an example of a vlog, The Vlog Blog.

If you decide to create a vlog, there are some things to think about. You really can't share a vlog in the lab with all of your students and expect them to view videos simultaneously while sitting next to each other because that, of course, is network abuse. It is quite a strain on any network, and it will indeed slow things down for everyone. Instead, your vlog should be viewed by visitors at home, or by groups of students gathered around one machine.

Now that you have seen an example of a vlog, perhaps you are only interested in displaying a video occasionally on your blog.  There are a few ways to do this.

1. If you are using a source like Teacher Tube, or YouTube, you will find an embed code right on the page. Although it looks like gibberish, you can confidently copy the embed code and paste it into a blogger post, if you change the mode in the upper-right hand corner from Compose to Edit HTML. Don't worry, copying and pasting is easy, and it will work.
2. If you're using YouTube video, it's important to remember to deselect the option to include related videos underneath the embed code. Sometimes these videos are inappropriate. Thanks to Amy Vogt for the reminder!
3. If you want to conserve space on your blog, a very good option is to "fake it". You can take a snapshot of the video and use the Picture Gadget to post it in the sidebar. Copy the link to the video and paste it in the Picture Gadget and your viewers will be taken directly to the website where they can view the video. (See my example in the sidebar.)
   
4. If you're thinking about downloading a unitedstreaming/Discovery Education video and including it on your blog, please think again. This is quite illegal. D97 pays for a subscription to unitedstreaming/Discovery Education which allows us to share the video with our students, but not the world. There are copyright rules posted right on the unitedstreaming page.

Please remember, streaming video can drain any network. Be creative in the way that you ask students to view video. Project it to a screen for all, send students to your classroom computer in groups to view the video, and certainly send them home to view a video as homework. Students will most likely enjoy this type of assignment and they are bound to do it. After all, video is something they spend a lot of their free time viewing.

Please do choose educationally appropriate video carefully and also take a minute to view the carefully chosen video I've posted in the sidebar of this blog, Why Let Students Blog? by Rachel Boyd