Kindu TV - a Teacher's YouTube Solution!

One of the questions I hear most often in EdTech is, 'How can I show YouTube videos without ads, comments and a sidebar of suggested next videos?'

There are a lot of tricks out there. Some that work 👍 and some that don't 👎. The two that seem to be a surefire hack are:

• embedding the YouTube video into Google Slides 
• AND adding a - between the 't' and the 'u' in the web address, for example: 
  https://www.yout-ube.com/watch?v=4RZEWsij7aE. (That's a good one by the way, you should watch it 😉!!)

HOWEVER, I just recently discovered an even BETTER solution: Kindu TV! Creating a FREE Teacher account in Kindu TV gives you access to:

📺 15,000+ YouTube educational videos vetted by teachers for primary education
📺  Unlimited video views
📺  Unlimited bookmarks
📺  Unlimited custom collections AND
📺 Up to 10 YouTube videos that you choose and add per month.

So how exactly does this work?

1️⃣ Head to https://www.kindu.io/tv

2️⃣ Sign up for a 🆓 Teacher Account 

3️⃣ Start searching or filtering for videos you already use in the classroom. Add them to bookmarks and collections. (You have unlimited for both!)

4️⃣ Add YouTube links that aren't part of Kindu TV - up to 🔟 a month for the 🆓 account

✅That's it! You are ready to show YouTube videos 🚫ads, 🚫comments, and 🚫next video suggestions. 

🎥  Just a friendly reminder, all YouTube videos (even those in the Kindu TV Library) must be 'APPROVED' by a Teacher account in Keller ISD to be available for students to view.

STOP Evaluate & Listen

Feedback is often the tool educators use to fully understand if students internalized, processed, and can interact effectively with the instruction presented. That can look like so many things. Most of us can at least remember one time in our lifetime a teacher called on us for an answer (whether we knew it or not). Varying levels of embarrassment or pride usually followed those interactions. 

The advancement of technology and the ability to get a device in the hands of students has at least made this process a little less daunting and truly at your fingertips. Mobile devices, Chromebook, tablets, laptops, you name it, students can now have immediate assessments of their learning in any given setting. It is also so quick and easy to have tools gathering responses embedded seamlessly in multiple parts of a lesson cycle. This allows for an educator to see student learning in real time and adjust accordingly. The question we are all asking? How?

Gamification was a hot topic during the pandemic. Teachers were trying anything they could get their hands on to engage students. Even though you might not want to engage in a full on competition with multiple levels of questioning, games can still be used to evaluate quickly using only a few questions. Some fan favorites include: 

Gimkit : Interactive game that allows students to sabotage or help others. They also do seasonal themes like zombies, etc that keep the games interesting.

Kahoot : The good old trusted game that limits times and rewards those that answer quickly and correctly.
Socrative: Interact with a group or individualized gaming. Includes other types of responses.
Blooket: Create questions, choose a game mode, play as a group or solo! 

Polling also has become a quick way for educators to create intro and exit tickets as well as assess throughout the class. Asking one question and seeing the results.

Polleverywhere: Create an open ended question, multiple choice, rank order, Q&A, or word cloud to see student responses in real time.
Mentimeter: Add polls, word clouds, and other engagement pieces to a slide deck. One tool to rule them all. 

Nearpod allows you to add a slide with a lot of various engaging activities, quick responses, and get students' responses and analytics in a heartbeat . 

Nearpod Slides: polls, gamification, matching, multiple choice, and so much more! Click the link to read a blog post all about Nearpod engagement.

Profiles, Logins, and Accounts, Oh My!

You are! There are two IDENTICAL thumbnails in the upper right corner of this Chrome browser screen:

There is a difference between the two thumbnails. The upper one indicates the Chrome profile. Logging into the Chrome browser can sync your data such as bookmarks, history, saved passwords, etc. on multiple devices and makes transitioning between them easier. More information.

Logging into Google (shown with the lower thumbnail) allows a Google Workspace user the ability to access their Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Classroom classes, etc. You can access your Google account without signing into Chrome, however note that bookmarks, cached history, etc. will not be accessible. Once logged into both, a second (or third or fourth...) user can access their items using Chrome profiles. Simply click +ADD in the upper right corner.

When adding additional profiles, login to both Chrome and Google to keep your multiple profiles and settings separate. There are many scenarios in which multiple profiles on one device may be helpful: two siblings sharing a device, a user who has both a work and personal account, a user who has two work profiles, etc.

Check out the following two animations to view these concepts on an iOS device.

Switching Profiles on an iPad

Logging In and Out of a Google App on an iPad

 YouTube Google Workspace for Education Accounts Changing

September 1, 2021 students under the age of 18 with Google Workspace for Education accounts saw a difference in their YouTube accounts. What exactly is happening and how does it affect students that fall under that umbrella?

First, students will not see a YouTube channel on their Google Workspace for Education account. The accounts that are managed by the school district now have to limit those students under the age of 18. 

How do these changes affect the education spectrum? The ability to watch live streams, interact using chat, comments, posts, and purchase power will now be gone. Students will also see  limitations in the YouTube applications such as YouTube Go, YouTube Studio, and YouTube VR. Finally students will not be able to cast to a TV, connect to gaming accounts, go incognito, personalize ads, or access restricted mode. 

Google assures there will still be a new limited version of YouTube that is designed specifically for schools and students under the age of 18. This should allow in a limited capacity, for students to post videos for assignments and utilize the Google Workspace for Education accounts. 

For more information visit Google’s informational page regarding this change at https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/10977326?hl=en

Use Docs to Level Up Group Projects

 Let's face it, group projects can be hard. They depend on soft skills such as management skills, communication, taking responsibility and more - things our students are still developing. 

What if Google Docs could help? We all know about Docs amazing ability to allow simultaneous collaboration among students and teachers. BUT this past year, Google began releasing some amazing new features and functionality to level up collaboration between users. 

Smart Chips (that's just a fancy word for links) for People, Files & Events

Using the @ symbol when in Docs (Sheets, Slides, Google Drive & Calendar as well!) allows you to link to 👩‍💻👨‍💻 PEOPLE, 📂📝FILES and 🗓📅EVENTS displaying additional information and linking to documents or meetings without changing apps. 

See it in action ⬇⬇⬇

Create Checklists in Docs

Yep, you asked for it, you got it! No more checkmark emojis in a collaborative Doc to show that tasks have been completed. Simply, use the CHECKLIST button on the toolbar (or Format > Bullets & Numbering > Checklist) to make a checklist of items for assistance with maintaining and completing projects. 

🤩 Quickly assign the checklist item by using the @PEOPLE smart chip. 

Meeting Notes Templates

You can turn a Doc into meeting notes from a calendar appointment which will automatically import information from the calendar invite including smart chips for attendees and files. From the INSERT menu, choose TEMPLATES > MEETING NOTES, search for the meeting and click.

And COMING SOON to a Doc near you... 

• Table Templates
• Topic-Voting Tables for gathering feedback in one place, & 
• Pageless format in Docs for an infinite work surface!

Utilize these amazing tools to support group work with your students or teamwork with your cohort this year.

Read more about these updates from Google Workspace Updates here.