I recently discovered Vidque, a site where you can build a customized library of videos for personal use or as a vehicle to share with students and friends. I love this site when I use it from home as it makes it very simple to access my personal collection of videos that I have discovered across the web. Sadly (but not surprisingly), any of the YouTube videos I included in Vidque were blocked when I tried opening them in an educational environment that blocks YouTube. It’s a bit disheartening when YouTube is blocked in schools because I can not share some of the marvelous short videos that are very appropriate for lessons and school use with my teachers and students. Still, I do understand the concern administrators and schools in general have regarding YouTube and some of the other video sites…there is a lot of bad mixed with the good. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I sure do miss Fliggo.

While Vidque does not serve as a replacement to Fliggo, it is a powerful tool to include in your bag of techno-organizational tricks. Creating a video library that is accessible using the tags you assign is very powerful and sharing the great videos you collect and add to your collection is simple and useful. Send links to students, friends, and colleagues or simply twitter the video link (based on your Vidque address) to your followers. You can save up to 20 videos a day once you have registered for a free account and set up your profile. Saving a video from any site is as simple as clicking on a button (once you have installed the Vidque bookmarklet in your browser) or you can add videos to your account manually using the Add Video Page. Currently the bookmarklet works in the following browsers: Chrome, Foxfire, Safari, and Opera.

I am gradually building a new library of videos using Vidque.

There are a number of video tutorial links that can be used to help learn an aspect of a computer program or how-to…well, you name it. Today I am sharing a few of the links that I thought stood out as I researched this topic.

Woopid – a relative newcomer to the how-to video scene, this site features numerous free technology training videos. The site claims to feature 1000’s of videos, though it did not appear that many videos when I researched the library listings. Regardless of the number, the featured videos were clear and easy to understand.

Video-tutes.com – “The free tutorial videos on this site cover a wide range of industry standard software such as Photoshop cs2 & 3, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Flash 8 and Flash 8 video, Adobe Premiere pro and more, 22 titles in fact! All are presented in a free video tutorial format. Our tutorial video collection is designed to help beginners and those wishing to learn new software to become productive faster & those wanting to advance their skill set.”

GetNetWise – this site claims that it “contains the largest online repository of instructional how-to video tutorials that show parents and users how to keep their family’s online experiences safe and secure. Instructional videos range from setting your search engine to filter pornography in its search results to activating your computer’s security settings.” I can’t guarantee that their claim is accurate, but the site does feature a number of excellent safety-focused resources that you may want to share with members of your staff and parents. Please note: most videos do not feature narration, but the visual representation is excellent.

Get My Idea – browse a large collection of free video tutorials. The site features daily updates, so don’t forget to bookmark us and check back often.

HowCast.com – “From How to Write a Resume to How to Jump-Start Car, Howcast provides the answer to any how-to question. Howcast engages consumers to watch and share free, useful how-to videos and guides produced in-house at Howcast Studios, as well as by innovative media partners, trusted brands, and individual contributors.”

It’s Saturday…time for a little fun and play! Take some time to relax and experiment with animation using the fun, easy to use Animasher tool. I readily confess the sample I am sharing today is not mine. As much as I enjoyed this application and feel that students would benefit using it, I simply did not have as much time as I would have liked to play with it, so I am sharing a sample from the site. That’s right….once you create and post a video anyone can share it on a site…a great advantage for teachers who would like to post student work on a classroom blog or website.

To create an animation simply drag backgrounds, images, and video on to the animation screen. Add music or/or recordings. Save and share! While there is no doubting the amount of fun you and your students could have while creating animation with Animasher, please be aware this is a social network. That means that someone could post offensive material at any given time. I did not come across anything too out of line (and I’m fairly conservative), but someone could add an offensive animation at any given moment in time. That said…this is a great application that could be used to encourage sequencing, storytelling, and creativity. Please feel free to share your thoughts (and animations) using the comment link at the end of this post.

Animation testing.. by Re_Animator

Make your own| Clone and edit