New- You Can Now Trim YouTube Videos on Android

February 27, 2015
Google released today a new interesting feature for its YouTube app on Android. When you upload a video on Android YouTube app, you will be able to trim your videos and select the exact portion you want to upload instead of uploading it all which was the case before this update. This new feature gives users precise control of their trims in a simple and intuitive way.

Android YouTube users can also preview their videos using the new inline preview feature. This allows users to work on their trims and preview them before they publish their videos. to access these new features make sure you update your Android YouTube app.

Courtesy of TNW

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5 Things Every Teacher Should Be Able to Do On YouTube

January, 2015
After the post I shared here on how to create flipped videos via the use of annotations and other interactivity features on YouTube, I received a couple of emails from fellow teachers asking about certain functionalities on YouTube. Instead of answering each one individually, I decided to create this post and include in it the major important things a teacher should be able to do on YouTube.

Here is what you will get to learn from these tips:

• Know how to add subtitles and closed captions to your videos
• Add and edit annotations
• use enhancement features to improve your videos
• How to use YouTube video editor to combine, trim, add music and customize your clips
• How to search YouTube library for copyright-free music to add to your videos
• How to swap the audio track on our videos

Click on each title to access its corresponding resource page.

1- How to use YouTube Video Editor
Get to learn about the basic features provided by YouTube video editor.This page will show you how to customize  your videos using different toolsYou will also get to learn how  to combine multiple videos and images in one video, how to trim your clips to custom lengths, and how to add music to your video from a library of approved tracks.

2- How to Add Subtitles and Captions  to Your Videos
This feature allows you to add subtitles to your videos so that deaf people or those who speak a different language can understand your content.

3- How to Add Annotations to Your Videos
Annotations help you engage with viewers and make your videos more interactive. With annotations you can layer text, links, and hotspots over your video. They help you enrich the video experience by adding information, interactivity and engagement.

4- How to Enhance Your Videos
The enhancement functionality allows you to make tweaks and add effects to your videos. These include things such as:

• Auto-fix: Lets you adjust lighting and colour
• Stabilize: This allows you to adjust the video to correct any shakiness
• Slow motion: This enables you to slow the speed at which your video plays
• Trim: Lets you clip parts off the your video
• Filters: Choose from pre-set colour filters that you can apply to your video to give them a stylish and unique look.
• Face blurring: Protect the anonymity of people in your video.

5- Learn How to Find Music and Audio for Your Videos Using YouTube Audio Library

Learn how to use YouTube Audio Library to access and use sound tracks in your videos. The YouTube Audio Library is a collection of music and sound effects for YouTube creators to use in their videos.

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This Is How to Create Flipped Videos by Adding Interactive Elements and Annotations to YouTube Clips

January 27, 2015
In an earlier post covering the best YouTube resources for teachers I argued that the educational potential of YouTube resides in it being both a free platform that provides a wide variety of educational videos to use in class and also in the powerful editing features it offers to video creators. In today�s post, I am sharing with you one of YuTube�s useful editing feature that allows you to add interactivity to your videos.

Using the interactivity feature, teachers will be able to add interactive elements to their videos to boost students engagement with the  content of their videos. These interactive features can be annotations, links to other videos or external resources on the web, call-for action buttons and many more. James Sanders has this excellent video tutorial in which he explains in a step by step process how to upload your video to YouTube and add different interactive features to it. I invite you to watch and share it with your colleagues. Enjoy.

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Fantastic Resources for Teaching Using YouTube

January 25, 2015
YouTube is definitely one of the best platforms for searching and accessing  educational video resources. We have already covered several ways teachers can leverage the  power of this platform in instruction. In fact, the strength of YouTube is not only in it being a resource of educational videos but is also a powerful tool for creating and editing videos. Several teachers still overlook some excellent editing features and creative possibilities that YouTube provides. For instance, you can use YouTube editor to create beautiful slideshows and presentations to share in class, or create use it to create a Hangout  and invite students to take part. These and several other hacks are all available right in your YouTube account and if you need help discovering YouTube's hidden gems, this section is a good place to start with.

I am also sharing with you this wonderful list created by Teachthought featuring a number of useful YouTube tips, guides, apps , and tools that you can use to tap into the full educational potential of this video platform. I invite you to check them out and share with us what you think of them.

25 Of The Best Resources For Teaching With YouTube

View more lists from Terry Heick

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4 Important YouTube Search Tips for Teachers and Educators

December, 2014
Youtube is definitely one of the powerful video resources for us in education. It is probably by far the most frequented video platform. Similar to Google search engine, YouTube disposes of a very sophisticated search functionality that is often overlooked. There are several handy features and tips that we can use to render our YouTube search much more focused and get relevant search results.
In this post, I want to introduce you to some of these features and show you how you can use them to filter your YouTube video search.

To access any of these features, you need to run your search query on YouTube then in the first search result page, click on "filter".

1- Upload date

YouTube allows you to filter your search results by upload date.You can thus search for videos that have been uploaded to YouTube within :last hour, today, this week, this month, or this year.

2- Search by type

You can also search YouTube for certain video channels, shows, movies, playlists or videos. To do this you need to select what you want to search for from the 'type' column .

3- Duration

If you are looking for videos with specific duration you can select it from the "duration" column. As of right now , Duration feature on YouTube allows you to search for videos that are 4 minutes or shorter, or videos that are 20 minutes or longer.

4- Search for HD videos and 3D videos

The "Features" column allows you to select the kind of videos you want to search for on YouTube. You can for example choose whether you want to search for only HD videos, or videos with subtitles, Creative Commons videos, and 3D videos.

5- Sorting videos

youTube also provides you with 4 different criteria to sort your YouTube videos. You can sort them by relevance, update date, view count, or rating.

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An Important YouTube Tip for Teachers and Educators

November 28, 2014
Here is a nifty little trick that is often overlooked by many teachers. I got an email the other day from a teacher asking about some tools to crop YouTube videos. I thought, why would you use a third party tool when YouTube has a very powerful built-in cropping functionality. Unless you want to use a tool that both crops and removes surrounding content, I think YouTube's cropping service is what you definitely need. The only inconvenience with this tool is that it allows you to specify only the start time  of the portion you want to crop.

 For instance, you watched a YouTube video and you want to share the part of the video that starts at minute 10. Just click on the "share button then select "embed"  under the video as shown in the picture below

Then tick the "start time" box and set the start time to 10. Then copy and share the link through email or via social media websites.

The video will automatically play at the exact moment you have set. Try out this link to see this example.

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