Using YouTube
There are many YouTube videos that may enhance your discussion of the basics of human anatomy and physiology or application of concepts.
For example, you can simply take a term such as appendicitis and hyperlink it to a specific, related YouTube video that you want your students to visit. Go ahead and click the linked term in the previous sentence to see how it works.
Or you could embed a YouTube video within a webpage or PowerPoint slide:
Why use YouTube videos in your A&P course?
There are many ways to use these videos as teaching and learning tools. You are limited only by your imagination. The more you use them, the more ways you'll find to use them. But the only way for that to happen is to TRY IT! Just once! That's all it takes to get started.
Here are some ways you can use YouTube in your anatomy & physiology course:
- Link to or embed related videos in your learning modules or outlines.
- Use them as optional motivators
- Use them as required content
- Link/embed videos in emails to share timely news stories related to your course topics
- Embed videos in PowerPoint slides
- Illustrated points during lectures
- Stimulate class discussions
- Use as basis of clicker question
- Use as basis of case study problem
- Embed a video in an online test or quiz item
- Ask questions about the video, using it as a mini case study
- Ask students to find videos that relate to course topics as an assignment
- You get to see their results and may see something you'll want to use in your lecture
- Have students post them to their class home page (in Blackboard, for example)
- Post all the suggestions by students in one web page or email (or have students post them to a common web page)
- Offer students (or student groups) the opportunity to produce their own videos related to course content.
- This works best when they are assigned to "peer review" other student's projects in a draft stage. such peer review may have corrected a few pronunciation glitches in this otherwise well-done (and creatively silly) student project:
Finding YouTube videos
Frankly, this is the hardest part!
Use the search box at YouTube to find clips related to the topic you want to illustrate. That's easier said than done, because the search is likely to return many videos that have nothing at all to do with what you are looking for. Besides that, those that are related may be of questionable quality, content, or appropriateness for your course. So you basically have to sift through them.
Hints:
- When you select a video, YouTube will present you with some suggested videos related to the one you are viewing. Many videos also have similar links at the end of the video.
- Have your students share videos they've found. You may even say, 'I'm looking for a good video on heart sounds," and send them out looking for a good one for you. They'll learn something about research in the process!
- Check out The A&P Professor blog for suggestions by other instructors!
- Try to find other blogs such as the Biology Animation blog for videos.
How to link or embed videos
It's easy! Really.
Just go to the YouTube instructions for sharing for some different ways to share them. Or use my step by step instructions below.
Links
- Works in web pages, emails, Blackboard announcements or assignments
- Method
- In your browser, go to the video you want to link
- Below the embedded video screen, click on the Share tab
- Just below that tab, to the far right, click the more share options link
- As you scroll down you'll see the Copy and paste box
- Select all the text inside the box and copy it
- Paste the text in your email or web page
- In Dreamweaver, paste it into the Link box under the Properties tab when you've selected the link text
- Choose _blank as the Target if you want the video to appear in a new window or tab
- You could instead use the MySpace or other dedicated "share" links in the YouTube list of choices
- Visit the YouTube instructions for additional help
- As you scroll down you'll see the Copy and paste box
Embed
- Works in web pages, PowerPoint slides, html emails, Blackboard pages, etc.
- Method
for webpages, html emails, etc.
- In your browser, go to the video you want to link
- To the right of the video player, under the creator's information, there is a small snippet of HTML code marked Embed
- Select the snippet of code inside the box and copy it
- Click the customize link to the right of Embed and a box will open that allows you to choose the colors of the YouTube player and border to match your destination (your choices are saved for later video selections). Copy the code after customizing it.
- Paste the copied snippet into the html code of your webpage
- In Dreamweaver, click Code or Split just under the title tab to view and insert the html code
- In Dreamweaver, click Code or Split just under the title tab to view and insert the html code
- Select the snippet of code inside the box and copy it
- Method for PowerPoint 2007 (offline presentations)
- This is probably the best (and easiest) way to imbed YouTube videos, because it doesn't rely on a stable, fast connection at the critical moment you need it during your presentation.
- First, you have to convert the YouTube presentation to a movie file (mpg or avi). There are many ways to do this. You may already have the capability built into software you use now. Otherwise, here are some sites where you can convert YouTube to a movie file that you should then store in the same folder as your PowerPoint presentation.
- If you have Firefox, then click Tools, Add ons, and Get extensions.
- Find and install the Media Converter (or Video Downloader) plugin.
- Find your YouTube video and click the Media Converter icon in the Firefox browser (top)
- Download the video as a movie file in the same folder as your PowerPoint presentation
- Use Media Converter website (free)
- Paste URL from the YouTube video you want to use into the website and follow the steps. Using the default settings is fine, saving as mpg or other PowerPoint-supported format.
- Be sure to save (or move) the converted file in same folder as your PP presentation.
- If you have Firefox, then click Tools, Add ons, and Get extensions.
- In PowerPoint, open a blank slide
- Click Insert tab
- Click Movie tab
- Click Movie from file and navigate to your movie file
- Double-click on name of movie file and select to either play the movie Automatically or When clicked during your presentation
- You're all set!
- Method for PowerPoint 2007
(w/online connection)
- Open a blank slide in PowerPoint, making sure you can see the Notes section.
- In browser, find YouTube video and copy URL (direct link)
- In PowerPoint, paste URL into Notes area of the slide, click Enter, and paste it again (now you have two copies of the URL).
- In the bottom URL, change the watch?v= to v/ then cut this new URL (the remaining unedited URL remains as a note to yourself or students as to its original source)
- Show Developer tab (once you've done these steps once, you won't have to do them again when embedding videos)
- Click Microsoft Office button in upper left corner
- Click PowerPont Options
- Click Popular, make sure Show Developer tab in Ribbon is selected
- Click OK
- Click Developer tab
- In Controls group, select More controls button
- From list, choose Shockwave Flash Object and click OK
- Drag a box open in the slide
- Right-click inside the box you just drew and click Properties
- In the Custom box at the top of the Properties list, click the [...] button on the right
- Paste your URL (copied in a previous step) into the Movie URL box, alter any other properties you want, then click OK
- Close the Properties box
- That's it!
- Video showing how to do this in PowerPoint 2007 (requires online connection during presentation)
- Video showing how to do this in PowerPoint 2003 (requires online connection during presentation)
YouTube Channels
Channels are sets of videos on YouTube that are usually posted by one person or organization and often have a related theme. If you click the Channel tab near the top of any YouTube page, you'll get a sample of popular channels and along the left side, a menu from which to choose a general topic. You can also search for channels using the search feature found on any page.
Some channels of note:
- My own channel: kevintpatton channel
- Nobel Prize channel
- Mr. Ford's class channel
- UC Berkeley channel
- Nucleus animation channel
- Send me more!
From the Nucleus animation channel:
From the kevintpatton channel:
Other video services
- Many news outlets also have videos available to link to and/or embed
- Current news updates in human science
- Features that animate or explain basic principles of A&P
- Case studies of celebrities and others who experience an illness, injury, or other situation that illustrates concepts of human structure and function
- TeacherTube
- Similar to YouTube, but with an educational focus
- Videos can be searched on the basis of their level (college, secondary, etc.)
- How to link or embed these videos
- News videos, TeacherTube videos, and most other videos embedded in an webpage will have a link in the player or nearby the player with the options to "link" or "embed" the video. Simply use the same methods you would use for YouTube videos (described above).
