YouTube banned in school..advice needed

rose23

Hi all,

I am a language teacher and have built up a bank of resources many of which are powerpoints with links to youtube clips of songs/cartoon clips etc.

My new school has Youtube banned on all computers. Can anyone give me advice on how to show these clips in my classroom, I know there is some way of doing it but just not sure how.

Id really appreciate some advice.

Midnight Sundance

What type of phone have you? Could you access the Internet via your phone and you could access you tube then. Or perhaps download the videos from YouTube and play them through a media device in your laptop.

rose23

I have an Iphone so yeah I suppose I could do that. Its just handier when the clip links are on the powerpoint.

I dont think I can just download it on my own lap top and save it to my USB theres more to it than that...

chprt

rose23 wrote: »

I have an Iphone so yeah I suppose I could do that. Its just handier when the clip links are on the powerpoint.

I dont think I can just download it on my own lap top and save it to my USB theres more to it than that...

Embed it into power point and it will work

spurious

If you use VLC to play them, you can just download and play them. You can also get the Principal to request youtube be unblocked.

TheBody

As others have said, you can just download them at home. Just google for a free youtube downloader.

rose23

chprt wrote: »

Embed it into power point and it will work

How do I do this?...
Sorry Im not very knowledgeable when it comes to technology

zarquon

Use firefox and an extension called videodownloadhelper. Download to mp4 format. Use the following instructions for embedding the mp4 video in your powerpoint presentation. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint-help/embed-in-or-link-to-a-video-from-your-presentation-HA010374729.aspx?CTT=5&origin=HA010338306

flatbackfour

TheBody wrote: »

As others have said, you can just download them at home. Just google for a free youtube downloader.

Can anyone recommend one that actually works.

spurious

The VideoDownload Helper add-on for Firefox works fine.
Save the files to USB, play them in VLC.

zarquon

flatbackfour wrote: »

Can anyone recommend one that actually works.

Tubetilla, http://www.tubetilla.com/

TheBody

flatbackfour wrote: »

Can anyone recommend one that actually works.

This is the one I use. Works fine for me.

http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/products/dvd/free-youtube-download.htm

tvnutz

I just use realplayer. Download the free version. When you are watchign a video on youtube and you put your cursor over the video a little window pops down asking to you want to download the video with realplayer. Click on it and all is good!

doc_17

I heard at one of those information seminars on 100mb broadband that the filtering levels of schools would be adjusted to allow YouTube once the 100mb was installed.

Anyone else confirm this?

spurious

doc_17 wrote: »

I heard at one of those information seminars on 100mb broadband that the filtering levels of schools would be adjusted to allow YouTube once the 100mb was installed.

Anyone else confirm this?

It's already on in our place, though whether that is as a result of the speed we have or a Principal request, I don't know.

bdoo

doc_17 wrote: »

I heard at one of those information seminars on 100mb broadband that the filtering levels of schools would be adjusted to allow YouTube once the 100mb was installed.

Anyone else confirm this?

I did hear that the ncte were looking at the filtering levels.

I changed ours so that we have YouTube, level 3 maybe, not sure.

Our VEC is providing 100mb broadband to all of its schools. They will filter porn and gambling at their end. The rest is up to each school.

YouTube is only a problem if kids aren't being supervised well. In many cases this is down to room layout etc.

Would highly recommend ab tutor control. Allows you to block internet access so that only necessary work can be done. Also allows you to lockdown computers and show your work on the kids screens.

I generally turn it on and view all screens at the same time-consuming stick it up on the projector so they can see what I can see. Certainly focuses the mind

TheDriver

Principal probably won't unblock it unless they are comfortable with technology because the kids then have access to it which according to the NCTE is not recommended for some reason.

Download them at home and either play them off a stick or else embed them. This should be the norm anyways so you don't have to rely on connection at the time of your class. Imagine if 10 teachers are all watching HD youtube vids at same time, serious strain on a connection unless you have an inner city 100Mb connection

Miss Lockhart

Yes, this is a real pain. Our principal won't unblock it. I understand where they're coming from, but surely there must be a way for staff to have access but students not.

As others have said, you will have to make do with a youtube downloader. These are fine, but it is a problem if you have lots of videos because the storage requirements add up very quickly - well beyond the capacity of most usb sticks - and I doubt the school will be offering to pay for the necessary storage equipment.

evolving_doors

Maybe get an online dropbox account..(free!) i think you can stream your videos from there now as well as store them..

also type the youtube link into keepvid.com ... as people said VLC will almost play any format..

Miss Lockhart

Then there's the problem of getting VLC Player downloaded! Took 5 months for us last year - only the VEC IT technician and one teacher in the school has admin access to download anything and technician has to ok everything - problem is he will ok nothing. He wouldn't alow flash player to be installed at all. I'm waiting 2 years and 10+ requests to get the DSPCA website unblocked. :pac:

The lack of tech support in schools is really holding us back.

CookieMonster.x

rose23 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am a language teacher and have built up a bank of resources many of which are powerpoints with links to youtube clips of songs/cartoon clips etc.

My new school has Youtube banned on all computers. Can anyone give me advice on how to show these clips in my classroom, I know there is some way of doing it but just not sure how.

Id really appreciate some advice.

I use RealPlayer and most of the teachers in my school use it and are able to use it. It's totally safe and there is a free version available which does the job. Once you download it, you can then download any video. For example if you want to download one on YouTube, you hover your cursor over the video and a little sign on the top right of the video will come up saying something along the lines of 'download now'. You just press it and it will download so you can open them as you please. It's really easy, even the older teachers who are completely illiterate with regards to technology can use it. Totally safe too, I have never had a problem.
If you need help with it feel free to PM me.

123 LC

in my past experience if you type an 's' after the http thing in the web address the video should play, and other banned sites like facebook work

Galia

Try going to www.hidemyass.com
then go into YouTube using the website.
A bit overboard i know but it should work for you.

spurious

sher55 wrote: »

Try going to www.hidemyass.com
then go into YouTube using the website.

The filters catch that and most other proxy sites.

evolving_doors

Generally our school let's us do whatever we want, but most of the time i do my own thing... Own laptop, use my phone to tether if the school internet is down, download everything at home...

Miss Lockhart

We're not allowed use our own equipment. I would if I could believe me!

bdoo

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

We're not allowed use our own equipment. I would if I could believe me!

Why? As in why cant you use your own?

Miss Lockhart

We are not allowed use our own laptops or internet connection.

We are not allowed to disconnect the classroom computer from the IWB or Data Projector to connect own laptop. We are told this is because it creates problems with the settings and also that official guidelines say equipment for school use should not be also be for personal use. Phones in the classroom are an absolute no no.

We are not allowed to use a dongle to circumvent the internet filters.

Also, re AB Tutor - we have this and in general I find it excellent. However, I have students who can take control of my computer using AB Tutor, so it is rendered useless. I have discussed this with management and the technician, but it seems there is nothing can be done other than implementing sanctions for breaching the computer usage policies.

Overall a lot of the issues seem to come back to the fact that teachers only have the same level of access as students.

The Black Oil

Youtube's a bit ridiculous in that you can watch sweary scenes from the Wire or footage from war zones, but it requests a sign in for other stuff that you'd think was fairly mild. I can understand why it's blocked, though.

I'd second using Videodownloadhelper and VLC. Sounds like some technicians and systems are a little overly rigid.

dory

I downloaded Easy YouTube Downloader and installed it to Firefox. Then I go watch a video and press Download.

Now I have two videos on a USB stick I can stick into the classroom computer tomorrow.

evolving_doors

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

We're not allowed use our own equipment. I would if I could believe me!

The IT guy seems to be holding up the efficient use of IT in the school. If you're permanent in the school then do whatever you want in your own classroom, it's ridiculous that some outside IT contractor can dictate your lessons. I'm sure the majority of the staff feel the same way... one for the meetings agenda I'd say..

bdoo

Armelodie wrote: »

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

We're not allowed use our own equipment. I would if I could believe me!

The IT guy seems to be holding up the efficient use of IT in the school. If you're permanent in the school then do whatever you want in your own classroom, it's ridiculous that some outside IT contractor can dictate your lessons. I'm sure the majority of the staff feel the same way... one for the meetings agenda I'd say..

It is easy to say this but take the example of removing cables from the projectors etc to hook up your laptop.

Bell rings, out the door, to he'll with the next guy.

In most schools the IT guy is some poor divil who got landed with the job and is teaching 22hours. Setting limits is to save hassle and time for them. Most of my time is spent plugging cables back into computers because they're "broken" ie some individual didn't bother their arse putting things as they found them.

But it's ok, I don't need free classes like anyone else.

Miss Lockhart

The IT guy to whom I refer is not a teacher - he manages the IT across all of the VEC schools. I see where he is coming from on some issues - he is split between over 30 schools/centres as well as head office.

On the other hand, the refusal to allow the installation of Flash Player, making most interactive websites unusable, is pretty ridiculous.

Doing our own thing is not an option. This is a VEC wide policy and is fully supported by the principal. There is no way schools will be able to move forward with technology though, if adequate support is not provided. It's not an issue of everybody becoming proficient and able to deal with it themselves, since we are not given even the most basic control.

bdoo

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

The IT guy to whom I refer is not a teacher - he manages the IT across all of the VEC schools. I see where he is coming from on some issues - he is split between over 30 schools/centres as well as head office.

On the other hand, the refusal to allow the installation of Flash Player, making most interactive websites unusable, is pretty ridiculous.

Doing our own thing is not an option. This is a VEC wide policy and is fully supported by the principal. There is no way schools will be able to move forward with technology though, if adequate support is not provided. It's not an issue of everybody becoming proficient and able to deal with it themselves, since we are not given even the most basic control.

I see. I totally agree re flash etc. But when it comes to pulling wires out its a different matter. You'd think they could get all the machines updated over the summer or something, will youtube work?

Do they know how much it is impacting teaching?

Miss Lockhart

They definitely know - it's brought up at every meeting. No idea if youtube works because it is blocked. Most websites with interactive quizzes or games don't work. I can't even log into my slss biology account to access the resources there.

Also, we have teacher based classrooms, so plugging in and out cables really shouldn't be that big a deal.

tim9002

rose23 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am a language teacher and have built up a bank of resources many of which are powerpoints with links to youtube clips of songs/cartoon clips etc.

My new school has Youtube banned on all computers. Can anyone give me advice on how to show these clips in my classroom, I know there is some way of doing it but just not sure how.

Id really appreciate some advice.

NetSupport School has a video editor feature which allows you to record and replay video files. These can then be broadcast to all the PCs in a classroom. http://www.netsupportschool.com

bdoo

tim9002 wrote: »

rose23 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am a language teacher and have built up a bank of resources many of which are powerpoints with links to youtube clips of songs/cartoon clips etc.

My new school has Youtube banned on all computers. Can anyone give me advice on how to show these clips in my classroom, I know there is some way of doing it but just not sure how.

Id really appreciate some advice.

NetSupport School has a video editor feature which allows you to record and replay video files. These can then be broadcast to all the PCs in a classroom. http://www.netsupportschool.com

No good if the ncte have YouTube blocked though! Net support is quite expensive also.

Supermensch

What I do when I want to go onto sites blocked by my school is I use a public proxy.

There are other ways to go about this, but basically I have portable Chrome ( http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/google_chrome_portable ) installed on a USB stick.

Then on this Chrome, install an extension called Switchy Proxy ( https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/caehdcpeofiiigpdhbabniblemipncjj ).

Once you have that installed, you need to find a proxy IP. One site I use is http://www.hidemyass.com/proxy-list/ , but you can just Google 'proxy ip address' . Generally, these sites are blocked in schools, but you can always look up the address elsewhere, or just use the 'https' trick.

Obtain one of these addresses and the port, then go into Switchy on Chrome. On the 'Proxy Profiles' page, fill in the address and port into 'HTTP Proxy' and 'Port' boxes. The rest you may ignore. Name the profile whatever you want and save it. To use the proxy, click on the Switch globe(?) and go to the name of your profile in the drop down.

Usually I have to try a few different addresses before I get one that works, but persevere! The proxy's eventually stop working after a few days (it varies), meaning you have to find a new address, but it should work for your purposes.

Now, this is handy for Youtube videos, but I wouldn't trust it myself if I was doing anything sensitive (like banking online, using Paypal), because whoever is running the Proxy is able to see all the data you send through their servers. Once you set Switchy to a proxy, all the computers internet will be routed through that proxy, even if you open up another browser, so to set it back to normal, go to the Switchy drop down menu and chose 'Direct Connection'. Basically, use your head.

Let me know if you need a hand with anything.

The IT guy to whom I refer is not a teacher - he manages the IT across all of the VEC schools. I see where he is coming from on some issues - he is split between over 30 schools/centres as well as head office.

On the other hand, the refusal to allow the installation of Flash Player, making most interactive websites unusable, is pretty ridiculous.

Doing our own thing is not an option. This is a VEC wide policy and is fully supported by the principal. There is no way schools will be able to move forward with technology though, if adequate support is not provided. It's not an issue of everybody becoming proficient and able to deal with it themselves, since we are not given even the most basic control.

Chrome has Flash built in, and I've been able to install it without admin access.

muinteoirA

Realplayer is free to download and easy to use. It allows you to download and save youtube videos. You will have to take your laptop home and do this on your home wifi.



Alternatively you can simply register your school with a google mail account and it allows you to download and save youtube videos to your laptop. You will still need to take your laptop home to do this but you won't have the hassle of downloading any software like realplayer. It's really easy. I set this up for my school.

Icarus Wings

In terms of downloading programs, RealPlayer provides a lot of options and allows you to convert videos to a variety of formats. I do find that it can be quite sensitive to security changes. The YTD Video Downloader doesn't seem to be as pressurised by security programs.

I'd definitely agree with Supermensch's suggestion of using portable Chrome. It seems quite complicated in terms of setup at first, but it's definitely worth it in the end!

Chris68

Have you tried TeacherTube instead of YouTube?