I chose five learning sites from Michele’s list, including one which I had accessed in the past – TedED. I used simple search terms or just clicked on subject indexes to find my choice of learning video.
This was easy to find and a simple search for French offered me several topics and I chose French Verbs. There was nothing to show which age group or class group the videos were aimed at – a case of hit or miss? Once you open the video, you can see the channel (e.g.: high school) and how long and other info.
The video I chose was “French Verb ending in review” which was useful with the teacher giving the rules in English and French, then students demonstrated uses of I, you and we with the appropriate ending. In just over 3 ½ minutes I was reminded of both the written form and shown how to use them. Very instructional.
Overall: 3.5 out of 5.
The site was easy to find and offered a list of subjects on the home page – so I immediately went to the two (2) on offer under French. Disappointing that only two were on offer and guess what – both no longer exist!!
So try again with another subject – Architecture – and found a video on “Australian Landscape Architecture” which offered an overview of landscape and urban renewal projects in Australia. Obviously made to promote landscape architecture as a career, it had very good production values and highlighted a number of large scale projects. I enjoyed watching it.
Overall: 3 out of 5.
I’ve listened to some talks on ted.com in the past and so I was looking forward to see what I might find on TedED. Nothing on my chosen subject – French – but on the Subjects page there was an animation called “Why is there a “b” in doubt?”.
This was a great choice – 3 ½ minutes about the history of the word and its links to other words told using bright, simple graphics and clear explanations. It would appeal to both adults and children.
Overall: 4 out of 5.
This site is obviously for the serious student. On this site you can attend a whole series of lectures on a given subject, not just a five or ten minute take on the subject. So using the Subject tab, I made my way to languages and again no French. So this time I chose a course in Old English from Oxford.
There was no obvious start button, but I just clicked on the image and was redirected to YouTube. I watched the first ten minutes of the 43 minute introductory lecture. The sound was a bit patchy and I would have liked a better view of the slides on the wall behind the lecturer, but I can see the attraction of attending lectures like this.
Overall: 3.5 out of 5.
Did I want the magazine, the TV station, the Australian website? – spoiled for choice and very slow to open when I found the right one. A search under “language” net mostly information about NG magazine releases in various countries – so not helpful.
I thought what was on offer under the Video tab was a bit superficial and lots of it very short . I eventually chose an interview about the threat to manuscripts in Mali and archeological sites in Syria, and I also looked at a couple of “critter-cam” clips.
I think this website is less about education and more about self-promotion, but kids would probably love some of the animal clips as they are short and some are fun.
Overall: 3 out of 5.
Ratings
Learning Site
|
Easy to Find
|
Easy to Use
|
Topic well Covered
|
Overall Rating
|
Ranking
|
Teacher Tube
|
3 / 5
|
4 / 5
|
4 / 5
|
3.5 / 5
|
3
|
CosmoLearning
|
3 / 5
|
3 / 5
|
3 / 5
|
3 / 5
|
4
|
TedED
|
4 / 5
|
4 / 5
|
5 / 5
|
4 / 5
|
1
|
Academic Earth
|
4 / 5
|
3 / 5
|
4 / 5
|
3.5 / 5
|
2
|
National Geographic
|
3 / 5
|
2 / 5
|
4 / 5
|
3 / 5
|
5
|
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