Download Video From YouTube

Nothing is worse than having a great video from YouTube identified to start a class discussion and then finding out your network connection is down. You can avoid this unpleasant experience by installing a free product called YouTube Downloader from Biennesoft.

This freeware (no cost to use it) enables the downloading of videos from YouTube (and other sites) and saving them to FLV (Flash video) files. Now FLV files are bloody useless since it is difficult to find players to play them back. But fortunately the program allows you to convert the FLV files to more useful formats for display on devices such as iPods, iPhones, PSPs, Cell Phones, and Windows Media Player. You can even just export the sound to an MP3 file.

The software is dead simple to use. Just paste in the URL of the video and click OK to save it as an FLV file.



To covert to another format, browse to where the FLV file was stored and select it. Then choose the appropriate conversion format and click OK to convert. It couldn't be easier!



By downloading the video and converting it into an appropriate format you won't have to worry about losing your Internet connection. This also makes it handy for distributing the file via e-mail or in a course management system.

Building How-To Videos - For Free!

One of the best ways to learn a subject or to demonstrate mastery of a topic is to teach it to someone else. So why not assign student projects that require making videos that explain the functionality of Microsoft Office, a Web site or another application software package. And then the students can deploy the videos they create on YouTube and share their knowledge with the entire world. Now that is Web 2.0 learning in action! But since many colleges don't have a tool deployed for the students to use, a free tool for recording on-screen activity is needed.

Fortunately, CamStudio is an open source software package that is based on the widely popular (and expensive) Camtasia Studio product from Techsmith. The software is easy to install and learn to use. They even provide a handy video on downloading CamStudio. The help files in the product will get you familiar with how to use it. The recorder has simple basic functionality similar to older versions of Camtasia Studio.



This is not as fully-functional as the current version of Camtasia Studio, but the basic functionality is similar. For pure ease of use, Camtasia Studio 5 does offer significant advantages, but saving the students $299 is a big bonus for CamStudio. So have the students download CamStudio and get them creating their first videos this week!

Sources of Videos Other Than YouTube

Can't find what you are looking for on YouTube? There are certainly plenty of other sources of free video on the Internet. Here are a few of my favorite sites:

Google Video - You would think since Google bought YouTube they would have combined the two sites by now (or at least made the functionality the same). But you would be wrong! Google Video, still technically in beta, hosts videos in a similar fashion to YouTube. But the real strength of this site is the search feature. As you can see from the image below, the search box default option is to search the entire web for videos, not just ones hosted on the Google Video site. Therefore, this is a superior search feature to the one offered on YouTube which only searches videos hosted on the YouTube site.



Lab Rats - Two technology journalists, Andy Walker and Sean Carruthers, started making video podcasts in October 2005. Fortunately for us, people loved them and now the Lab Rats website contains over 100 video podcasts on technology. These videos are well written, produced professionally and contain useful information on topics ranging from Web browser security to iPod hacking. There is something here for every level of student.

5 min - 5min is a site that offers short video solutions (all 5 minutes or less) to practical questions. Their idea, as explained on their site, is simple: "...any solution can be visually explained in no more than 5 minutes. Our goal is to create the first communal Life Videopedia allowing users from all over the globe to contribute their knowledge by sharing visual guides in areas such as arts, business, fashion, sports, health, tech, food, and much more." They have a technology section which contains some very informative videos such as Wikis in Plain English and How to Retrieve a Lost Windows Password. While not as extensive a collection as YouTube, the videos at 5min are very high quality and well produced videos.

If you know of any other sites that provide useful technology videos (for free, of course), mention them in a comment to this post and I'll add them to this list.