Discovery Education Streaming (or as you may remember it United Streaming) is a great resource for integrating media into our curriculum. DE is not just videos. There are images, songs, sound effects, presentations. The list just goes on and on!
The first step is logging in to the site. If you do not remember your username, click on forgot username and try entering your old wednet.edu e-mail address IF your current e-mail address is not recognized. If you have never used DE before, there are directions here. Click on the Discovery Streaming new account setup document.
Once you log in to the site , click on SEARCH without even putting anything into the search bar. On the left you will see multiple ways to refine your search. Not only can you search by subject and grade level, but you can refine it even more by selecting the media type.
Once you begin to find media you would like to use, save it to "My DE" for future use. I created folders for reading, math and integrated units. Within integrated units I created three seperate folders for each unit full of age appropriate resources! Teachers can download these resources and insert them into PowerPoint presenations or other software/Web 2.0 tools. You can allow your students to access DE from home by requesting usernames and passwords. Students can download resources and use them for presentations as well. (Please Note: Teachers and students may NOT post any of DE's media resources online such as on blogs or websites. DE's resources are for classroom use.)When sharing DE videos in the classroom, you will want to make sure you have your Ethernet cord plugged in or that you have downloaded the video to a CD, DVD or external drive to play the video from your computer. Otherwise your video may not buffer properly. (For instance, you audio and video may not align.) View the video in segments instead of full video so that the video will stop and allow you to discuss information with your students. We all know how important it is to stop and process information.
For this weeks post, tell us how you use or plan to use DE in your classroom. Explore the site first and search for various subjects and/or integrated unit topics. Ask your colleagues how they use DE and share their ideas with us as well!
