Tuesday, November 22, 2011

MiniTube: Solving the Classroom Internet Problem

I don't want to say that Germany is behind the times when it comes to wireless internet access, but, Germany is behind the times when it comes to wireless internet access.

Most of the places that I work have extra outlets (which is good, because I need to plug my old laptop in after 10 minutes). If I'm lucky, the place will have a projector display hook up, which is good, because I like to display notes, etc. if I can. However, nowhere is there a wireless internet connection.

In short, this lack of wireless internet connection means that I cannot show YouTube videos in class. Or, that I COULDN'T. However, I recently discovered MiniTube, a Desktop App that lets you download YouTube videos on to your computer as .mp4 files and then play them later. 


It is a free program for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems, and you can get it here.

Another benefit of downloading the videos (for me) is that I like to keep all of my unit and lesson materials in files for future use. Downloading the videos lets me save the video if it is a major component of my lesson plan, and that way, if for some reason it is unavailable in the future, I will still have it.

Anyway, I thought I would share! Enjoy.