UstreamEasterling

Ustream was created by John Ham, Brad Hunstable, and Dr. Gyula Feher. It was created because the founders wanted a way for their friends in the Military who were deployed to be able to communicate with their families back home. ** Ustream is a video broadcasting site most like YouTube, SchoolTube, or Teachertube
 * Ustream in the Classroom**
 * Brief Intro to Tool:

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 * Tutorials:**

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1. Easy way to access what was missed in class if a student is absent or if student needs help during homework. 2. A way for a teacher to discuss more on a topic that did not get completely covered in class. 3. A teacher can create a community for each class and post videos pertaining to that class. 4. It is an easy to way to allow students to interact, such as vote in polls, rate, chat. (The teacher can get immediate feedback from students about how well the subject is being taught.) 5. Class can be held if there is a snow day or the teacher is away for a conference and not depend on a sub to cover all the needed materials. 6. It allows people to post videos quickly and efficiently. 7. Politicians can post debates on Ustream. 8. Anyone can post a video, or watch a video. 9. The chatting feature can facilitate communication between poster and viewer, and also viewer to viewer.
 * Advantages:**

1. If a student has a question while watching a video, they may not be able to get immediate feedback on their problems and may not be able to understand the rest of the video. 2. It is public so many people can see what you are doing. 3. May be distracting while trying to focus for a classroom setting. 4. Can be difficult to find which specific video you are looking for when there are so many videos. 5. It requires internet access. 6. Younger students will need supervision while using the site. 7. Communication for this site is asynchronous, which may limit it's usefulness in a classroom.
 * Disadvantages:**

//Elementary school ideas: In an elementary school classroom it will be very important for the teacher to carefully consider the use of Ustream. Because it requires the student to be online, it requires younger students to have parental supervision. That being the case, it may be more efficient for the teacher to simply teach the lesson in class, rather than have children accessing the teacher's videos at home. There are still ways for this tool to be used in elementary classrooms. Teachers can work with the students to create and post videos, and watch them in class with students. Also, there may be videos on the site that the teacher wishes the students to see and learn from. Those videos can be watched in class.
 * Use in the classroom:**

Secondary school ideas: In a secondary school classroom Ustream could be an effective way to enhance a certain topic if it is controversial topic or if the students are studying a government debate, since politicians are able to post their debates. Also the teacher if for some reason they were absent could post a substitute class period on Ustream and have the students communicate via the chat tool. Also, it could be used for student productions,or the teacher can add on to the classroom discussion if needed be by posting a video blog.

The student's role using this tool: The student can use this tool in a variety of ways. Students could create a channel in which they communicate with each other outside of class. They could also use it simply to watch videos the teacher has posted. Another option would be to use the site to create a project for an assignment.
 * Student/Teacher Roles:

The teacher's role for using this tool: The teacher can use this tool to create videos for students to watch outside of class. It could also be used as a forum for students to use to submit video project assignments. Teacher may also work through sample problems for a homework assignment for students to watch as they work at home. **//