ESL and Multimedia: Working with Video and Sound R. L. Erion South Dakota State University PowerPoint and Links Available at

Multimedia: Audio and/or Video Using Online Video and Audio Making Video and Audio Useful Tools and Sources

Using Online Video and Audio Can simply link and use for some purposes, but… – Filters may make content unavailable – Quality may be at mercy of their server and your connection – You may not want to see what else is on the page Download the video (may involve converting it to a different file format to run in a media player)

A Brief Explanation of File Types This is just an overview. For a comprehensive list of video file types, see flv - most streaming video sites are based on flv files. These can be played by some players or they can be converted to be played by your normal media player (often Windows Media Player on Windows and Quicktime Media Player on a Mac). Common Windows video formats include avi and wmv. Common Mac video formats include mov, mp4, and m4v (used for iPod – an mp4 with DRM).

Download the Video File Using an Online Downloader and Converter – Media Converter: Enter a url for a video or upload a file that can be converted. – Zamzar: Similar to Media Converter – Vidmaza: Video files from url only – Media Convert: Converts video and other kinds of files.

Download as FLV File. Among The Many Options… Firefox add-ons – Video DownloadHelper: Will also provide choice for downloading some files as a file type other than flv. – Netvideohunter: Use Safari as Browser. In Activity Window under View double click the the video file. The result will be an flv file so…

What to Do with an FLV File Play it as an flv file. An example of a free multiple platform flv player is Wimpy: Convert the flv file. There are many possibilities. – For Windows consider Anyvideoconverter: converter.com/products/for_video_free/ converter.com/products/for_video_free/ WM Converter: – For Mac consider FLV Crunch htmlhttp://download.cnet.com/FLV-Crunch/ _ html iSquint (only coverts flv to video for the iPod, but it does that quickly.

Making Your Own Video This will be the part we spend the least time on partly because it could take all our time. Examples include: – Project requiring use of English in a creative setting – Making resources for your class/school such as an iPod loaded with a guide to school – Pocket camcorders have made this much more doable in terms of cost and time. – Many examples at SchoolTube (

Useful Tools and Sites - Audio Audacity - record and edit sound which can then be used for adding sound to powerpoints or any other purpose. See Internet TESL Journal: ESL: Listening: Podcasts LearnOutLoud.Com: See Podcasts.Example: a-Second-Language a-Second-Language

Useful Tools and Sites - Audio Podcast Directory Example: Voxopop (formerly Chinswing): See early discussion on uses in ESL: You will find lots of later examples of it being used for educational purposes:

Useful Tools and Sites - Audio Textbook Revolution is an interesting place: ESL is one of the subjects when you look for Books by Subject and provides links to several interesting resources including : Using English for Academic Purposes ( See exercises in General Listening at

Useful Tools and Sites – Video There is always YouTube. See, for example: DWoM DWoM May be more useful to look at some specific subsets of YouTube – See =ESL&action_search=1 =ESL&action_search=1 –

Useful Tools and Sites – Video Sutree: Lots of short videos on how to do things. Internet Archive : Actually a source of both audio and video material, as well a home of the ever useful WayBackMachine.

Useful Tools and Sites – Video Open Culture: Another source of both audio and video material. If you want something related to culture, this is a good place to look. It was through here I found andhttp:// The latter allows you to download videos for educational purposes. Open Culture is one of those sites that you could spend many days exploring.

Concluding Recommendations One could do multimedia and education over and over with entirely new material. There is always more. If you are interested in more consider the following: Classroom 2.0: For someone who works with digital storytelling, for example, seehttp:// Emerging Internet Technologies for Education: See the review of educational video hosting web sites at other-youtube-alternatives-for-instructional-use-part-2-of-2/ other-youtube-alternatives-for-instructional-use-part-2-of-2/ Box of Tricks: The list of resources at is an education all by itselfhttp://