Qwiki

Although I'm wary of this link simply because it has the word "wiki" in it (I'm mostly wary because my kids just got done doing a research paper, and can't remember how many times I said, "if the web address has 'wiki' in it, it's not a good source!"), some good can come from this site in the classroom.

Mostly, I see Qwiki as a great anticipatory set (motivator, pre-lesson intro...whatever you want to call it). I think teachers could use Qwiki to show a quick reference video to students before starting a new lesson or unit. Teachers might also ask that their students build their own Qwiki presentation. Perhaps your math class is having trouble understanding a concept. All great teachers know that a person doesn't really understand material until he/she can teach it to someone else. That math teacher could use Qwiki to have her students teach the concept to millions of other Internet users by creating their own learning video of the concept!

 Qwiki lets you to search for almost anything in the world (your hometown, a rockstar, a specific fish, etc.), and then it shows you a narrated video that tells some facts about that topic. It's an overview, obviously not too in-depth, but would be good for introducing things.

As with Wikipedia and other "wiki" sites, users can create an account and log on to edit Qwikis at their leisure. That's the negative part of a "wiki" sites if you're relying on it for a steady stream of useful and accurate information. But as long as you screen the videos for accuracy before playing them in class, I don't see a problem with utilizing Qwiki videos in the classroom!

 Here's a screen shot of a Qwiki that played when I typed in "education:"