YouTube is hands down, my favorite educational tool. There are some amazing educational resources here, along with some truly inspirational material. It takes a cornerstone in my presentations, along with providing me music when I work. This tool is a great one, but it can be limiting. You need to have internet connection to make this tool work, and you get ads that can distract from learning. This post will highlight 5 of my favorite tools that work with YouTube to make it more effective.



This option is one of my favorites for presenting. If you did not know, you can place GIF images in Google Docs, Drawings, and Slides while it is still animating. This means that you can take a full YouTube video, convert it to a GIF, and place it into a Google Doc, without linking it! This tool allows you to do just 5 seconds for free, but that is often all that I need to get a point across.

This tool allows you to download the YouTube videos, permanently! You will no longer run into the screen that says, this video does not exist. You can download the best videos, and keep them forever. This option is also a great one when you are working with iBooks. You can download the content, then embed it into the video so students can view the content anywhere, anytime and without internet connection.

This tool is a fun way to engage, and hook students. It allows you to show two YouTube videos side by side, and host a conversation around them. I use this to display two perspectives for students and had them weigh in on where they stood. Students loved having rich conversations around our content.

This tool allows you to break up a YouTube video, and show the meat and potatoes. It allows you to cut out parts from the beginning, and the end, so you are able to shorten the clutter. It also gives you the video in an ad free environment. 

This tool has been one of my favorites for a long time. You can now embed a YouTube video into this tool, and instantly remove the ads from it. It also has a new option, that allows you to dim the lights. This was a Chrome extension, and now it is built into the tool. Remove all distractions from your students eyes with this tool.



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