MindBites

I Tried It Wiki #3 Submitted by: Tami Siewinski []

The Web tool that I selected is called Mindbites and is found at [|www.mindbites.com]. Mindbites is an instructional video library with thousands of step-by-step tutorials encompassing various subjects and skills. This tool allows you to search, find and use the tutorials that other users have published or publish your own tutorials for others to either use or purchase. It also allows the user to embed the videos into programs or websites. The site is organized by categories within three main listings - //Featured, Free or Recent//, tutorials. Some of the Featured tutorials included: Arts & Crafts, Food & Drink, Language & Travel and many, many more. Some Free tutorials include: Business, Health & Fitness and Technology. Some of the Recent include: Education, Instruments & Music and Sports & Outdoors. The Access tabs include: Learn—which you would select to find and access a type of tutorial video: []. Sell – is where you register to publish and sell the videos you create: []. [|ttp://www.mindbites.com/lesson/618-greek-alphabet], or Basic Math: Part I at: []. The FAQ’s were helpful and can be accessed at: [] Based on my initial review of the site, I believe that it could be a great tool to allow learners to create their own tutorials on any given topic in order to display their understanding of a process or concept. This could be a great group project and could incorporate a multitude of technology techniques by using slides, videos, or audio alone or in any combination. I think it would be great to have sales reps create a tutorial demonstrating their techniques for in-servicing clinicians on specific products. They could then share these techniques with others by embedding the videos on their ConnectEd LMS. The best tutorial I found for the site is called “How to Make a MindBite” and can be accessed at: []. This tutorial is only for tips on creating a video to submit—NOT how to use the site. One aspect of this tool that I did not care for—it is not very intuitive and it does not have clear instructions on how to use it. After playing around with the site for about an hour, I discovered that while you register for free, that only allows you to participate in the community forum, request a topic, and watch the free lessons and preview the ones that must be purchased. I registered and created a bio.



Next, I attempted to set-up my library.



Then, I found out that I had to purchase “credits” in order to create the library!



So, I registered, created a Bio and thought that I could create a free library of videos—but it’s not really FREE! After I got everything set-up, I realized that I had to purchase “credits” in order to create my library. You can still access and contribute to the site, you just can’t create your own library on the site. The benefits of using MindBites includes having access to multiple educators, teaching styles and content from around the world and having the ability and a forum to post your educational content for others to see and purchase. A way around having to purchase the credits, is to access the free content and embed it into another site you create. The downsides to the tool include the need to purchase some of the content and “credits” to create your library. Also, an educator would have to be careful with the content that students access on the site and what they create and post to the site. Some of the free educational content seemed pretty good, but some of the content was wrong (spelling errors in a few of the videos) and some was just dangerous (The Art of Binging & Purging). I actually posted a comment on “inappropriate content” for this video because it was listed under “Education” and was not educational in any way. It was extremely inappropriate for students. I thought it would be educational content on this eating disorder, but it was a group of videos showing people getting drunk and puking. As with incorporating any Web-based tool into the classroom, care must be taken to preview and select specific content. I can’t honestly say that I would recommend this tool to educators. I think there are many better tools out there for creating, posting and accessing education programs and content. It might be worth it to look through some of the free videos and tutorials and see the teaching techniques of other educators.