UStream1

=**Communication Tool: Ustream.Tv**= Group Members: Toni Haraldsen and Katie Lieske.

__**Screenshot**__

__**Brief Introduction**__ Ustream is a free video-broadcasting tool that allows users to stream and record live video. The site also allows viewers to be involved in real-time chat or asynchronous commenting. These features allow users to interact with viewers during and after shows.

It was created by then-West Point cadets Brad Hunstable and John Ham in 2006 and launched in 2007. The original idea was to create a service for military personnel to talk to their families via webcam while stationed overseas. The service is now open to the public and has been famously used by celebrities such as Diddy, Miley Cyrus, and Stephon Marbury who once broadcasted live for twenty-four hours.

__**Advantages**__
 * //Directly interact with broadcaster through chat room and comments.//
 * //Directly interact with viewers through receiving feedback from chat room and comments.//
 * //Create real-time broadcasts.//
 * //Store prior broadcasts for later viewing.//
 * //Can be broadcast from any computer with a webcam.//
 * //Free to use and access.//

__**Limitations**__ __**Application in Secondary Social Studies**__ UStream.TV is definitely useful for teachers to have students log on and watch/listen to what other teachers and students have to say about certain topics. Because there are so many “channels”, students have a lot to choose from. With everything from tutorials to presentations to Podcasts to experiments, students very much so have the world at their fingertips with online video resources.
 * //Requires high internet upload speed to broadcast.//
 * //Slower laptop may result in video lag.//
 * //Anyone can use and access if channel is not set to private.//
 * //Must be careful about what is broadcast. Copyrighted content can result in your channel being banned.//
 * //Some content on website not appropriate for school. Should monitor students’ access.//

While students have the ability to watch, they also have the ability to record their own videos. This is a really creative way for them to become more engulfed in the subject matter because they really have to know what they are discussing in order to create a video. It makes it a lot more effective because students’ research must be thorough and they must be confident in what they are talking about.

UStream.TV could play a large part in the Social Studies classroom if students were to watch clips of current events and then create basic factual reports on them, or even videos of their responses to these current events. Basic events such as recent environmental traumas, how the stock market is doing, elections, etc. would be very interesting ways for students to keep up with global news as well as utilize a communicative resource in multiple ways. If students created reports after watching these videos, teachers could then grade them based off of the information they absorbed and how they responded to it. The teacher could also (granted appropriate resources are available) have their students record their own video responses to these events and e-mail them to the teacher, and/or embed them in a blog. The teacher could then grade these responses after watching them or could create his/her own response via UStream.TV for the student.

__**Tutorial**__ media type="youtube" key="R2JhIpJEKO8" height="344" width="425"

__**Key Features Showed in the Tutorial:**__ This tutorial makes it very easy to learn how to:
 * //Create a UStream account//
 * //Navigate the UStream website//
 * //Understand how this tool connects you to others//
 * //Create your own UStream Video//
 * //Publish a video//
 * //Embed this video in other places//

__**Useful Resources**__ [] > Basics of UStream [] > Gives a Review of UStream [] >Different ways to use UStream!