Can I tell you about a website I love? My students are already familiar with the results of it, but I just wanted to share how much I'm loving educanon.com as a way to actually engage my students when I'm showing a video.
That's not to say I show videos all the time, but they come in handy -- from something instructional someone created for YouTube, to a TED Talk, to Khan Academy, to my own screencasts! Educanon.com lets you insert content into the video that forces students to stop and think about what they're viewing. You can create Multiple Choice questions to test comprhension or -- my personal favourite -- you can have the video stop and present a reflection question to get students thinking about what they're watching, or the new information they're learning -- without worrying about missing your cue!
I've used it for a Gender in Marketing lesson to generate a KWL-style discussion as we watched commercials, and a Human Rights project, to help students keep pace with the notes they needed to take. It's super easy, free (there is a paid version that gives you more question types), and can even be set up to assess the answers for you!
I rarely see how some technologies can be easily integrated into my classes because I worry about about whether my students will be able to access it, but educanon was immediately useful!