To date, my experience with it has been through the eyes of my young children (11 and 13). They're completely fascinated with the medium and spend countless hours with friends watching, and re-watching, videos such as "Harry Potter Puppet Pals" (no link here intended!). They've begged me to allow them to post videos (they're also completely fascinated with viewing themselves). As with any posting of their images on the net, I am very leery and I was looking forward to investigating this site further through this course work.
So I began to explore YouTube and reflect on the implications for teaching and learning. I watched Michael Wesch's "An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU) with complete fascination. Two hundred thousand videos uploaded everyday - the most commonly viewed are remixed versions of home videos and the 18-24 age group is the growing percentage of people using YouTube. Interesting stats. So that's what kids are doing instead of reading... (admittedly, I was learning something watching a YouTube video - there really is some great stuff out there!)
Apart from being a fun place to view some interesting or obscure videos and develop a "hyper self awareness" (Wesch) by posting to the YouTube community, I don't see huge educational merits to YouTube in an elementary classroom setting. Yes, there's lots of cool clips that could be added to spice up some dry curriculum, but concerns over the "authenticity crisis" (Wesch) that plagues this site would really make me think twice before using it (also, are my concerns with privacy over publishing to such a huge audience).
What I do see as a huge implication for teaching and learning is the sheer motivational factor of video sharing in this type of medium. What child doesn't love watching (and apparently re-watching 1000's of times) clips of themselves or their friends? What if they could publish their learning, safely, in a fun/cool video and share it with others?
I was relieved as I went on to discover Teacher Tube (http://www.teachertube.com/index.php) and read what they had to say in their "About Us" tab: (http://www.teachertube.com/about.php)
"Our goal is to provide an online community for sharing instructional videos. We seek to fill a need for a more educationally focused, safe venue for teachers, schools, and home learners. It is a site to provide anytime, anywhere professional development with teachers teaching teachers. As well, it is a site where teachers can post videos designed for students to view in order to learn a concept or skill."
Ahh..."educationally focused, safe venue...", this is more like it...what a great site! I was immediately drawn to this video about blogging, since we had just recently looked into the merits of this Web 2.0 tool (why I didn't see it before...) In this video, "Why Let Our Students Blog?" Rachel Boyd, a teacher from New Zealand, highlights the benefits and reasons for blogging in a classroom setting.(http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=be6ec9b852b0a542e2f3&page=1&viewtype=&category=)
When browsing around Teacher Tube I ran across an article by Alison Lapp from PC Magazine, which I thought served as an interesting reminder when using downloaded videos from these sites in the classroom:
"..."It's an awfully easy thing to abuse, in the sense of using it as a babysitter," says Ed Miller of Alliance for Childhood. Because of the services' interactive nature, educators adopting the technology are hopeful that it won't be just an enabler for lazy teachers (remember film strips?)." (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2146880,00.asp
Not certain it's being abused yet in the classrooms I've been in (most hadn't used any video sharing sites), but, as with any media, I think the message here is to make sure they're used meaningfully and in conjunction with other learning tools.
Now, here's how my frustration begins with this tool...
As part of my learning, I'm trying out some of these video sharing sites and demonstrating my new found knowledge. Easier said than done for me! Part of it, I know, is my own lack of tech skills and time that's required to acquire them (as well as an increasingly slow computer...)
I thought I'd try making a video using my digital camera, edit it and then find a site to host it so I could share it on my blog. I choose Google Video (http://video.google.com/), because I'm familiar with it and I have an account there. Uploading took forever (almost 45 minutes on my computer) and I still can't seem to access it. Next I tried uploading it through blogger and just adding it to my blog post. Well, I started at 5:23 pm and it was still loading at 7:23pm...('Help' told me it should take all of 5 minutes...)
Anyway, it's been a frustrating, time consuming lesson...sprinkled with a few tears...
5 comments:
Great point about ensuring that video sharing sites are used in a "meaningful way" even though at this point, I too have noted that they aren't being used much, if at all, in classrooms at my school. I wonder if it is a time factor in locating appropriate videos or uploading your own?
Sheila
Jan,
I know what you mean about a slow computer and having to wait a long time to upload videos. That has certainly been my experience this week, too! This could definitely be a deterrent for teachers wanting to use videos in their classrooms.
Like you, I've read a few articles warning teachers against using video clips as "babysitters" much like some do/did with film strips. I think that as the use of videos becomes more prevalent, it's important to make sure that teachers recognize from the outset that videos are an aid to learning and not an amusement tool.
Jo-Anne
I think the point about ensuring video sites are used in a meaningful way is an important point to remember for any new technological tool. There has been a lot of discussion about this in the edublogosphere, especially by some of my 'blog heroes' like Doug Johnson and Joyce Valenza.
Joanne
Hi Jan,
I feel your pain. I posted a video to YouTube once, and it took about ten ties before it started uploading and then 50 minutes to upload a short 3 minute clip. I wonder if being in high def format affected that? Was yours a high definition video camera?
I like your comment about how it will be used. I know some teachers who showed any (and I mean ANY) videos that came into a small northern Alberta school I worked in. Imagine them with a computer lab and YouTube? Scary.
I also agree with your spidey-sense on having students post video. For elementary age students it is very different than for high school students. Not that it should be, but it is. The nice way to get around that on YouTube is to maybe have a parent night where you bring the parents of your students into the computer lab, have them create a YouTube account, and then when you post new video of students parents can access them (and you can be sure little Johnny will let mom, dad, or both know about it when it is posted!). That way, control is still in the hands of the parents, and the parents will likely enjoy the social aspect of the computer lab evening. Brownie points for you!
Hi Jan,
I think no matter what kind of technology is being incorporated into an instructional setting it should have a 'meaningful' purpose in relation to the curriculum. I have not come across any educators using YouTube videos as a crutch or for babysitting.
carol
Post a Comment