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| Photo by Jacob Whittaker via Flickr |
In my mind and in my car, we can't rewind we've gone to far.
Pictures came and broke your heart, put the blame on VTR.
-The Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star
First Impressions
Well, if video killed the radio star, it’s hard to conceptualize what the phenomenon of YouTube has done to change the way we create, view and share video content in our world. After an interesting start to my journey with photo sharing, this week I have gone “live” and will be examining video sharing and its implications for my personal and professional life.
Bringing it Home
I am familiar with YouTube, I have viewed countless videos for entertainment and laughed and connected with my friends over some favourites. I have viewed lectures and informational clips for classes and professional development sessions. Outside of YouTube there are other places I consume video online: I can't get enough of TED talks, and I will view the occasional missed episode of a favourite television show online. A recent YouTube discovery I can't get enough of:
I have not, however, participated in the community that is an integral part of YouTube, so I thought this would be a good starting point.
Signing up for a YouTube account was simple, I chose a username, inputted a password and within a few clicks I was ready to go. The first thing I did upon logging in was explore a few of the options available to me as a registered user. I browsed some subscription possibilities and found a few clips to add to my favourites. To fully engage myself in YouTube I knew the next step was to upload a video of some sort. The only time in recent memory I could think of taking any home video was during my EuroTrip this summer, so I uploaded a quick snippet I took of myself on a bike tour of the Wachau Valley in Austria:
Empowered by the ease of uploading my first video, I decided I'd better try my hand at something a little more complex (and perhaps longer than 13 seconds). As a new Mac owner I was eager to try out the iMovie software on my MacBook. Last year I did a really neat project with my students using a website called Blabberize so I thought it might be a good idea to create a tutorial video combined with some compiled student work samples. After playing around for a while (okay, maybe a little longer than a "while") I had created a video I was ready to publish. How pleased I was when I realized that iMovie would publish my creation directly to my YouTube account! Within minutes of its creation, my second video was up for all the world to see:
Personally, the same inhibitions and fears that came up when I was faced with the idea of blogging rear their ugly head when I think of posting videos to YouTube. Who will watch? Who will care? What if people think I'm an idiot? Why put something out there when there's probably hundreds of others just like it (after doing my Blabberize tutorial I did a search and there were many already in existence). To an extent, I think I am experiencing the feeling of "context collapse" Michael Wesch describes in his lecture "The Anthropological Introduction to YouTube". Instead of feeling empowered by the greater voice and power a webcam should give me, I'm petrified. The idea of "vlogging" my innermost thoughts and feelings is paralyzing. Alas, borrowing a line from my last post, "it's baby steps, remember".
Bringing it to Work
While researching for this blog post I came across an interesting post on using YouTube in the classroom by Brad Moon of Geek Dad. In his post, Brad discusses the use of YouTube in his daughter's classroom. While he admits that he was initially startled to see his daughter on his computer screen, he goes on further to discuss the the level of engagement and purpose the students were demonstrating. He says "
Seeing Tasha and her friends on the computer screen, it dawned on me that I’ve been participating in an online ecosystem, but with one foot still planted firmly in a largely imaginary safety zone". I think that YouTube in particular brings out these feelings of fear in the stakeholders of education. This almost always results in YouTube being blocked in most districts. I am lucky to say that YouTube is still available in my school and I have used it many times to show clips to my students, in other words, I have only utilized its "content viewing" capabilities. Being a small school we do not have access to any large streaming video sites so we are limited to what is in the building, which isn't much. I have shown old gems such as Schoolhouse Rock clips, Rocky and Bullwinkle Fractured Fairy Tales and episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy from YouTube. The ability to link a quick video clip to compliment a SMART board lesson is one of the key ways I try to incorporate multiple learning styles in my classroom and increase engagement in my students. Up until now, this is the only way I have considered using YouTube in the classroom. It is becoming more and more clear to me that the content creation power of this tool cannot be ignored. Going back to GeekDad I did some investigating on exactly how the teacher he spoke of (Ms. Cordy) was using it in her classroom. I found this brilliant example:
Signing up for a YouTube account was simple, I chose a username, inputted a password and within a few clicks I was ready to go. The first thing I did upon logging in was explore a few of the options available to me as a registered user. I browsed some subscription possibilities and found a few clips to add to my favourites. To fully engage myself in YouTube I knew the next step was to upload a video of some sort. The only time in recent memory I could think of taking any home video was during my EuroTrip this summer, so I uploaded a quick snippet I took of myself on a bike tour of the Wachau Valley in Austria:
Empowered by the ease of uploading my first video, I decided I'd better try my hand at something a little more complex (and perhaps longer than 13 seconds). As a new Mac owner I was eager to try out the iMovie software on my MacBook. Last year I did a really neat project with my students using a website called Blabberize so I thought it might be a good idea to create a tutorial video combined with some compiled student work samples. After playing around for a while (okay, maybe a little longer than a "while") I had created a video I was ready to publish. How pleased I was when I realized that iMovie would publish my creation directly to my YouTube account! Within minutes of its creation, my second video was up for all the world to see:
Personally, the same inhibitions and fears that came up when I was faced with the idea of blogging rear their ugly head when I think of posting videos to YouTube. Who will watch? Who will care? What if people think I'm an idiot? Why put something out there when there's probably hundreds of others just like it (after doing my Blabberize tutorial I did a search and there were many already in existence). To an extent, I think I am experiencing the feeling of "context collapse" Michael Wesch describes in his lecture "The Anthropological Introduction to YouTube". Instead of feeling empowered by the greater voice and power a webcam should give me, I'm petrified. The idea of "vlogging" my innermost thoughts and feelings is paralyzing. Alas, borrowing a line from my last post, "it's baby steps, remember".
Bringing it to Work
While researching for this blog post I came across an interesting post on using YouTube in the classroom by Brad Moon of Geek Dad. In his post, Brad discusses the use of YouTube in his daughter's classroom. While he admits that he was initially startled to see his daughter on his computer screen, he goes on further to discuss the the level of engagement and purpose the students were demonstrating. He says "
Seeing Tasha and her friends on the computer screen, it dawned on me that I’ve been participating in an online ecosystem, but with one foot still planted firmly in a largely imaginary safety zone". I think that YouTube in particular brings out these feelings of fear in the stakeholders of education. This almost always results in YouTube being blocked in most districts. I am lucky to say that YouTube is still available in my school and I have used it many times to show clips to my students, in other words, I have only utilized its "content viewing" capabilities. Being a small school we do not have access to any large streaming video sites so we are limited to what is in the building, which isn't much. I have shown old gems such as Schoolhouse Rock clips, Rocky and Bullwinkle Fractured Fairy Tales and episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy from YouTube. The ability to link a quick video clip to compliment a SMART board lesson is one of the key ways I try to incorporate multiple learning styles in my classroom and increase engagement in my students. Up until now, this is the only way I have considered using YouTube in the classroom. It is becoming more and more clear to me that the content creation power of this tool cannot be ignored. Going back to GeekDad I did some investigating on exactly how the teacher he spoke of (Ms. Cordy) was using it in her classroom. I found this brilliant example:
This to me is a perfect example of the potential of this tool. By posting this video Ms. Cordy provided her students with an authentic audience which I'm sure increased motivation in her students. This video also represents a balance for the squeamish, the children themselves are not shown on video, only their voices and art. This week I also investigated the YouTube alternative TeacherTube. I created an account and attempted to upload a video that my students and I created last year. Due to the fact that the students actually appear in this video I felt a little more comfortable placing it on a site with greater safety settings and restricted access. After playing around, I discovered that TeacherTube is not nearly as easy to navigate as YouTube and figuring out how to embed the video I did manage to get up there on my blog was beyond me.
While I do understand the concerns about YouTube, it comes back to the same questions that were raised about photo sharing sites (and many of the socially networked sites we will be exploring in this course). As Will Richardson puts it: to prepare our students to live in the world of the Read/Write Web we must discuss that responsible use means "not just refraining from actively seeking out these inappropriate sites, but also reacting appropriately when they are happened upon" (p. 13 of his book). David Warlick adds to this argument, stating that "we don't teach children how to cross the street safely on a fake street". As an elementary educator, it is crucial that I walk the fine line between giving my students the tools they require to collaborate and communicate in virtual environments and the boundaries of what parents and administrators consider appropriate. As though our job wasn't enough of a circus before, now we've added a tightrope act!
Packing Up and Moving On...
While I do understand the concerns about YouTube, it comes back to the same questions that were raised about photo sharing sites (and many of the socially networked sites we will be exploring in this course). As Will Richardson puts it: to prepare our students to live in the world of the Read/Write Web we must discuss that responsible use means "not just refraining from actively seeking out these inappropriate sites, but also reacting appropriately when they are happened upon" (p. 13 of his book). David Warlick adds to this argument, stating that "we don't teach children how to cross the street safely on a fake street". As an elementary educator, it is crucial that I walk the fine line between giving my students the tools they require to collaborate and communicate in virtual environments and the boundaries of what parents and administrators consider appropriate. As though our job wasn't enough of a circus before, now we've added a tightrope act!
Packing Up and Moving On...
To wrap up, I would like to leave you with a few key pieces from David Jakes' "Towards a Framework for Visual Literacy Learning":
- "The most powerful producer of visual imagery is the individual, its you."
- "You have to share it."
- Individuals must be capable of working in multiple mediums to create visual messages, in accordance with the principals of visual literacy."
- "Visuals, when combined with other multimedia, provide individuals with a competitive voice. "
- "Networks for sharing and collaboration extend that voice; that voice can contribute to a conversation as a contributing member of a community."
- "Everyone can learn from each other, independent of time, space and place."
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| Photo by Daniel Greene via Flickr |
Now, I’ve never considered myself a lyricist but here is a sneak peek from what my become the new hit of our generation: YouTube Changed the Media World:
On my iPhone, wherever I go,
We can’t unplug, we’ve gone so far
YouTube changed the media world.
Errr... maybe I should stick to my day job....
Next stop: Social Bookmarking. Stay tuned!
Errr... maybe I should stick to my day job....
Next stop: Social Bookmarking. Stay tuned!
Erin,
ReplyDeleteLove that we both used the same song for inspiration, and your updated version of the lyrics rocks!
The example you shared from GeekDad is something I am going to share with our division one teachers. I think they will really see the potential of what that teacher was doing and make connections to things they can try. Thanks for sharing!
Shelly
I love this example and the ones using screencast where students could do a PowerPoint presentation and then share it. It doesn't have to be kids faces and it can be such powerful learning - writing a script, doing the illustrations, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe video you did with your class is awesome. Very cute, very well done. You provided some great examples.
ReplyDeleteI want to know how you got iMovie to publish directly to youtube!!! I mean, I know how to do it, but I keep getting error messages. GGrrrrrr.