YouTube?? Me Tube Too!

The world is your oyster may be a cliche, but using the web to publish video of ______(place exciting topic in the space) is an easy way to make your creation available to an unlimited audience. I have to be honest and say right off the bat that I have never uploaded video anywhere on the web before but I am certainly aware of how popular it has become, primarily because of YouTube. How popular is YouTube? During my research, I watched a video clip of a presentation given by anthropologist Michael Wesch and he stated that YouTube creates more content in six months than the big three US networks have created in sixty years! That is shocking! As this this particular tool is popular with so many young people (and older people as well), teachers would be amiss to not incorporate it into their classroom in some way.


The Learning Process

Reading, reading, more reading and a little playing; that pretty much sums up my learning process. Will Richardson's text offered a short introduction to video publishing in Chapter 8 but I wanted to gather information from a few more sources to get a decent grasp on the topic.
I logged into my Ning Classroom 2.0 group to have a look around. A great site and a great group if you haven't read enough yet (I know... we've all read plenty) on just about every topic related to Web 2.0. Two sources caught my eye and broadened my knowledge base considerably. The first was an article by Janko Roettgers called "The Decade in Online Video, Part 1: The Early Years" which carries onto "Part 2: Time to Upload". Both parts give a great review of the evolution of video on the web and what amazed me is how far video on the web has come in a fairly short period of time. Look out traditional TV, you are under attack!

The second source I thought was very useful was Dr. Helen Barrett's "How to Create Simple Digital Stories". Her page outlines the entire process from beginning to end for both Mac and PC users. A great resource that I think would work well in schools for those teachers and students just learning about video publishing. I used this page to publish a very short video with this blog.

What I also found was the large number of video sharing sites that are available to post ones video clips. Other than YouTube you can also post video with these sites: Yahoo video, View4View.com, Zudeo.com, vuze.com, lulu.com, digg.com, and Google video. The world really can be your oyster.


Personal Learning

Regarding personal learning, there were two different types for me. The first was actually taking some raw video (.MPG) and using Quick time to create a short clip that I could post on this blog. The topic of my short video is not related to education however I just wanted to acquire content and practice uploading it to the web. I used Barrett's guide as well as tutorials on my laptop to create my amazingly awesome video clip (I'm sure you will agree!) I now feel somewhat knowledgeable with this tool and I feel certain that I can now upload video onto YouTube or TeacherTube if needed.

The second type of personal learning came via YouTube. I have watched videos on YouTube before but I must say that most have been of the funny, ha-ha genre and few have been highly educational. As I haven't really searched through YouTube before, I was excited to find an unlimited supply of useful, educational videos. I enjoy DIY projects around the house and although I am quite handy, sometimes I need some guidance. I hung a few doors recently and I did use some resources on the web, but they were text based with photos. While this information was helpful, I believe YouTube would have been better. I am kicking myself now for not thinking about a video tutorial, considering YouTube has many videos explaining how to "hang a door". Next project I undertake I will definitely check out YouTube!


Teaching and Learning With Video Publishing


Wow, where to start. I mean the possibilities are endless. Just by looking through YouTube and TeacherTube, I realize video publishing is a great way for teachers to add to their basket of skills. Portions or entire parts of a lesson could be uploaded to a blog or a video sharing site for students to access if they need to review or were away from class. It is also a great way for students to demonstrate what they know. Most teens already have a phone or iPod that can shoot video, so instead of threatening them with ??? if they use it during class time, why not make them use to create a video showing what they have learned and then publish it to the web?

My mind has been swirling with possibilities. Regarding PE, there were an number of interesting videos on TeacherTube that I would consider using in class or just review on my own in order to brush up on my knowledge. Topics included "How to Spike a Volleyball" and multiple videos existed describing various ways to use Heart Rate Monitors in class. All useful stuff and it's free! The best part is I can access it from anywhere at anytime as long as I have access to my laptop and the internet.
Off the top of my head, I thought of possibilities within my own classes. As PE is a movement class (primarily) video would be a great way to observe a large group of people at the same time. It would also be an effective way to observe an individuals movement during class as well. From a teaching standpoint, video would make evaluation easier and less subjective.

From a students standpoint, watching video of ones owns performance would be a great way to get some feedback (formative); a picture (or video) is worth a thousand words. Students could also be given the task of taking video of their classmates and then provide them with a peer assessment of their performance. Those that prefer not to critique others could perform a self-assessment instead.

Bottom line for me is that video is a great tool to use in the classroom. I have learned something new that I can incorporate into my teaching immediately and that gets me excited. The possibilities are endless.

A short note about my attached video clip. I had to purchase additional software for my Mac in order to view the downloaded .MPG file, however I couldn't get any sound!? Please let me know if you have the same problem or if it works for you. If it doesn't, please open with VLC (an open source media player that is free to download on the web) and that should do the trick.




References

Barrett, Helen (2009). How to Create Simple Digital Stories. Retrieved from http://electronicportfolios.com/digistory/howto.html

Richardson, Will (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Corwin Press.

Roettgers, Janko (2010). The Decade in Online Video, Part 1: The Early Years. Retrieved from http://newteevee.com/2010/01/01/the-decade-in-online-video-part-1-the-early-years/

Wesch, Michael (2008). An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube. Retrieved from http://trailfire.com/joannedegroot/marks/232909

Yeah... I can Flickr

Ten days ago I didn't really know anything about Flickr or photo sharing on the web. The reading, viewing, and playing have definitely brought me up to speed with Flickr. In this blog post I will share with you what I have learned about Flickr.

Reflections on the Learning Process

I chose to use Flickr over other photo sharing sites as I use iPhoto to store my photos and there is a link to Flickr included with this program. As I mentioned, I'm new to this tool although I have been invited to view other peoples photos on sites such as Picasso. I started the learning process by reading Chapter 7 in Will Richardson's book titled "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful tools for Classrooms". This chapter was an easy read and it provided a great introduction to Flickr. Richardson also mentioned a very useful link to a presentation by Alan Levine called "What Can We Do With Flickr?" (http://tinyurl.com/2kly3j) These two sources provided me with a good understanding of Flickr and its potential uses and allowed me to get started straight away with less apprehension than if I had just jumped in cold.

The start was simple enough as I chose some photos and clicked the Flickr icon and my photos quickly transferred for me. I had to set up an account but that wasn't difficult either. My first group of photos were imported into Flickr but I really didn't do much with them. I didn't use the "tag" option as I really didn't understand the concept of tagging. I was just happy to be able to share the photos with members of my family. Playing around with the different aspects of Flickr was the best way to learn the basics and create some small albums.

In future additions to my album, I added descriptions to some photos as well as used the "tag" and "map" options. I really liked adding descriptions as I think they made the photos more meaningful. The map option was also interesting as now anyone (I choose) can see where a particular photo was taken. I showed this option to my daughter and her response was "cool". Positive feedback if I ever heard it.

I now consider myself an informed user, beyond novice but certainly not an advanced user. There are still some aspects I want to learn about such as annotations but more research and practice are needed before I can incorporate this option into my photos.

Overall, I enjoyed learning about Flickr and plan to use it regularly now. I only wish I had learned about it earlier.


Implications to My Personal Learning

The first thing that popped into my mind when learning about Flickr was that it was "so easy" to share photos. My family and my wife's family are scattered all over so it hasn't been easy to share large numbers of photos with them. Email limits the number and quality of photos one can send and even posts to my travel blog had limited space for photos. This has been a problem for me in the past as I had so many photos to share yet the tools I used to share them were very limited. Flickr solves this dilemma for me. I will no longer have to search for one or two of the best photos and then attach or upload them (this can be slow) to an email or to a blog post. I now can choose large numbers of photos and upload them (easily and quickly) to Flickr and I'm done. Flickr even contacts those who I want to see my photos via email. Nice. Socially, by using Flickr, I will certainly be sharing more photos with my family as well as sharing with them more often.

As Flickr is so easy to use, it made me think of the varying possibilities for its use. My daughter has been watching my progress off and on and I think this would be a great tool for her to use. She has many friends overseas and sharing of photos with them would be more interesting than an email message I believe. Many people enjoy looking at photos and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words...


Implications For Professional Learning

Socially, Flickr is awesome. But it certainly also got me thinking about implications for teaching and learning in my classroom. As I teach Physical Education, incorporating technology into my classes may pose more of a challenge but I still think there are a number of potential uses. Considering technology integration is popular in many schools, it is only natural that teachers look for ways to improve teaching and learning via technology.

For me, having students demonstrate what they know is not always easy. Most often I am dependent on observations of my students (moving, interacting, helping, sharing, cooperating etc.) in order to determine what they know or don't know. I can see Flickr as a great tool that would allow students to show me what they know. For example, a group of students are participating in a unit of badminton. They learn the following: racquet grip, various stances (serving, receiving etc.), various shots, positioning, rules & procedures, and tactics. If the class has a large number of students, my observation time may be limited. What if students worked in pairs and took photos to demonstrate their knowledge? They could create an album of photos that could show things such as grip, stance, positioning, tactics etc. This album would not only be available to the teacher but to the other students as well. As most students enjoy using the computer and sharing photos with friends, this should be an easy yet different way to demonstrate their knowledge. I will have to try it some time!

The positives are obvious but are their negatives to this kind of learning? Tough question. I certainly see some potential obstacles. First, are there school/district guidelines regarding student images/work on the web for everyone to see. Are the resources available for this to work? Do students have the basic skills and knowledge required? Is this type of evaluation doable in a short period of time? Some interesting questions to think about and many I can't answer right now. I suspect some trial and error work will need to be undertaken before I get all my answers.

Overall, I enjoyed my time learning about and exploring within Flickr. The potential uses are amazing and it is a tool I can see myself using both personally and professionally in the future.

Web 2.0 Whirlpool

Well it has been an interesting couple of weeks. So many new and interesting tools to learn and understand it is overwhelming. Here is a quick summary:
1) Facebook: I never knew I had so many friends!! It has been great hearing from friends overseas via this site.
2) Google Reader: Great way to keep up with blogs, websites etc all in one place. Watch out what you sign up for; I skimmed and scanned 527 articles the other day!
3) Twitter: Interesting social networking site that I am still learning to utilize. Amazingly I have six people following my tweets!
4) Ning: Joined a Classroom 2.0 Ning that offers access to huge amounts of information related to web tools. Unfortunately I haven't had time to fully utilize this site yet.

There is so much swirling around me right now that it does feel like a whirlpool; I'm being slowly sucked in. Fortunately my head is above water and I'm still smiling.

Introduction

Hi everyone. My name is Mel Varga and I am currently studying at the University of Alberta. The course is called EDES 501/544 and it focuses on a variety of Web 2.0 tools for teachers and librarians. The purpose of this blog is to share my thoughts about various web 2.0 tools that I am using and exploring with. Some I have used before (blogs) but others I have not (facebook, twitter).
Professionally, I have been (and still am) a teacher for the past fourteen years but I have been ready to change things up a bit career-wise. I spent the last two years teaching overseas in Macau, China and now I am pursuing a Masters degree in order to challenge myself, improve my skills, and hopefully create new and different job opportunities.
Why this class? I see technology as an ever-important and integral part to education and I want to be knowledgeable about new tools that I can use in the classroom. I'm not sure what to expect but I'm certain that I will learn something useful from the web tools and my classmates in this course.