Not for the squeamish!
I found this video by searching www.video.google.com and plan to use it after reading “Christopher, Please Clean Your Room!” by Itah Sadu and watching the Talespinner video with my EAL summer school students. I can just imagine how intrigued the students will be. They may even want to learn more about cockroaches!
YouTube in Today’s World:
On my way to work Friday morning I noticed that YouTube has become a visible part of our popular culture. This anonymous poem was on a “Poetry in Motion” poster on my bus:
As the bus went past the University of Winnipeg I saw a bus bench advertising “YouOne” which is really just the University marketing to students their University One first year program.
According to Wikipedia, YouTube gets over 100 million views per day. Some videos receive over 1,000,000 views. Adam and Mowers, authors of “YouTube Comes to the Classroom” in the School Library Journal (2007, January) assert that young people not only watch YouTube, they want a voice online. In “An Anthropolitical Introduction To YouTube” Michael Wesch states that 88% of YouTube uploads are new and original, underscoring the assertion that young people want a voice online. He also states that 50% of videos feature 18-24 year olds. This is the predominate age group of my school. I can’t afford to ignore the potential of YouTube and other video sharing sites in my school and library.
Opportunities:
Michael Stephens provides some very good ideas for using YouTube in libraries in “Social Video: Videoblogging & YouTube” (Library Technology Reports, Sep/Oct 2007). His suggestions cover the gamet between creating a presence on the web for the library/life in the library to hosting 4 min. storytelling contests.
I have spent many happy hours searching www.video.google.com for educational videos on the video sharing sites such as YouTube, Google Video, Teacher Tube, Yahoo Video and Metacafe. I also have lots of experience facilitating students as they create videos using MovieMaker, Photostory 3 and iMovie. The students are always way more creative than me. I’m now feeling prepared to facilitate video sharing with students.
Challenges:
As I mentioned in my earlier post, I’m dismayed that this WordPress blog will only show YouTube or Google Videos, but I can link to videos on TeacherTube or other sites like Metacafe. YouTube and Google Video are blocked for student logins at my school. It’s been explained to me that online vidoes use too much bandwidth. We’re supposed to be getting a better networking system soon so I will just have to be patient about that. In the meantime I’ve noticed that Metacafe, TeacherTube and Yahoo Videos are not blocked.
Web 2.0 meets Web 2.0
I created this 28 second video using the web-based Animoto application and sending it directly to YouTube. It features some of my daughters artwork.
I learned that Animoto is not blocked for logins at my school, but it may as well be because uploading of images/files is blocked altogether. This is a travesty. For no cost to the school, students could create wondrous 30 second videos using 12 – 20 of their images and share them with pride. I’ve added it to my growing list of sites/services that our students need to access.
Windows MovieMaker meets Web 2.0
Finally, I created this simple MovieMaker video to highlight some of the other implications I’ve gleaned for teaching and learning with video sharing sites. I hope you enjoy it.
Posted by lifelonglearnerrhonda 
LifelongLearner Rhonda's Weblog 