Video Sharing

Video Sharing

Reflections on Learning About the Tool

Before my exploration of video sharing, I was only familiar with YouTube. I’d used it to watch family videos, music, and how-to videos. I’d heard of TeacherTube, but had not yet checked it out. I had never uploaded a video from my hard-drive or embedded a video into another site. This was all pretty much new to me. I began with an exploration of YouTube and then looked at Teacher Tube.

• Wikipedia was a good starting point. It claims that potentially offensive content is available only to registered users of YouTube who are over 18. I don't think so. I wasn't registered and I found plenty of offensive material.

• Many schools block it due to inappropriate content and offensive material such as videos of bullying, school fights, racism, etc.

• Defamation, pornography, copyright violations and criminal conduct aren't allowed. Youtube relies on its users to flag potentially offensive content. They don't view videos before they are posted.


• Due to legal action taken against them for copyright infringement, Youtube has implemented Video ID to check videos for copyrighted content.


• I can only embed videos from Google Video and Youtube into my blog, so was happy to discover the same math video on Youtube that I’d seen in Teacher Tube. It’s called “Smart Board Ten Frame”. It's interesting to see how the kids react to the Smart Board.


• I like the “Recommended For You” feature on Youtube which gave me related math videos to look at.
  


• I used “Blogger Help” to learn how to post a video from Youtube into my blog. The instructions were easy to follow and I finally had success.


• Youtube has “Videos” and “Channels” buttons. I checked out the “Education” videos, but didn’t find anything relevant to teaching Grade 3. Then I did a search on “French Songs” and found “The Gummy Bear Song” which one of my students was talking about in class today. It’s so cute!


• A search on “Plants” produced an interesting video called “Killer Plants – France”. It’s not in French, but I will probably use it in my Plants Unit.

I then began to explore Teacher Tube:

• Media in Teacher Tube include videos, audio, photos, and blogs.


• The "Pay Attention" video about digital learners was one of the most widely viewed. It is encouraging to see that more and more teachers are recognizing the need to get on board with technology and keep up with their students.


• "Mrs. Burk's Perimeter Rap" video is a fun way to learn perimeter. It certainly would work for the kinesthetic and musical learners.


• I checked out various “Channels”. In the “Elementary” channel, I watched “All About Me” videos of little kids introducing themselves to the class. The kids appeared somewhat nervous to me. I don’t think I would ask this of my students and I don't think their parents would feel comfortable with it either in terms of Internet safety issues. I might begin with having them do a video tour of their school instead.


• The “Staying Healthy” video was aimed at an elementary audience and talked about hand washing, exercise and eating well. The music interfered with the speaker, making it difficult to follow. This could be another video to make with my students.


• I tried the “World Languages” channel, but was disappointed that I couldn't find anything worthwhile for my Grade 3 French Immersion class.

I've come a long way with video sharing over the past week. I prefer YouTube to TeacherTube, mainly because there seem to be a lot more useful videos for teaching purposes and it is easier to navigate than Teacher Tube. I am much more confident with uploading and embedding videos. I will spend some more time on both TeacherTube and YouTube to find the most efficient ways to navigate through them for useful material.

Reflections on the Tool in Terms of Personal Learning

I was relieved to discover that I can make my uploaded videos to YouTube public, private or available to selected members. I didn’t feel comfortable making my brother’s wedding videos public without his permission.

I will probably start using the video feature on my digital camera and learn how to use it for family occasions and trips. It's wonderful to view a video of an event I've experienced and re-live it in a video. It's also a lot of fun to share these videos with family and friends. I would only post these videos privately so my viewers will have to sign up for YouTube.

David Lee (2009) talks about different types of video currently available on the Internet. Shows that we miss on TV can often be found on the Web at sites such as http://www.nbc.com/ and http://www.hulu.com/. Now I can catch the Conan O'Brien shows I miss because I can't stay up that late.

I've learned that I can also subscribe to my favourite video feeds with a video aggregator wuch as http://www.mefeedia.com/. I like the idea of watching videos where and when I want.


Reflections on the Tool in Terms of Professional Learning

Pros

• Davies and Merchant (2009) recommend embedding videos from YouTube into blog spaces for use with younger students. In this way, we can view educational videos without having to navigate through YouTube and all of its potentially sensitive material. The only problem for me is that I can’t access YouTube videos at school. I might be able to download the video onto a jump drive or download the video onto my hard drive at home and then upload it into my blog. I haven't tried this yet. My other option is to ask the School Board for personal access to the site. I've noticed a window asking for an "override" password and userID, so apparently they do make exceptions.


• Here is an opportunity for schools to educate students on how to responsibly navigate through a site such as YouTube which they're all watching at home anyway. Davies and Merchant (2009) suggest that schools play a role in discussing media with unpleasant messages with students and how to trace safe paths through it. Kathleen Manzo's article, "Filtering Fixes", talks about actions being taken by school districts to expand the access that students have to online resources like YouTube. She supports Davies' and Merchant's belief that school boards need to educate teachers and students on how to navigate the Internet. The American Library Association's Centre for Intellectual Freedom provides steps that schools can take to protect students while online. The Association "recommends that schools minimize filtering so they do not infringe students' rights to access information and to express themselves". Their position is that prohibiting young people from accessing Internet resources doesn't teach safe behaviour and that we need to teach students how to protect their own privacy online, and to engage in responsible speech (and viewing).


• In David Lee's article "Video on the Web: The Basics", he suggests that videos can be incorporated into class projects such as book reviews. See (www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdGrceIAjLo). This is definitely an idea worth exploring!

• David Lee suggests that students make “How to” videos and in so doing, position themselves as experts and get a more thorough understanding of the material. See “My Solar Oven”.

Cons

• Because of inappropriate content, many school divisions have banned YouTube. YouTube relies on its community to police video content and flag potentially offensive material. Children under 18 can easily access material that is unsuitable for them.


• It takes some real digging to find useful videos for the classroom. YouTube’s purpose is not to serve educators, so we need to know how to “tread a path that will feel fruitful and safe” with our students.


• Safety issues need to be addressed. Students need to learn how to represent themselves safely online when entering into dialogue with others about the videos they watch.

• Viruses from the site could potentially infect computers and this is another reason computer technicians in school divisions want sites like these blocked.

In conclusion, YouTube does have valuable educational content and teachers should be able to access it. I would not allow my Grade 3 students to navigate freely through the site, though I know many of them do so at home. I would like the opportunity to show them how to use YouTube in an appropriate manner and what to do if they come across inappropriate content. I really like the idea of embedding educational videos from the site into my blog for use at school with my students. Teacher Tube is accessible at our school and I will continue to explore the site for videos to use with my students. Eventually I would like to try making videos with my Grade three kids after we have spent some time viewing and discussing the components of a good video.

Photosharing

Refelections on the process of learning about the tool

• Online Photo Sharing in Plain English was a good introduction to Flickr.
• I was a bit annoyed at having to get a Yahoo account to use Flickr, but otherwise it is very user-friendly. I had pictures uploaded in no time.


• I was uncomfortable with public viewing of my photos, but realized that my colleagues need to see my photos.


• Here's a link to my New York pictures on Flickr and here's a link to my Gallery on Plants.
• I liked the attached photo editing function with Picnic, but it took me a while to figure out how to crop a picture.


• My photos need to be down-sized in PhotoShop, as I've almost reached my monthly limit of 100 MB with only 44 photos!


• I sent a slideshow link to my Mom in an email and luckily there is no need for her to sign up to Flickr in order to view it. She did have some difficulty accessing it though. Apparently it "blew up her computer" when she clicked on the link.


• I finally learned how to arrange my photos in chronological order! It is done through Editing a Set of Photos and then Arranging them according to date.

Discussion of the Tool in Terms of My Own Learning

I love Flickr! I like the thought of my photos being stored on the Internet where I can't lose them and can easily find the ones I want. I enjoy viewing my photos much more now that they are so easily accessible. It's fun to share them with family and friends as slideshows and I'm already seeing its value as a way to build connections with those who live far away. I'm excited about uploading videos to share as well.

There are so many features with Flickr that I have yet to explore. The Google Maps link seems rather complicated at the moment, but I intend to spend some time with it.

Discussion of Tool in Terms of Teaching/Learning

• Flickr could be used to share pictures of our class projects with parents and students in other schools in the division or around the world.

• Dyrli (2006) suggests schools in the division use galleries with photos from various activities with no student names of course. This helps to keep the community connected to its schools.

• Some divisions are blocking the site due to objectionable content. I tried to access the site on my school computer, but couldn't do it directly. I followed a link from one of my emails and was able to access it.

• Photos on any subject imagineable can be found here, so students would have to be carefully supervised when using the site. I wonder how well the photos are censored on this site.

• Parents need to be assured that their children are being carefully supervised and that their childrens' anonymity will be preserved if they allow their photos to be on the site.
• David Jakes suggests using Flickr for virtual field trips. In our Grade 3 Social Studies Unit, a virtual fieldtrip would certainly enhance our study of communities of the world. The Google Earth feature would also be valuable in teaching about geography.
• The annotation feature could be used by students to describe Science projects they do in units on Plants, Soils and Structures. See a Grade 3 students model of Jane Goodall's Camp as an example.
• Here's a photo of a family dinner with annotations.
• Most photos used from Flickr need to be sourced by adding a link to the original. In the Creative Commons at Flickr, many photos can be used with no sourcing required.
• Richardson (2008) suggests using Flickr for "Random Writes" where students go into the Creative Commons and type a word into the tag field. They write a story about the first image that comes up.
• To introduce Flickr to my students in Grade 3, I could begin with a slideshow of plants for our science unit. To get them using it, I would begin by ask them to find photos of plants in the Creative Commons to add to a class gallery.

Me and Technology

My experience with Web 2.0 is quite limited. I have had a Facebook page for a while, but have used it very little until starting this course. I enjoy U-Tube and have used it to view such things as videos of my nephew in Vancouver, how to brush a cat's teeth (it's not as easy as it looks!), belly dance lessons, making mojitos, and music videos. I can certainly see the educational value of this website! I've had some exposure to Wikis at school and have a basic understanding of the concept, but haven't used them. This summer I attended a Math workshop where I was introduced to the Smart Board. I was pretty amazed at what they can do, but I think it will be some time before we see them at our school.

The school I teach in was equipped with a computer in each classroom last year (for teacher-use only) and I am very comfortable with email and doing attendance on the computer. I take my Grade 3 French Immersion class to the computer lab once each cycle for about an hour. The kids type stories, work on their keyboarding, and work/play with various software installed on the computers. As for the Internet, they practise their math skills on math websites, read poetry and stories, play games, and do guided research using specific websites.

This fall, our Teacher-Librarian will be taking my class for one period each cycle to work on ICT skills. This is a prep for me, but I will probably join him so that I can learn along with the students. I would like them to use Animoto, Voicethread and any other useful tools I discover on the Web to develop their French language skills.

This year I would like to set up a classroom blog or website where I can inform parents about what we are doing in class and homework assignments. This may foster better connection with parents and help them to play a bigger role in their childrens' education. After all, "it takes a village to raise a child"! I will also encourage parents to keep in touch with me through email, as making phone calls home and reaching parents by phone can be difficult.

Questions I have so fare regarding Web 2.0 are as follows:

1. Which Web 2.0 applications would be most useful to me as a teacher of FSL?

2. Would a blog or website be more effective in communicating with parents about classroom activities, links to websites, homework, etc.?

3. How can I navigate more efficiently through the web to find the information I need?

I look forward to exploring these ideas with you over the coming weeks and months.

Hello world!

Welcome to my blog! This is my first blogging experience and I am very excited about sharing myself and thoughts with the world!