Saturday, February 2, 2008

Blog 2 Video-Sharing Sites

Okay, enough about the risks and the potential for misuse with video-sharing sites. USA today provides an excellent overview of different video sharing sites, including YouTube, Vimeo, Sharkle, Clipshack and Google video.

I personally find YouTube to be my favourite of these sites. I am attracted by the volume of videos and by how easy it is to search and select video clips. Although there are many clips I would not want my primary students to stumble upon, I can search and tag the ones that are useful. School Tube and TeacherTube are teacher approved, educational video-sharing sites, providing carefully screened video-sharing. Although the lesson ideas with these sites make them attractive, I find the selection on these sites, especially SchoolTube, is limited.

Here are a couple of clips from YouTube (not on TeacherTube) that I showed my grade ones yesterday (we are just finishing a mini-research unit on groundhogs). This was such an easy way to show my students live groundhogs vs. those in a picture book.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=wfO0XUOgZMs&feature=related#
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=8WZrZGQnJy4#

I can imagine using these cell biology clips with older students.

Obviously the choices on YouTube are plentiful. What I like is how easy it is to insert a video clip into any lesson (especially when you have access to an LCD projector attached to a computer) to extend information and appeal to different learning styles. When teachers collaborate and share their video clip files, it all becomes even more convenient and effective.

Although I prefer YouTube for selection when showing videos, I think TeacherTube is onto something with the way you can add supporting comments to your videos. The TeacherTube Blog has many ideas for getting students to interact with the community using video. I also think TeacherTube would be my choice for uploading videos my students create, as I prefer the intended audience.

3 comments:

Arlene said...

At TeacherTube News, it identified the winners in the Interwrite Learning/TeacherTube Video Contest. Ain't Gonna Hold Us Back D-I-G-I-T-A-L is about girls and their use of technology. It won in the K-5 category. Arlene

elizabeth said...

This video is amazing and would be a powerful tool to use in my grade one classroom. I am in awe of the technology these kids have used, and would sure like some lessons from their teacher!
What about the idea of using video to ask questions of political candidates. Although this is American, it could easily be adapted and is an activity I think would be very meaningful for students learning about government. Of course, an election would be helpful!

Cindy said...

Hi Elizabeth,

Isn't it great when we can bring teaching and learning alive by showing a clip of an animal in their natural habitat?!
Connections through supporting 2.0 Web tools is so effective.

Cindy